Classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response under fixed and mixed CS-US intervals

The rabbit's nictitating membrane response was classically conditioned to a tone CS, followed by an electric shock US, at two randomly alternating CS-US interstimulus intervals (ISIs). Different groups were exposed to different proportions of 200- and 700-msec ISIs. The study revealed: (a) CR percentage was a direct function of the proportion of 200-msec ISIs; (b) trials to the first test-trial CR were an inverse function of the proportion of 200-msec ISIs; (c) CR onset latencies decreased over training; (d) CR peak latencies coincided with the temporal loci of the US; and (e) groups exposed to both ISIs acquired double-peaked CRs. Moreover, the amplitudes of nictitating membrane responses in the present experiment paralleled certain quantitative aspects of the free operant key peck response rates of pigeons trained under two mixed inter-reinforcement intervals. The results were discussed with respect to the micromolar response shaping and macromolecular CS-trace accounts of classical conditioning.     

Effects of toy guns and airplanes on children's antisocial free play behavior.

The effects of toy guns and toy airplanes on children's antisocial (aggression and rule-breaking) behavior was investigated in two settings (ten children in Study I and 13 in Study II) during 30-min free play sessions. Four-and 5-year-old children were observed during 15–16 free play sessions. During some sessions the children played either with (novel, aggressive) toy guns or with (novel, nonaggressive) toy airplanes in addition to their usual toys. In both studies, the toy guns treatment produced a reliably higher rate of antisocial behavior than the average of the toy airplaines and the usual toys. The novel-nonaggressive toy airplanes also increased the rate of antisocial behavior as compared to usual toys in Study II. The results were related primarily to Berkowitz's and Bandura's analyses of aggressive behavior, but they were related also to other theoretical models which predict stimulus control of behavior.     

Why Mikey's right and my key's wrong: The significance of stress and word boundaries in a child's output system

The systematic errors children make in the course of phonological development, like adult production errors and adult phonological processes, can provide evidence of language production mechanisms. A detailed investigation of the environments in which velar stops are fronted by a phonologically delayed child reveals that fronting is dependent on both word stress and word boundaries; that it shows lexical exceptions; and that it occurs in output only. This distribution suggests that the child has output lexical representations which are independent of input lexical representations, and that the fronting error occurs in these output representations. It also suggests that prosodic features are crucial to the identification of articulatory features within these representations. Such an analysis has implications for theories of lexical access, and for the development of lexical access in children.     

Concerning Hunt's new ways of assessing intelligence

Hunt envisions the automation of intelligence testing (Intelligence, 1982, 6, 231–240), but he appears to be overly optimistic. He neglects to mention conceptual and practical difficulties at the interface of measurement and theory that place psychometry not in the dawn of microcomputerization, but rather more nearly in its primordium.     

Qualitative aspects of pantomime recognition defect in aphasia

This study investigated the performance pattern of aphasic patients on a pantomime recognition test in which one of the four response alternatives was an object semantically related to the correct choice. Aphasics with defective pantomime recognition made 71% of their total errors on the semantic foils, and for the majority of such patients, semantic errors represented 80 to 100% of total errors. Only aphasies with objective evidence of confusion failed to make highly frequent semantic errors. The findings suggest that most aphasies who fail pantomime recognition are impaired because of semantically vague understanding of the pantomimes' intended meaning rather than complete lack of understanding of the pantomime.     

The home observation for measurement of the environment (HOME) scale: A review of research

Caldwell's Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scale is perhaps the most widely used instrument to assess the quality of a young child's home learning environment. In this paper, the HOME'S psychometric properties and methodological uses are explored, and its utility as a research and clinical instrument is examined. Strengths of the HOME scale include the relatively wide range of information available pertaining to its psychometric properties and its use in studies of a variety of populations for a variety of purposes. Weaknesses include the fact that most research relating HOME scores to later child development is correlational. Several suggestions for future research are offered.