The effects of response cost and response restriction on a multiple-response repertoire with humans

In two experiments a multiple-response repertoire of four free-operant responses was developed with university students as subjects using monetary gain as reinforcement. Following baseline, one of the responses was reduced either by making monetary loss contingent upon it (response cost) or by removing it from the repertoire (response restriction). In Experiment 1 a multielement baseline design was employed in which baseline and restriction or response-cost contingencies alternated semirandomly every 3 minutes. In Experiment 2 a reversal design was employed (i.e., baseline, restriction or response cost, then baseline), and each response required a different amount of effort. Both experiments had the following results: (a) The target response decreased substantially; (b) most nontarget responses increased, and the rest remained near their baseline levels; and (c) no support was found for Dunham's hierarchical, most frequent follower, or greatest temporal similarity rules. For several subjects, the least probable responses during baseline increased most, and the most probable responses increased least. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, responses with the lowest frequency of reinforcement increased most (for all 7 subjects), and those with the greatest frequency of reinforcement increased least (for 5 subjects).     

儿童学习时间分配决策能力发展的研究进展

学习时间分配的研究进行了将近40年,而对儿童学习时间分配的发展研究也走过了近40年的历史。从最初的他控步调的学习到后来的自控步调的学习,从关注学习材料的难度这一外部线索到关注学习者内部的活动机制,从讨论学习时间分配活动本身到探讨影响学习时间分配发展的各种因素,对于学习时间分配发展的研究始终在不断深入。文章从上述视角,对学习时间分配的新近研究进行了总结。并对今后的研究趋势进行了展望。     

不同时间限制下小学儿童学习时间分配决策水平的发展

采用3×3二因素混合实验设计,利用计算机呈现刺激并记录被试的反应,以语意联系密切程度不同的词对作为难易不同的材料,借助线索回忆作为提取方式,利用四项研究分别探查小学儿童在短时限、中等时限和无时限三种时间限制下,学习时间分配的发展特点和趋势。得到如下结论：（1）小学各阶段儿童在学习过程中,主动进行了学习时间分配的决策。（2）儿童学习时间分配的决策水平随年龄增长而提高。（3）不同的时间限制难度不同,儿童在不同的难度任务下选择了不同的掌握标准,进行了不同的时间分配,支持了“标准影响分配假说”。（4）随着年龄增长,儿童的提取正确率有增加的趋势,时限越长,提取正确率越高。     

Effect of verbal messages with reminders to communicate driving situations to alter driver behavior in conditional driving automation

In conditionally automated driving, drivers are relieved of steering (hands-off), accelerating, and braking actions as well as of continuous monitoring of driving situations and the system operation status (eyes off). This enables continuously engagement in non-driving-related activities. Managing the allocation of a driver’s attention to the surrounding environment and automation status presents a major challenge in human–machine system design. In this study, we propose a verbal message with a reminder (monitoring request) to divert the driver’s attention from non-driving-related activities to peripheral monitoring under conditionally automated driving. When the system encounters events related to weather, traffic, and road geometry, it provides a verbal message pertaining to the road surroundings (e.g., “It is foggy outside”) to the driver. After three seconds, the system provides a reminder message (i.e., “Did you confirm it?”) to the driver. We explore two questions: (1) how does the message with the reminder affect the driver’s attention allocation, and (2) how does the message with the reminder affect the driver behavior in response to a request to intervene (RTI). With a driving simulator, we designed a repeated measures mixed design with a between-participant factor of “Driving condition” and within-participant factors of “Event type” and “Measurement time”. Three driving conditions were established as follows: no messages, messages without reminders, and messages with reminders. Twenty-seven drivers participated as participants in the driving simulator experiment. Results showed that the reminder message was effective in allocating the participants’ attention to the surrounding environment, and the participants took over the driving task after spending more time understanding the take-over situation in the condition of messages with reminders compared to those in the condition of no messages. We conclude that the proposed reminder message can direct drivers’ attention to the road surroundings during conditionally automated driving. In the future, we plan to design adaptive verbal monitoring requests to adjust the reminder message according to the situation.     

