Evaluating the efficacy of pictorial preference assessments with children who engage in food selectivity

Preference assessments are used in practice with individuals who engage in food refusal and selectivity to identify foods that a child will readily consume before assessment and treatment. Traditional edible preference assessments may be challenging for children who engage in food refusal or selectivity as the child may not consume foods, but rather engage in inappropriate mealtime behavior simply due to the presence of food. Alternative modality preference assessments, such as pictorial, may offer benefits compared to traditional preference assessment formats (e.g., stimulus preference assessment and paired-stimulus preference assessment). The use of pictures may reduce any evocative effects of the presence of food and result in choice-making without inappropriate mealtime behavior. Experiment 1 assessed the correspondence between the hierarchies yielded from pictorial preference assessments (with and without access) to a standard edible preference assessment. Experiment 2 evaluated the accuracy of each preference assessment by presenting foods identified as preferred and non-preferred to determine if the child would accept them. Results suggested that pictorial preference assessments with access corresponded the most with the traditional edible preference assessment. Also, for one individual, the traditional preference assessment did not accurately identify foods that the participant would consume, while the pictorial preference assessment without access yielded a hierarchy.     

An examination of stimulus technology level and preference displacement during multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessments

Researchers have observed that preference for edible items may displace preference for leisure items when items from the stimulus classes are assessed together within multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments. The current study extends previous research by examining patterns of preference and displacement when assessing preference for high-tech and low-tech leisure items. We conducted three separate MSWO preference assessments; one assessing low-tech items, another assessing high-tech items, and a combined assessment (using the top four high- and low-tech items from the previous assessments) to test for displacement. Preference for high-tech items fully or partially displaced preference for low-tech items in five of eight participants. We then conducted concurrent and single operant reinforcer assessments using the highly preferred high-tech and low-tech items. Reinforcer assessment results demonstrated similar levels of responding for the highest preferred high-tech and low-tech items, indicating that combining high- and low-tech items within preference assessments may influence the validity of results.     

A multistage ranking model

In this paper, we propose a (n–1)² parameter, multistage ranking model, which represents a generalization of Luce's model. We propose then×n item-rank relative frequency matrix (p-matrix) as a device for summarizing a set of rankings. As an alternative to the traditional maximum likelihood estimation, for the proposed model we suggest a method which estimates the parameters from thep-matrix. An illustrative numerical example is given. The proposed model and its differences from Luce's model are briefly discussed. We also show some specialp-matrix patterns possessed by the Thurstonian models and distance-based models.     

Influence of perceived emotion and gender on social motor coordination

Theorists have long postulated that facial properties such as emotion and sex are potent social stimuli that influence how individuals act. Yet extant scientific findings were mainly derived from investigations on the prompt motor response upon the presentation of affective stimuli, which were mostly delivered by means of pictures, videos, or text. A theoretical question remains unaddressed concerning how the perception of emotion and sex would modulate the dynamics of a continuous coordinated behaviour. Conceived in the framework of dynamical approach to interpersonal motor coordination, the present study aimed to address this question by adopting the coupled-oscillators paradigm. Twenty-one participants performed in-phase and anti-phase coordination with two avatars (male and female) displaying three emotional expressions (neutral, happy, and angry) at different frequencies (100% and 150% of the participant's preferred frequency) by executing horizontal rhythmic left-right oscillatory movements. Time to initiate movement (TIM), mean relative phase error (MnRP), and standard deviation of relative phase (SDRP) were calculated as indices of reaction time, deviation from the intended pattern of coordination, and coordination stability, respectively. Results showed that in anti-phase condition at 150% frequency, MnRP was lower with the angry and the female avatar. In addition, coordination was found to be more stable with the male avatar than the female one when both displaying neutral emotion. But the happy female avatar was found to elicit more stable coordination than the neutral female avatar. These results implied that individuals are more relaxed to coordinate with the female than the male, and the sensorimotor system becomes more flexible to coordinate with an angry person. It is also suggested social roles influence how people coordinate, and individuals attend more to interact with a happy female. In sum, the present study evidenced that social perception is embodied in the interactive behaviour during social interaction.     

