An alternative approach to relapse analysis: Using Monte Carlo methods and proportional rates of response

Relapse is the recovery of a previously suppressed response. Animal models have been useful in examining the mechanisms underlying relapse (e.g., reinstatement, renewal, reacquisition, resurgence). However, there are several challenges to analyzing relapse data using traditional approaches. For example, null hypothesis significance testing is commonly used to determine whether relapse has occurred. However, this method requires several a priori assumptions about the data, as well as a large sample size for between‐subjects comparisons or repeated testing for within‐subjects comparisons. Monte Carlo methods may represent an improved analytic technique, because these methods require no prior assumptions, permit smaller sample sizes, and can be tailored to account for all of the data from an experiment instead of some limited set. In the present study, we conducted reanalyses of three studies of relapse (Berry, Sweeney, & Odum, 2014 ; Galizio et al., 2018 ; Odum & Shahan, 2004 ) using Monte Carlo techniques to determine if relapse occurred and if there were differences in rate of response based on relevant independent variables (such as group membership or schedule of reinforcement). These reanalyses supported the previous findings. Finally, we provide general recommendations for using Monte Carlo methods in studies of relapse.     

R-RUM的参数估计及性能评价研究

认知诊断作为21世纪一种新的测量范式,在国内外越来越受到重视。该文运用MCMC算法实现了R-RUM的参数估计,并采用Monte Carlo模拟方法探讨其性能。研究结果表明:(1)R-RUM参数估计方法可行,估计精度较高;(2)Q矩阵复杂性和模型参数水平对模型参数估计精度有较大影响,随着r_(jk)*值的增大和Q矩阵复杂性的增加,项目参数和被试参数估计精度逐渐下降;(3)在特定情形下,R-RUM具有一定的稳健性。     

Model Evaluation and Multiple Strategies in Cognitive Diagnosis: An Analysis of Fraction Subtraction Data

This paper studies three models for cognitive diagnosis, each illustrated with an application to fraction subtraction data. The objective of each of these models is to classify examinees according to their mastery of skills assumed to be required for fraction subtraction. We consider the DINA model, the NIDA model, and a new model that extends the DINA model to allow for multiple strategies of problem solving. For each of these models the joint distribution of the indicators of skill mastery is modeled using a single continuous higher-order latent trait, to explain the dependence in the mastery of distinct skills. This approach stems from viewing the skills as the specific states of knowledge required for exam performance, and viewing these skills as arising from a broadly defined latent trait resembling the θ of item response models. We discuss several techniques for comparing models and assessing goodness of fit. We then implement these methods using the fraction subtraction data with the aim of selecting the best of the three models for this application. We employ Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms to fit the models, and we present simulation results to examine the performance of these algorithms. The work reported here was performed under the auspices of the External Diagnostic Research Team funded by Educational Testing Service. Views expressed in this paper does not necessarily represent the views of Educational Testing Service.     

Latent Class Models for Diary Method Data: Parameter Estimation by Local Computations

The increasing use of diary methods calls for the development of appropriate statistical methods. For the resulting panel data, latent Markov models can be used to model both individual differences and temporal dynamics. The computational burden associated with these models can be overcome by exploiting the conditional independence relations implied by the model. This is done by associating a probabilistic model with a directed acyclic graph, and applying transformations to the graph. The structure of the transformed graph provides a factorization of the joint probability function of the manifest and latent variables, which is the basis of a modified and more efficient E-step of the EM algorithm. The usefulness of the approach is illustrated by estimating a latent Markov model involving a large number of measurement occasions and, subsequently, a hierarchical extension of the latent Markov model that allows for transitions at different levels. Furthermore, logistic regression techniques are used to incorporate restrictions on the conditional probabilities and to account for the effect of covariates. Throughout, models are illustrated with an experience sampling methodology study on the course of emotions among anorectic patients. Frank Rijmen was partly supported by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO).     

Choice,Conditioned Reinforcement,and the Prius Effect

Psychologists have long been intrigued with the rationales that underlie our decisions. Similarly, the concept of conditioned reinforcement has a venerable history, particularly in accounting for behavior not obviously maintained by primary reinforcers. The studies of choice and of conditioned reinforcement have often developed in lockstep. Many contemporary approaches to these fundamental topics share an emphasis on context and on relative value. We trace the evolution of thinking about the potency of conditioned reinforcers from stimuli that were thought to acquire their value from pairings with more fundamental reinforcers to stimuli that acquire their value by being differentially correlated with these more fundamental reinforcers. We discuss some seminal experiments (including several that have been underappreciated) and some ongoing data, all of which have propelled us to the conclusion that the strength of conditioned reinforcers is determined by their signaling a relative improvement in the organism''s relation to reinforcement.     

