The development of strategy use in elementary school children: working memory and individual differences

The current study tested the development of working memory involvement in children's arithmetic strategy selection and strategy efficiency. To this end, an experiment in which the dual-task method and the choice/no-choice method were combined was administered to 10- to 12-year-olds. Working memory was needed in retrieval, transformation, and counting strategies, but the ratio between available working memory resources and arithmetic task demands changed across development. More frequent retrieval use, more efficient memory retrieval, and more efficient counting processes reduced the working memory requirements. Strategy efficiency and strategy selection were also modified by individual differences such as processing speed, arithmetic skill, gender, and math anxiety. Short-term memory capacity, in contrast, was not related to children's strategy selection or strategy efficiency.     

Conditional relations with compound abstract stimuli using a go/no-go procedure

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether emergent conditional relations could be established with a go/no-go procedure using compound abstract stimuli. The procedure was conducted with 6 adult humans. During training, responses emitted in the presence of certain stimulus compounds (A1B1, A2B2, A3B3, B1C1, B2C2, and B3C3) were followed by reinforcing consequences (points); responses emitted in the presence of other compounds (A1B2, A1B3, A2B1, A2B3, A3B1, A3B2, B1C2, B1C3, B2C1, B2C3, B3C1 and B3C2) were not (i.e., extinction). During subsequent tests of emergent relations, new configurations (BA, CB, AC, and CA relations) were presented, formed by the recombination of training stimuli and structurally resembling tests usually employed in stimulus equivalence studies. Results showed that all 6 participants displayed immediate emergence of relations consistent with symmetry. Four participants exhibited emergent relations consistent with both transitivity and equivalence. These results indicate that a go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli can establish emergent conditional relations, thus providing a procedural alternative to the matching-to-sample procedures commonly used in studies of stimulus equivalence.     

Emergence of response‐response relations

The present study examined whether bidirectional response‐response relations could be established without direct reinforcement. In AB training for 12 undergraduates, higher rates of touches to a white circle on the monitor screen (A1) produced two stimuli (B1 and B2) on half of the trials, whereas lower rates (A2) produced the same effect on the other half. Choosing one of the two stimuli was reinforced according to the preceding responding (A1B1 and A2B2). In BC training, touching a stimulus (B1 or B2) produced three white circles lined up horizontally on the screen, after which one of two different response sequences to the circles (left‐center‐right, C1 or C2, and right‐center‐left, C2 or C1) were reinforced, depending on the stimulus presented (B1C1 and B2C2). After AB and BC relations were established, 11 of 12 participants showed the emergence of untrained relations (BA, CB, AC, and CA) throughout five test sessions, and the remaining participant showed it in the first four test sessions. These response‐response relations were replicated with five other undergraduates and different trained relations.     

Equivalence tests for comparing correlation and regression coefficients

Equivalence tests are an alternative to traditional difference‐based tests for demonstrating a lack of association between two variables. While there are several recent studies investigating equivalence tests for comparing means, little research has been conducted on equivalence methods for evaluating the equivalence or similarity of two correlation coefficients or two regression coefficients. The current project proposes novel tests for evaluating the equivalence of two regression or correlation coefficients derived from the two one‐sided tests (TOST) method (Schuirmann, 1987, J. Pharmacokinet. Biopharm, 15, 657) and an equivalence test by Anderson and Hauck (1983, Stat. Commun., 12, 2663). A simulation study was used to evaluate the performance of these tests and compare them with the common, yet inappropriate, method of assessing equivalence using non‐rejection of the null hypothesis in difference‐based tests. Results demonstrate that equivalence tests have more accurate probabilities of declaring equivalence than difference‐based tests. However, equivalence tests require large sample sizes to ensure adequate power. We recommend the Anderson–Hauck equivalence test over the TOST method for comparing correlation or regression coefficients.     

Moving to Learn: How Guiding the Hands Can Set the Stage for Learning

Previous work has found that guiding problem‐solvers' movements can have an immediate effect on their ability to solve a problem. Here we explore these processes in a learning paradigm. We ask whether guiding a learner's movements can have a delayed effect on learning, setting the stage for change that comes about only after instruction. Children were taught movements that were either relevant or irrelevant to solving mathematical equivalence problems and were told to produce the movements on a series of problems before they received instruction in mathematical equivalence. Children in the relevant movement condition improved after instruction significantly more than children in the irrelevant movement condition, despite the fact that the children showed no improvement in their understanding of mathematical equivalence on a ratings task or on a paper‐and‐pencil test taken immediately after the movements but before instruction. Movements of the body can thus be used to sow the seeds of conceptual change. But those seeds do not necessarily come to fruition until after the learner has received explicit instruction in the concept, suggesting a “sleeper effect” of gesture on learning.     

The perception of nested affordances: An examination of expert climbers

Nested affordances in climbing comprise of multiple sequential actions, encompassing more than isolated reaching and grasping. This study examined the extent to which the perception of (multiple) nested affordances in climbing can be understood relative to body-scaled anthropometrics (arm span) and action-scaled (maximal action capabilities) measures, in relation to sequential task-goals of varying complexity. The utilisation of functionally equivalent actions during the actualisation of nested affordances was also investigated. Participants were required to estimate the maximal distance a handhold could be reached in four conditions of varying complexity: nested affordances (reach to Touch; reach to Grasp) vs. multiple nested affordances (reach to grasp with one hand followed by Removing the other hand from the starting handhold; reach to grasp with one hand followed by Moving up to another handhold). Ten expert climbers first had to estimate their maximal reaching distance in these different conditions (Touch, Grasp, Remove, Move Up) before performing the climbing movement. This sequence of estimation-action was repeated four times in each condition. Results revealed that action-scaling measures better captured nested affordances when multiple sequential behaviours are nested than body-scaled measures. Our findings also suggest that expert climbers utilise functionally equivalent movements during the realisation of multiple nested affordances (Remove and Move Up conditions).     

Citations of Murray Sidman's work in JEAB: Evidence of a long and large contribution

We examined citations of Murray Sidman's publications in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior from the journal's inception in 1958 through May 2020. On average, he was cited 35.6 times per year. The rate of citation did not change substantially across time and the cumulative citation count was 2,212. His 10 publications cited most often deal with behavior-analytic research methods, stimulus equivalence, and unsignaled free-operant (or Sidman) avoidance. Our data provide clear evidence of the breadth and depth of Sidman's influence on the experimental analysis of behavior across 7 decades. His contributions were both exceptional and praiseworthy and his legacy will long endure.     

Do common elements predict class merger: A test of Sidman's theory of equivalence

The study presented here investigated the effect of common and uncommon elements on class merger as predicted by Sidman in his reconceptualization of stimulus equivalence suggesting that common elements among contingencies can facilitate emergent performances (1994, 1997, 2000). Eight adult participants were exposed to a procedure that arranged for stimulus–reinforcer correlations in Phase 1 and response–reinforcer correlations in Phase 2 of a 3-phase study. In the common element group, the visual images serving as reinforcers were the same in Phase 1 and Phase 2. In the uncommon elements group, the images serving as reinforcers were different in Phases 1 and 2. In Phase 3, participants were given an opportunity to respond but no feedback was programmed. The results showed that participants' responding was well differentiated in the common element group and undifferentiated in the uncommon elements group. These results are predicted by Sidman's revised formulation of the provenance and scope of equivalence relations. Specifically, these data support Sidman's (1994, 1997, 2000) suggestion that elements of a contingency enter into an equivalence class and common elements among contingencies are sufficient to produce class mergers. The findings highlight an emergent simple discrimination and raise some interesting considerations about the definition of equivalence under the new formulation.