Semantic feature representations for normal and aphasic language

Aphasic and non-neurological patients grouped nouns on the basis of similarity of meaning. These word groupings served as input matrices for hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling analyses. The emergent structures suggest that, while the normal adult has a number of levels upon which to organize his lexicon, the adult aphasic's lexicon can be characterized as a set of partial entries that are tied to affective and situational data. The results also suggest that semantic feature representations derived from similarity-of-meaning judgments are of relevance in the study of factors which influence actual language performance.     

Partial reinforcement effects and type of reward

In two experiments 68 rats were trained to bar press or run down a straight runway for food or for water under conditions of either continuous reinforcement or partial reinforcement. In both experiments, there was greater persistence of behavior which had been reinforced with food than with water. In Expt 2, the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) was observed with food reward, but not with water.Within the context of the experimental procedures used, it can be concluded that the rat has mechanisms for developing persistence which are dependent on the specific motivational system involved. This conclusion is related to theories of partial reinforcement effects and to possible biological origins of the mechanisms.     

The role of reference in children's acquisition of a miniature artificial language

Nursery school children were presented with a simple miniature artificial language in one of three conditions. In the first, the stimuli to which the words referred contained an inherent lawful relationship and the language syntax reflected this relationship. In the second, the stimuli contained an inherent lawful relationship but the language syntax did not reflect this relationship. In the third, no lawful relationship existed among the stimuli to which the words referred so the language syntax imposed an arbitrary relationship among stimuli. Subjects in the first group were able to produce more correct utterances than those in the other two groups when the stimuli to which the words referred were not present, suggesting that some form of semantic mediation mechanism was being used. Evidence from novel constructions indicates that for both groups using stimuli containing an inherent lawful relation there were interactions between semantic learning mechanisms and syntax learning mechanisms.     

Contingent reinforcement of lowered blood-alcohol levels in an outpatient chronic alcoholic

Recently. the proposition that alcohol abuse is an operant behavior and thus functionally related to its consequences has been investigated under experimental conditions. In controlled laboratory settings, in which inpatient chronic alcoholics are allowed access to alcoholic beverages, alcohol consumption has been markedly altered via operant strategies. Monetary rewards (Cohen et al., 1971), the opportunity to participate in an enriched environment (Cohen et al., 1971). and visits to a girlfriend (Bigelow et al., 1973) have been used as reinforcers for decreased drinking.Other investigators (Sulzer, 1965; Miller, 1972: Hunt and Azrin, 1973) have successfully applied similar contingency management techniques to alcoholics in the natural environment. However, failure to control for the influence of extraneous therapeutic variables (e.g., attention-placebo factors, job counseling) together with reliance on self-report measures of drinking behavior seriously limit the conclusiveness of these results. Objective assessment is particularly essential with operant techniques since consequent events must be systematically scheduled upon the occurrence or non-occurrence of drinking. Documentation of drinking in the natural environment is a difficult task since the alcoholic frequently consumes alcohol when he is alone. In lieu of direct observation, blood alcohol concentrations are an obvious means of objective assessment. Such data are most conveniently obtained via breath tests similar to the ones that law enforcement officers utilize to identify intoxicated motorists.The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of reinforcement contingencies on lowering blood alcohol concentrations obtained in an alcoholic's natural environment.     

Behavior therapy for obesity: Booster sessions and long-term maintenance of weight loss

Following 8 weekly sessions of group behavioral self-control treatment, 75 obese women were assigned to one of five different maintenance conditions: (a) structured behavioral booster sessions held every two weeks; (b) structured behavioral booster sessions held every month; (c) unstructured nonspecific booster sessions held every two weeks; (d) unstructured nonspecific booster sessions held every month; and (e) a control group that received no booster sessions. Follow-ups were conducted at 3, 6, 9 and 12 month intervals. The study was completed in two replications. Results failed to show a significant effect of either booster session content or frequency. All groups continued to lose weight during the first three months of follow-up. Thereafter subjects in Replication 1 showed significant increases in weight over the next 9 months, whereas subjects in Replication 2 maintained their treatment-produced weight loss. The data do not support the view that booster sessions facilitate maintenance.     

The behavioral treatment of insomnia an alternative to drug therapy.

The use of hypnotic drugs to treat insomnia is criticized because of (a) tolerance effects, (b) carry-over effects, (c) alterations in sleep patterns, (d) rebound effects, and (e) attributional effects. Behavioral treatments represent a more viable alternative and are reviewed under four headings: (a) systematic desensitization: (b) applied relaxation; (c) attribution-based therapies; and (d) classical conditioning therapies. The behavioral therapies are predicated upon three views of insomnia: first, that insomnia results from excessively high levels of arousal prior to and during sleep; second, that insomnia occurs when the sleep environment lacks sufficient stimulus control over sleeping; and finally, that insomnia is often enhanced and maintained by exacerbation cycles in which worries about not falling asleep interfere even further with one's sleep.     

Trait anxiety moderation of the effects of life stress on state anxiety

Many theories of anxiety have predicted and much previous research has indicated a person × situation interaction between stressors and trait anxiety. This study examined the hypothesized role of individual differences in trait anxiety in the relationship between naturally occurring stressors and state anxiety scores. Two hundred eighty-seven college undergraduates completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, which provides both state and trait anxiety measures, and the Life Experiences Survey, which provides a measure of the amount of stress a person has undergone in the previous year. Trait anxiety scores were divided into quartiles and correlations between state anxiety scores and Life Experiences Survey scores and multiple regressions for trait anxiety and life stress to predict state anxiety were computed within each quartile. The results were that only in the first quartile was there a significant correlation between life stress and state anxiety, which was contrary to the predictions of state-trait anxiety theory. The validity of state-trait anxiety theory, as it relates to life stress, was questioned.     

Reaction time, intelligence, and attention

The roles of attention in reaction time and in the relationships among reaction time, intelligence, and achievement were analyzed. The subjects were 105 seventh-grade children. The results were generally consistent with most studies involving the Hick paradigm: both mean reaction time and the standard deviation of reaction time correlated with the intelligence and achievement measures used. Reaction time measures were correlated with attention and perceptual speed as well as with general intelligence, or g. Implications of these results for current theories linking reaction time and intelligence are discussed.     

Visual and verbal modes of information processing and cognitively-based coping strategies: An extension and replication

This study was designed to investigate the interaction between the use of an imaginallybased vs a verbally-based coping strategy with subjects who were selected on the basis of strong preferences for either visual or verbal modes of information processing. Forty-eight female students were subjected to a cold-pressor task. Measures of pain tolerance, pain threshold and a pain rating were obtained. The findings indicated that there was not a significant relationship between preferred cognitive style and the types of coping strategy provided. However, the treatments combined were found to be significantly more effective than the no-treatment condition on all three dependent measures. A structured debriefing revealed that use of visual vs verbal coping strategies did not differ as a function of treatment type or preferred cognitive style. It was concluded that individuals may demonstrate considerable flexibility in adapting to different types of cognitively-based coping strategies.     

Cognition in music

A cognitive/constructive view of music is put forth that diverges from traditional conceptions of music (e.g., music as sound; music as behavior; music as communication). The present view attempts to be compatible with the evidence of historic style changes that have occurred in the notated repertory of Western music. Two levels of cognitive processing are proposed: processes on the level of particular styles (germane to a certain period, culture, or community) and processes that are generic, universal, or cross-stylistic. Twelve such generic processes are described in detail. Several problems in the research stemming from earlier definitions of music are explored. In particular, attention is given to the artifacts of theoretical analysis (e.g., scales, chords, and discrete pitches) and their influence on music-psychological research.