A comparison of displacement and reinforcer potency for typically developing children

Previous researchers found that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities tend to prefer edible over leisure stimuli, although leisure stimuli may still function as reinforcers. We replicated and extended previous research in a 2-part experiment with typically developing children. In Experiment 1, we evaluated 15 children's preference for leisure and edible stimuli. Five of 15 participants preferred edible over leisure stimuli, 3 of 15 participants preferred leisure over edible stimuli, and the remaining 7 of 15 participants did not show a preference for a stimulus class. In Experiment 2, we compared the reinforcer potency of the top-ranked stimulus from each class with 7 of the 8 participants who showed displacement of one stimulus class. Four of 7 participants allocated more responding to the task associated with the top-ranked stimulus and 3 of 7 participants showed no differences in responding to the task regardless of the stimulus rank.     

On the effectiveness of including meaningful pictures in the formation of equivalence classes

In three experiments, 165 adult participants were trained on 12 baseline conditional discriminations and tested for the formation of three 5-member equivalence classes (A➔B➔C➔D➔E). All experiments included two reference groups; the abstract (ABS) group was trained with all abstract stimuli and the picture (PIC) group with C-stimuli as meaningful pictorial stimuli but A, B, D, and E stimuli as abstract shapes. In Experiment 1, the color of the meaningful stimuli was manipulated. In the ABS, PIC, and black-and-white groups, 33.3%, 80%, and 93.3% formed equivalence classes, respectively. In Experiment 2, participants were exposed to a test block with and without trials that included C stimuli. For the groups with and without C trials in the test, 93.3% and 86.7% formed equivalence classes, respectively, compared to 20% in the ABS group. In Experiment 3, the number of meaningful pictures and their location in stimulus classes were manipulated. One group was trained with 3 pictures (C1/B2/D3, the 3-PIC) while the other groups had 2 pictures (C1/B2 and C1/D3, the 2-PIC). In the second test block for the ABS and PIC groups, 6.7% and 86% of the participants formed equivalence classes, respectively. For the 3-PIC and the 2-PIC groups, 66.7% and 50% of the participants formed equivalence classes, respectively. Results suggest that the effects of meaningful stimuli in equivalence classes (a) cannot be attributed to the use of colorful stimuli in previous studies, (b) occur during training and are not dependent on the presence of meaningful stimuli at test, and (c) are sensitive to stimulus location.     

任务转换和目标变化下的自我加工优势

本研究旨在通过联结学习任务和线索转换任务探讨自我关联刺激在任务转换和目标变化下的加工优势。结果发现：（1）相比于朋友和陌生人,自我更容易学习联结;（2）在线索转换任务中,所有关联刺激均未出现任务转换成本;（3）在目标变化条件下,自我关联刺激的目标结转效率最佳。结果表明自我关联刺激能够调节任务转换成本,并且在目标变化条件下能快速聚焦注意,表现出基于感知的特异性加工优势。     

任务需求对语义水平负相容效应的影响

结合掩蔽启动范式和Go-Nogo范式, 证明了语义水平负相容效应的存在, 考察了任务需求对语义水平负相容效应的影响。实验以汉字“左”和“右”作为掩蔽启动项, 在两个Block的Go试次中分别以双箭头和汉字为目标项, 要求被试做辨别反应, 在Nogo试次中不呈现目标项, 无需反应。行为结果发现, 只有当启动项与任务需求相关时才出现负相容效应。ERP结果发现, 只有在任务需求相关时Go任务中一致条件下的P3潜伏期更长; Nogo任务中, 相关条件下两种汉字启动项诱发的N2平均波幅差异显著, 相关和无关两种条件下P3波幅差异显著。说明语义水平负相容效应受自上而下任务需求影响, 这种影响是通过自上而下认知控制加工的调节实现的。     

