Stimuli, reinforcers, and behavior: an integration

We propose that a fundamental unit of behavior is the concurrent discriminated operant, and we discuss in detail a quantitative model of the concurrent three-term contingency that is based on the notion that an animal's behavior is controlled to differing extents by both stimulus—behavior and behavior—reinforcer relations. We show how this model can describe performance in a variety of experimental procedures: conditional discrimination and matching to sample, both with and without reinforcement for responses that are traditionally identified as errors; conditional discrimination with more than two stimuli and choice alternatives; delayed matching to sample and delayed reinforcement in matching to sample; second-order and complex conditional discrimination; and multiple and concurrent schedules. Although the model is incomplete in its coverage, and may be incorrect, we believe that this conceptual approach will bear fruit in the development of behavior theory.     

Effects of varying stimulus disparity and the reinforcer ratio in concurrent-schedule and signal-detection procedures.

The present study measured the effects of stimulus and reinforcer variations on pigeons' behavior in two different choice procedures. Two intensities of white light were presented as the stimuli on the main key in a switching-key concurrent schedule and as the sample stimuli in a signal-detection procedure. Under both procedures, the scheduled rate of reinforcement was varied across conditions to produce various ratios of obtained reinforcement. These ratios were obtained for seven pairs of light intensities. In the concurrent schedules, the effects of reinforcer-ratio variations were positively correlated with the physical disparity between the two light intensities. In the signal-detection procedure, changes in the reinforcer ratio produced greater effects on performance when stimulus disparity was very low or very high compared to those found at intermediate levels of stimulus disparity. This discrepancy creates a dilemma for existing behavioral models of signal-detection performance.     

What are you hiding? Initial validation of the reaction time-based searching concealed information test

The reaction time-based concealed information test (RT-CIT) has been used to judge the veracity of an examinees claim to be naïve by using RTs to test for recognition of relevant details. Here, we explore the validity of the RT-CIT to generate new knowledge about the incident—the searching CIT. In a mock terrorism study (n = 60) the RT-CIT not only allowed to link suspects to known crime details, but also allowed to reveal new crime details well above chance. A simulation study confirms the potential of the searching RT-CIT and identifies conditions under which it performs best. We used an archival dataset that met these conditions (high CIT effect, large number of item repetitions), and found better item classification performance than in the mock terrorism study. The searching RT-CIT could be a new, promising investigative tool to reveal new (e.g., crime) details to the investigative party.     

推理偏差:冲突察觉还是冲突抑制的失败?

双系统理论认为人类在推理过程中存在着两种类型的加工方式:一种为快速的、不受工作记忆资源影响的启发式加工; 一种为慢速的、受认知资源限制的分析式加工。通过对这两种加工类型互相作用方式的深入研究,目前已经形成了不同的加工模型,意图解决核心问题——推理偏差产生的原因。本研究从双系统加工模型入手,结合最新的行为、训练以及神经机制的研究,对导致推理偏差的原因究竟是冲突察觉还是冲突抑制的失败进行详细分析     

推理判断中偏差反应的加工机制：冲突探查失败，还是抑制失败？

通过控制自变量一致性（冲突、非冲突）与问题类型（基础比率问题、合取问题）,对推理判断中偏差反应的加工机制：冲突探查失败,还是抑制失败,进行验证。反应时、反应自信度的结果支持抑制失败说,被试对冲突的探查是成功的,偏差反应的产生是没能抑制占主导的直觉。而冲突探查大小（Conflict detection size）的结果表明冲突探查存在个体差异,有些被试对两种加工间的冲突探查过程完美无暇(Flawless detection),有些被试的冲突探查过程松散马虎(Lax detection),而且受到问题类型的影响。     

Compromised item detection: A Bayesian change-point perspective

Psychometric methods for accurate and timely detection of item compromise have been a long-standing topic. While Bayesian methods can incorporate prior knowledge or expert inputs as additional information for item compromise detection, they have not been employed in item compromise detection itself. The current study proposes a two-phase Bayesian change-point framework for both stationary and real-time detection of changes in each item's compromise status. In Phase I, a stationary Bayesian change-point model for compromise detection is fitted to the observed responses over a specified time-frame. The model produces parameter estimates for the change-point of each item from uncompromised to compromised, as well as structural parameters accounting for the post-change response distribution. Using the post-change model identified in Phase I, the Shiryaev procedure for sequential testing is employed in Phase II for real-time monitoring of item compromise. The proposed methods are evaluated in terms of parameter recovery, detection accuracy, and detection efficiency under various simulation conditions and in a real data example. The proposed method also showed superior detection accuracy and efficiency compared to the cumulative sum procedure.     

Human symbolic matching-to-sample performance: Effects of reinforcer and sample-stimulus probabilities

Four experiments, each with 6 human subjects, varied the distribution of reinforcers for correct responses and the probability of sample-stimulus presentation in symbolic matching-to-sample procedures. Experiment 1 held the sample-stimulus probability constant and varied the ratio of reinforcers obtained for correct responses on the two alternatives across conditions. There was a positive relation between measures of response bias and the ratio of reinforcers. Experiment 2 held the ratio of reinforcers constant and varied the sample-stimulus probability across conditions. Unlike previous studies that used pigeons as subjects, there was a negative relation between bias and the ratio of sample-stimulus presentations. In Experiment 3, the sample-stimulus probability and the reinforcer ratio covaried across conditions. Response bias did not vary systematically across conditions. In Experiments 1 to 3, correct responses were reinforced intermittently. Experiment 4 used the same procedure as Experiment 3, but all correct responses now produced some scheduled consequence. There was a positive relation between response bias and the ratio of reinforcers. The results suggest that human performance in these tasks was controlled by both the relative frequency of reinforced responses and the relative frequency of nonreinforced responses.     

Challenging Design: How Best to Account for the World as It Really Is

Evolutionary psychology and intelligent‐design theory both need to be able to account for the empirical world, or the world as it is. This essay is an attempt to clarify the challenges these theories need to meet, if the relevant empirical findings are replicable. There is evidence of change in the biological world and of modularity of mind, and there is a growing body of work that finds evolutionary theory a convincing and fruitful account of the “design” of the mind. Three major empirical findings within evolutionary psychology are presented and discussed. The author claims that Cartesian dualism, as it is usually meant within psychology—a split between body and mind—is false, but that Descartes' original division between body and soul has not been challenged and is not challenged by the evidence that the mind is also a biological entity. The article concludes that the convergence of theology and science is to be found in the onus to discover the truth about the world as it really is, and this calls for an ability on both parts to account for the empirical world.