父母教养方式对大学生嫉妒的影响：自尊与生活满意度的链式中介效应

为探讨父母教养方式对大学生嫉妒的影响,以及自尊与生活满意度的中介作用机制,采用简式父母教养方式问卷、自尊量表、生活满意度问卷和大学生嫉妒问卷调查了438名在校大学生。结果发现：（1）父母拒绝可显著正向预测嫉妒,并间接通过自尊的单独中介作用、自尊与生活满意度的链式中介作用正向预测嫉妒。（2）父母情感温暖间接通过生活满意度的单独中介作用、自尊与生活满意度的链式中介作用负向预测嫉妒。（3）父母过度保护可显著正向预测嫉妒（直接、总间接）,但自尊、生活满意度的单独、链式中介作用均不显著。     

尽责性对问题性手机使用的影响：时间管理倾向和自我控制的链式中介作用

采用中国版10项目大五人格量表、问题性手机使用量表、青少年时间管理倾向量表和自我控制量表调查1200名青少年尽责性对问题性手机使用的作用机制。结果表明：尽责性能够通过自我控制的中介作用影响问题性手机使用,但这一路径效应较低;尽责性能够通过时间监控观和自我控制的链式中介作用反向预测问题性手机使用行为的产生。这说明尽责性主要通过时间监控观和自我控制影响问题性手机使用行为。     

Extending problem-solving procedures through reflection

A large-sample (n = 75) fMRI study guided the development of a theory of how people extend their problem-solving procedures by reflecting on them. Both children and adults were trained on a new mathematical procedure and then were challenged with novel problems that required them to change and extend their procedure to solve these problems. The fMRI data were analyzed using a combination of hidden Markov models (HMMs) and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA). This HMM–MVPA analysis revealed the existence of 4 stages: Encoding, Planning, Solving, and Responding. Using this analysis as a guide, an ACT-R model was developed that improved the performance of the HMM–MVPA and explained the variation in the durations of the stages across 128 different problems. The model assumes that participants can reflect on declarative representations of the steps of their problem-solving procedures. A Metacognitive module can hold these steps, modify them, create new declarative steps, and rehearse them. The Metacognitive module is associated with activity in the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC). The ACT-R model predicts the activity in the RLPFC and other regions associated with its other cognitive modules (e.g., vision, retrieval). Differences between children and adults seemed related to differences in background knowledge and computational fluency, but not to the differences in their capability to modify procedures.     

Generalized canonical correlation analysis of matrices with missing rows: a simulation study

A method is presented for generalized canonical correlation analysis of two or more matrices with missing rows. The method is a combination of Carroll’s (1968) method and the missing data approach of the OVERALS technique (Van der Burg, 1988). In a simulation study we assess the performance of the method and compare it to an existing procedure called GENCOM, proposed by Green and Carroll (1988). We find that the proposed method outperforms the GENCOM algorithm both with respect to model fit and recovery of the true structure. The research of Michel van de Velden was partly funded through EU Grant HPMF-CT-2000-00664. The authors would like to thank the associate editor and three anonymous referees for their constructive comments and suggestions that led to a considerable improvement of the paper.     

Observational learning of tool use in children: Investigating cultural spread through diffusion chains and learning mechanisms through ghost displays

In the first of two experiments, we demonstrate the spread of a novel form of tool use across 20 “cultural generations” of child-to-child transmission. An experimentally seeded technique spread with 100% fidelity along twice as many “generations” as has been investigated in recent exploratory “diffusion” experiments of this type. This contrasted with only a single child discovering the technique spontaneously in a comparable group tested individually without any model. This study accordingly documents children’s social learning of tool use on a new, population-level scale that characterizes real-world cultural phenomena. In a second experiment, underlying social learning processes were investigated with a focus on the contrast between imitation (defined as copying actions) and emulation (defined as learning from the results of actions only). In two different “ghost” conditions, children were presented with the task used in the first experiment but now operated without sight of an agent performing the task, thereby presenting only the information used in emulation. Children in ghost conditions were less successful than those who had watched a model in action and showed variable matching to what they had seen. These findings suggest the importance of observational learning of complex tool use through imitation rather than only through emulation. Results of the two experiments are compared with those of similar experiments conducted previously with chimpanzees and are discussed in relation to the wider perspective of human culture and the influence of task complexity on social learning.