Religiosity and Soviet ‘modernisation’ in Central Asia: locating religious traditions and rituals in recollections of antireligious policies in Uzbekistan

The main argument of this article is that religious policies implemented during the Soviet era and adaptations of the public to them produced a new understanding of religiosity and religious life among the population in Uzbekistan. The Soviet administration promoted the rejection of religion as an official policy and utilised a vast range of opportunities to criticise religion and promote secular education. However, there were other policies the public remembers as initially shocking to indigenous society but eventually accepted as positive because they assisted in the process of modernisation. These policies are exemplified by the hujum (unveiling) campaign to institutionalise safeguards against under-age and forced marriage, introduce conventional education and promote the wider integration of non-religious Soviet men and women into public life. An analysis of the manner in which people have come to terms with their past and their recollections of antireligious campaigns helps us understand how life under the Soviet government not only resulted in changes in lifestyles but also redrew the ‘boundaries’ of ‘proper’/‘modernised’ religious life and of what are now considered to be the religious remnants of the past.     

Challenging tasks: The role of employees' and supervisors' goal orientations

Research shows that challenging jobs stimulate employee learning and retention. Nevertheless, empirical knowledge on what influences the amount of challenging tasks employees perform in their job is lacking. In this study, we examined the extent to which the performance of challenging tasks is related to employees' and supervisors' goal orientations. We found a positive relationship between employees' mastery-approach orientation and the performance of challenging tasks. Furthermore, if supervisors had authority over the tasks of their employees, supervisors' goal orientations were related to employees' task challenge. Performing challenging tasks was negatively related to supervisors' performance-approach orientation and positively related to supervisors' performance-avoidance orientation.     

Examining the Potential Exploitation of UNOS Policies

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waiting list was designed as a just and equitable system through which the limited number of organs is allocated to the millions of Americans in need of a transplant. People have trusted the system because of the belief that everyone on the list has an equal opportunity to receive an organ and also that allocation is blind to matters of financial standing, celebrity or political power. Recent events have revealed that certain practices and policies have the potential to be exploited. The policies addressed in this paper enable those on the list with the proper resources to gain an advantage over other less fortunate members, creating a system that benefits not the individual most in medical need, but the one with the best resources. These policies are not only unethical but threaten the balance and success of the entire UNOS system. This paper proposes one possible solution, which seeks to balance the concepts of justice and utility.

     

Evolutionary policy contexts and policies in preparation for the twenty‐first century

The importance of preparing now for the next century is emphasized. The author's field and Kondratiev theories as a basis for long‐range policymaking over periods of dynamic, recon‐figurational change are briefly reviewed, and a number of assumptions relevant to this kind of policymaking are provided.. Equilibrium and nonequilibrium structures and thinking are contrasted. Limitations to control associated with limits to knowledge and knowability are discussed. The possibility is considered that continuation of present policies and practices may accelerate movement along a trajectory to nowhere. Problem solutions are considered within the context of what is meant by a civilized society, and some 15 characteristics of a civilized society are proposed. The theoretical basis for preparation for the Twenty‐First Century is advanced. Deficiencies in the present dominant politicoeconomic theories of Western Capitalistic Democracy and Marxism are discussed, and the need for a new set of “founding fathers” is proposed. The importance of developing and implementing a replacement theory of similar magnitude to present theories is emphasized, and the nature of this theory is briefly sketched. Some recommendations for guided paradigm change are offered.     

基于泰尔指数的辽宁卫生资源配置公平性分析

利用泰尔指数对辽宁省卫生资源配置公平性进行分析评价,其中包括医院(卫生院)床位、卫生总人员、卫生技术人员、医师和护士(师)等五项.研究结果显示,辽宁卫生资源配置的总体公平性较好,但不同经济发展水平区域卫生资源配置的公平性存在较大差异,区域间差异是导致辽宁卫生资源配置不公平的主要成因.     

Explicit and implicit Need for Cognition and bottom-up/top-down attention allocation

Need for Cognition (NFC), the tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking, is usually directly measured via self-report. In order to validate an indirect NFC Implicit Association Test, we followed up on evidence suggesting NFC to be related to electrocortical indicators of bottom-up and top-down attention allocation in an oddball paradigm. In 99 participants, we did not find effects of directly and indirectly measured NFC on the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, but found a main effect of explicit NFC on bottom-up target processing and an interactive effect of explicit and implicit NFC on top-down target processing. These findings further implicate NFC in the modulation of attention allocation and highlight the usefulness of direct and indirect measures in individual differences research.