Implicit learning of semantic preferences of English words by Chinese learners

The aim of the present study was to explore whether Chinese learners could implicitly learn the semantic preferences of novel English words. In training, participants learned four novel verbs and were exposed to a set of verb-noun phrases that included these new words. What the participants were not told was that the use of the verbs depended on the concreteness of the nouns (i.e., the semantic preference rule). In testing, participants were required to choose between two possible verbs (one of which violated the semantic preference rule) for nouns that never occurred in training. The results showed that participants acquired unconscious knowledge of semantic preferences under incidental learning conditions, as measured by verbal reports and structural knowledge attributions. Our results provide further evidence for implicit learning of semantic preferences, suggesting that implicit learning is an important mechanism in the acquisition of L2 collocations.     

Preference for leisure items over edible items in individuals with dementia: A replication

We replicated previous research in which adults with dementia tended to show a preference for leisure items over edible items when presented in the same array. Additionally, we conducted engagement analyses with the highest, middle, and lowest preference leisure items to determine whether relative preference corresponded to engagement in the natural environment. The most highly preferred stimulus for 6 out of 7 participants was a leisure item, and for each of those six the top 3 preferred stimuli were leisure stimuli. For 4 participants, the most preferred stimulus also produced the longest duration of engagement. We discuss the issues we encountered when conducting preference assessments with adults with intact vocal verbal repertoires, and suggest potential explanations for the displacement of edibles by leisure stimuli in older adults with dementia.     

不同类型自恋者对自我相关信息的认知加工偏好

以姓名和形容词为材料,采用自恋人格量表测评被试的自恋水平,通过视觉搜索任务和记忆测试任务考察个体对相关信息的注意和记忆程度,探讨不同类型自恋者对自我相关信息的认知加工偏好。结果显示,高水平自恋者比低水平自恋者有更明显的认知加工偏好;高显性自恋者比低显性自恋者对积极词具有记忆偏好,高隐性自恋者比低隐性自恋者对消极词具有记忆偏好。被试对与自己相关密切的信息具有更高的认知加工偏好,且对自己信息的这一优势更为明显;高显性自恋者比低显性自恋者对自己相关、熟悉人相关的积极信息具有认知加工偏好,高隐性自恋者较低隐性自恋者对自己相关的消极信息具有认知加工偏好。结果表明,不同类型自恋者对自我相关信息具有不同的认知加工偏好,不同类型的自恋对自我相关信息的认知加工过程和结果具有影响。     

The Multiplicative AHP,SMART and ELECTRE in a Common Context

This paper presents a comparative study of three popular methods for multicriteria decision analysis based on a particular model of human preferential judgement. Since decisions are invariably made within a given context, we model relative preferences as ratios of increments or decrements in an interval on an axis of desirability. Next we sort the ratio magnitudes into a small number of categories, represented by numerical values on a geometric scale. We explain why the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the French collection of ELECTRE methods, typically based on pairwise comparison methods, are concerned with categories of ratio magnitudes, whereas the simple multiattribute rating technique (SMART) essentially uses orders of magnitude of these ratios. This phenomenon provides a common basis for the analysis of the methods in question and for a cross-validation of their results. We illustrate the approach via a well-known case study, the choice of a location for a nuclear power plant. We conclude by discussing the scope of the comparative study. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preference Structures and Co-comparability Graphs

Order structures such as linear orders, weak orders, semiorders and interval orders are often considered as models of a decision maker's preferences. In this paper we introduce and study new order structures characterized by their symmetric part belonging to certain classes of co-comparability graphs. We outline possible interpretations and suggest special representations of these structures and we point out their potential use for approximating relations obtained through a multicriteria aggregation procedure. We provide various characterizations of the new structures (as well as of older ones) in terms of minimal forbidden configurations and by algebraic conditions.     

Reflections on how color term acquisition is constrained

Compared with object word learning, young children typically find learning color terms to be a difficult linguistic task. In this reflections article, I consider two questions that are fundamental to investigations into the developmental acquisition of color terms. First, I consider what constrains color term acquisition and how stable these constraints are over culture and age. I review recent studies that have identified conceptual, attentional, and linguistic constraints that seemingly operate on the acquisition of color terms compared with object words and the differential acquisition of color terms within a given language. Second, I consider whether these constraints are specific to the acquisition of color terms or whether they reflect more general constraints that operate on other classes of lexical terms such as different abstract property terms.