Response–reinforcer contiguity versus response-rate–reinforcer-rate covariance in rats' lever pressing: Support for a multiscale view

The multiscale molar view sees behavior as a flow, like a river, extended in time. Matching theory expresses the way activities compete for time. Relative time taken by any activity depends on relative induction. The present experiment tested matching theory applied to concurrent contingent and noncontingent food. As adjunctive activities that compete with operant activity, we recorded hopper head entries and presses on a lever near the food hopper that had no programmed consequences. Eight naïve rats were first exposed to a variable-time 60 s schedule, which across conditions was gradually transformed into a variable-interval 60 s schedule by increasing the proportion of food that was delivered contingent on pressing a lever far from the hopper. Another group of 4 rats that had been trained to press a lever near a food hopper were introduced in the second condition, in which one food delivery was contingent on far-lever pressing. We found induction following a power function to describe pressing on the far lever (operant activity). Matching theory combined with power-function induction also accounted for adjunctive activity. Results with single contingent food deliveries provided little support for the molecular view that behavior consists of discrete responses “strengthened” by immediately following reinforcers.     

Food rejection and the development of food category-based induction in 2–6 years old children

We studied children’s inductive inferences within the domain of food categories. There has so far been little research on inductive reasoning about food among children, despite the theoretical and practical importance of knowing what knowledge children bring to the table and how they use it. We tested the hypotheses that children’s food category-based induction performances and their food rejection are negatively correlated, and that these performances are influenced by the colour typicality of the food items. We recruited 126 children aged 2–6 years, and administered a category-based induction task. Participants were successively shown 8 sets of three pictures containing one target picture (a vegetable) and two test pictures (a vegetable dissimilar in colour to the target picture and a fruit similar in colour to the target picture). For each set, participants were told a novel property about the target picture and asked to generalise this property to one of the two test pictures. Additionally, the parents of each child filled out a questionnaire about his or her food rejection tendencies. Results on accuracy (i.e. if participants generalised the properties according to category membership, not perceptual similarity) provided the first empirical evidence in favour of a negative relationship between children’s food rejection and food category-based induction.     

The Relationship between Intelligence and Age among Superior Adults

The authors addressed whether parental expression of disappointment should be included as a distinct factor in M. L. Hoffman's (2000) well-established typology of parenting styles (induction, love withdrawal, power assertion). Hoffman's 3-factor model, along with a more inclusive 4-factor model (induction, love withdrawal, power assertion, and expressions of disappointment), were respectively evaluated in exploratory factor analyses. The analysis utilized extant data (J. Krevans &; J. C. Gibbs, 1996) comprised of responses by children (N = 73) and their mothers (N = 67) to an adaptation of M. L. Hoffman and H. D. Saltzstein's (1967) parental discipline measure. The findings supported Hoffman's original model. Disappointment may be reducible to love withdrawal or induction, although disappointment may be a more appropriate induction for adolescents.     

术前右美托咪定滴鼻对全麻诱导期的影响

观察新型α2肾上腺素受体激动剂右美托咪定(Dex)对全麻诱导期NTI及应激反应的影响.择期全麻手术患者40例,ASA Ⅰ级～Ⅱ级,随机分为两组,D组(n=20):患者入室后Dex1μg/kg滴鼻;C组(n=20)作为对照组,滴入相同容积的生理盐水.30min后进行诱导,观察NTI、改良清醒镇静评分(MOAA/S)、平均动脉压(MAP)、心率(HR)、血氧饱和度(SpO2),记录给药前(T0),给药后10min(T1),给药后20min(T2),给药后30min(T3),插管前(T4),插管即刻(T5)各项值变化.D组T1～T3与T0比较,NTI值、MOAA/S逐渐降低(P＜0.05)且显著低于C组(P＜0.05);D组T2、T3与T0比较,HR明显减慢(P＜0.05);麻醉诱导期间,C组T5与T4比较,MAP、HR均显著升高(P＜0.05),D组T5与T4比较,MAP、HR虽有所升高,但差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05).Dex以1μg/kg滴鼻可明显镇静,使NTI值降低,诱导期血流动力学更加稳定,减少插管时应激反应.     

项目诊断性在特征推理中作用的研究

该研究在Murphy等人2005年研究的基础上,探讨了项目诊断性对特征推理的影响。实验1探讨归类情况下,项目诊断性对特征推理的影响。实验2探讨不归类情况下,项目诊断性对特征推理的影响。实验结果表明,归类与否决定项目诊断性是否影响特征推理。在归类情况下,高低两种诊断性条件下的特征概率判断没有差异,表明归类情况下,项目诊断性不影响特征推理;在不归类的情况下,高低两种诊断性条件下的特征概率判断存在显著差异,表明不归类情况下,项目诊断性影响特征推理。     

Impact of Experimentally Induced Positive and Anxious Mood on Alcohol Expectancy Strength in Internally Motivated Drinkers

The effects of musically‐induced positive and anxious mood on explicit alcohol‐related cognitions (alcohol expectancy strength) in 47 undergraduate students who consume alcohol either to enhance positive mood states (for enhancement motives) or to cope with anxiety (for anxiety‐related coping motives) were investigated. Pre‐ and post‐mood induction, participants completed the emotional reward and emotional relief subscales of the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire – Now. The hypothesis that anxiety‐related coping motivated drinkers in the anxious mood condition (but not those in the positive mood condition) would exhibit increases in strength of explicit emotional relief alcohol expectancies after the mood induction was supported. An additional, unanticipated finding was that enhancement‐motivated drinkers in the anxious condition also showed significant increases in strength of explicit emotional relief (but not emotional reward) alcohol expectancies. The hypothesis that enhancement‐motivated (but not anxiety‐related coping motivated) participants would exhibit increases in explicit emotional reward expectancies following exposure to the positive mood induction procedure was not supported. Taken together with past research findings, the current results highlight the importance of distinguishing between subtypes of negative affect (i.e., anxious and depressed affect) in exploring the affective antecedents of explicit alcohol outcome expectancies.     

A new definition of well-behaved discrimination functions

A discrimination function shows the probability or degree with which stimuli are discriminated from each other when presented in pairs. In a previous publication [Kujala, J.V., & Dzhafarov, E.N. (2008). On minima of discrimination functions. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 52, 116–127] we introduced a condition under which the conformity of a discrimination function with the law of Regular Minimality (which says, essentially, that “being least discriminable from” is a symmetric relation) implies the constancy of the function’s minima (i.e., the same level of discriminability of every stimulus from the stimulus least discriminable from it). This condition, referred to as “well-behavedness,” turns out to be unnecessarily restrictive. In this note we give a significantly more general definition of well-behavedness, applicable to all Hausdorff arc-connected stimulus spaces. The definition employs the notion of the smallest transitively and topologically closed extension of a relation. We provide a transfinite-recursive construction for this notion and illustrate it by examples.     

The Induction of Mood via the WWW

Five experiments explored the methodology of Web-based mood induction and yielded empirical evidence for its feasibility and its limits. Study 1 examined the suitability of the Velten method and mood-suggestive photographs to induce both positive and negative moods. Negative mood was successfully induced, while the positive mood induction failed. In Study 2, cartoons successfully ameliorated mood, whereas jokes were ineffective. In Study 3, associations with affectively valenced words were not suitable in producing a positive or a negative mood. In Study 4, picture-illustrated emotive texts successfully induced a positive and a negative mood. In Study 5, valence and arousal ratings were obtained for the stimuli used in Study 1 and 3. Based on the results, recommendations for the application of online mood induction procedures are given.