Folded additive structures: A nonpolynomial model of some factorial interactions

A nonpolynomial measurement model for representing nonadditive compositions of stimulus dimensions is presented. This representation, which is referred to as a folded additive structure, permits the decomposition of a behavioral ordering into independent factors in some of the cases where the behavior itself does not directly reflect this independence. Psychologically, this representation corresponds to a model of behavior which assumes that (1) the effect stimulus attributes have on behavior is mediated by a single relevent psychological dimension, (2) the behavioral ordering is single-peaked over this mediating dimension and (3) the mediating dimension has a conjoint additive ordering over a set of relevent stimulus dimensions. Necessary and sufficient tests for folded additive structures are given. In addition, five psychological theories which make these assumptions are discussed.     

A comparison between the development of the appearance-reality distinction in the People's Republic of China and the United States

A study of the appearance-reality distinction in American 3- to 5-year-olds was replicated with Chinese 3- to 5-year-olds. The error patterns, age changes, and absolute levels of performance were similar in the two samples. It was speculated that the acquisition of this distinction may be a universal, possibly age-linked development that is probably fueled by experiences with appearance-reality discrepancies that are available in all cultures.     

The development of discourse mapping processes: the on-line interpretation of anaphoric expressions

The present research focuses on how children integrate the antecedent of different kinds of anaphor into their on-going interpretation of an utterance, and on the kinds of cues they use to help them to do this. These issues were studied by examining the on-line processing of three types of anaphoric devices—repeated noun phrases, general terms and pronoun anaphors. The data showed that by the age of five, anaphoric mapping processes in general are well-mastered, although all age-groups (5, 7, 10 year olds and adults) found general term anaphors more difficult to interpret. The major developmental differences concerned the processing of anaphoric pronouns. For five year olds, pronouns were primarily interpreted as devices which maintained the thematic subject of the discourse, but when there was no thematic subject they relied primarily on pragmatic plausibility in their assignment of pronominal co-reference. As children get older, they are able to take advantage of the lexical properties of pronouns and all three sources of information—lexical, pragmatic inference and the thematic structure of the discourse—play contributory roles in the assignment of reference to a pronoun.     

Attentional biases and the right-ear effect in dichotic listening

Most dichotic listening experiments permit subjects to deploy attention in any way they choose. We argue that this adds uncontrolled variance to the observed right-ear advantage. In the first experiment, more robust laterality effects were obtained in an identification task with focused than with divided attention. Such differences were not found in the second experiment, when a detection procedure was used. Virtually all the laterality effect observed in the second study could be attributed to subjects who were biased attenders, in the sense that they exhibited more intrusions from the right ear to the left than vice versa. However, rather than indicating that laterality effects are simply attentional bias, this effect can be attributed to an asymmetry of perceptual discrimination.     

Symbol complexity and symbol identification with rotated symbols

Previous studies of the identification of rotated symbols have been restricted to either alphanumeric characters or symbols designed to be similar in complexity and type to alphanumerics. These researches have found identification response times to be independent of the magnitude of a symbol's angular displacement from a standard upright position, such findings being typically interpreted as supporting a feature extraction model of identification. In the present experiment complex Japanese characters were used to assess whether such a feature extraction interpretation could be generalized to identifying complex rotated symbols. Identification response times were also found to be constant across all non-standard orientations of the characters, supporting a feature extraction interpretation, but quicker times for standard cases suggested that some qualifications might be necessary.     

Towards a model of stress and human performance

An outline is presented of a model that aims to relate energetical and structural mechanisms of human information processing and to incorporate an interactionally defined stress notion in performance research. The first section summarizes objections to unidimensional notions of arousal and stress. It is concluded that further progress requires the analysis of joint cognitive-energetical processing structures. In the second section two current performance models - in terms of linear stages and resources - are briefly reviewed. Despite a number of problems and objections, it is decided to base the model upon linear stage notions of information processing. This is further elaborated in the third section. In accord with Pribram and McGuinness (1975) three energetical supply systems are proposed which are selectively related to specific cognitive processing mechanisms. Stress is defined as a state of imbalance in the energetical supply which is difficult to restore or to compensate. The final section is devoted to the discussion of some lines of evidence and to suggestions for future research.     

Conditioning functional enuresis: follow-up after retraining

Of 52 enuretics treated with bell-and-pad, 44 (84.6%) were initial successes. One year after training, 16 (30.8%) remained continually dry. Positive outcomes increased to 24 (46.2%) with the addition of successful retrainees and to 29 (55.8%), including 5 unretrained relapses who subsequently were found dry. Most clients reach initial success, but less than one third remain continually dry.

In retraining, over 84.2% (16/19) of the clients were again successful, but training time was shorter, and half relapsed a second time. Retraining is an appropriate and relatively easy approach for modifying relapse, at least for many enuretics. More rigorous assessment of retraining requires a balanced follow-up design and comparison with other approaches.     

FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT,CURRICULAR REVISION,AND SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS

An adolescent female with multiple handicaps and a long history of severely disruptive behavior participated in a functional assessment linked directly to specific revisions in her school curriculum. During Phase 1, reversal designs were used to test hypotheses pertaining to antecedent and auricular influences on problem behavior. During Phase 2, a multiple baseline across afternoon and morning time periods demonstrated that the auricular revisions were effective in eliminating severely disruptive behavior and increasing on-task responding. Data also showed that inappropriate “psychotic” speech was reduced and appropriate social interactions were increased. Follow-up results showed that the changes were maintained throughout the school year. Questionnaire data provided social validation of the procedures and outcomes. The findings are discussed in relation to their implications for functional assessment, individualized curricula, and positive programming for students with disabilities and serious behavior problems.     

FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING TO REDUCE CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR: MAINTENANCE AND APPLICATION IN NEW SETTINGS

We evaluated the initial effectiveness, maintenance, and transferability of the results of functional communication training as an intervention for the challenging behaviors exhibited by 3 students. Assessment indicated that escape from academic demands was involved in the maintenance of the challenging behaviors. Social attention was also implicated as controlling the behavior of 1 student. The intervention involved teaching alternative assistance-seeking and attention-getting phrases to the students in an effort to replace challenging behavior with these verbal equivalents. Multiple baseline data collected across the 3 students indicated that not only did the intervention substantially reduce challenging behavior but also that these results transferred across new tasks, environments, and teachers, and were generally maintained from 18 to 24 months following the introduction of functional communication training. These results are discussed in light of recent efforts to develop effective interventions for severe challenging behavior and to understand the processes underlying transfer and maintenance of intervention effects.