中枢白细胞介素-1在应激升压反应中的作用

分别在乌拉坦麻醉及清醒的雄性SD大鼠观察到：(1)脑室注射IL-113出现升压效应,(2)条件恐惧应激刺激、足电击及脑室注射IL-1β诱发的升压反应均被脑室注射0．5pg的白细胞介素-1拮抗剂IL-1ra明显衰减;(3)静脉注射0．5μgIL-1ra对足电击引起的升压反应无明显影响。以上结果提示中枢IL-1介导条件恐惧应激刺激、及足电击诱发的升压反应。     

视觉信息加工中的整体优先性

该文综述了视知觉的整体优先性理论,以及关于整体优先性机制的理论及其面临的困难,特别介绍了本文作者近年来开展的一系列关于整体优先性的行为和事件相关电位研究结果,以及根据这些结果提出的一个基于知觉组织和选择性注意相互作用的复合刺激加工的理论模型。     

The Effectiveness of Argumentative Strategies

In this article, I further analyze the notion of the effectiveness of argumentative strategies, introduced in Jovičić, 2001. The most relevant achievements of the theories of reasonable discussion and the theories of persuasion are called to mind with the aim of explaining the mechanism of the argumentative effectiveness. As a result, a procedure for evaluating the effectiveness of argumentative strategies is suggested.     

Control by past and present stimuli depends on the discriminated reinforcer differential

The extent to which a stimulus exerts control over behavior depends largely on its informativeness. However, when reinforcers have discriminative properties, they often exert less control over behavior than do other less reliable stimuli such as elapsed time. We investigated why less reliable cues in the present often overshadow stimulus control by more reliable cues presented in the recent past, by manipulating the reliability and duration of stimulus presentations. Five pigeons worked on a modified concurrent schedule in which the location of the response that produced the last reinforcer was a discriminative stimulus for the likely time and location of the next reinforcer. In some conditions, either the location of the previous reinforcer, or the location of the next reinforcer, was signaled by a red key light. This stimulus was either Brief, occurring for 10 s starting a fixed time after the most recent reinforcer, or Extended, being present at all times between food deliveries. Brief and Extended stimuli that signaled the same information had a similar effect on choice when they were present, but control by Brief stimuli weakened as time since stimulus offset elapsed. Control was divided among stimuli in the present and recent past according to the apparent reliability of the information signaled about the next reinforcer. More reliable stimuli in the present degraded, but did not erase, control by less reliable stimuli presented in the recent past. Thus, we conclude that less reliable stimuli in the present control behavior to a greater degree than do more reliable stimuli in the recent past because these more reliable stimuli are forgotten, and hence their relation to the likely availability of food cannot be discriminated.     

老年人阈下情绪对其认知偏向和认知效率影响之比较

为了比较研究老年人的情绪对其认知效率和偏向的影响,随机选取25名正常老年人完成两项实验。一个为情绪STROOP实验,记录被试命名阈下呈现情绪图片（积极、消极和中性表情的人脸图片）后的颜色块的反应时;一个为情绪启动实验,同样呈现情绪图片后紧跟的是人的后脑勺图片,记录被试对后脑勺图片人物的表情猜测。结果发现,相对于中性情绪图片条件,老年人将跟在哭表情图片后的人物更多的猜测为哭;但是只有男性老年人的认知反应时因情绪图片条件而异：消极情绪图片延迟反应,积极情绪图片促进反应。     

阈上和阈下不同情绪线索对返回抑制的影响

为检验返回抑制是否受线索生物学意义的调节, 分别在实验一和实验二中以阈上和阈下不同情绪效价(高兴、生气和中性)的面孔为外源性线索, 变化同时提示位置的多寡, 要求被试对靶子尽可能快而准地作探测反应。实验一发现, 三种线索情况下均出现返回抑制且效应量无显著差异; 实验二发现, 线索为中性面孔时出现返回抑制, 线索为高兴和生气面孔时未出现返回抑制。说明返回抑制受线索生物学意义的调节。阈下线索的生物学意义(情绪效价)能得到自动加工, 从而影响空间注意的转移和返回抑制机制的功用; 阈上线索的情绪效价被清晰感知时, 自上而下的注意控制机制使线索的生物学意义被忽略, 从而阻碍情绪效价功能的发挥。