No attentional bias for pictoral stimuli in spider-fearful subjects

A number of experiments have shown that (spider) fearful subjects direct their attention to fear-relevant words, even when these words are irrelevant to the completion of a target task (e.g., color naming). The present study examined whether subjects with an intense fear of spiders also display such attentional bias for a fear-relevant pictoral stimulus. Female spider-fearful (n=13) and control subjects (n=13) saw neutral patterns (i.e., horizontal and vertical bars). One pattern served as target for a reaction time, while the other pattern served as nontarget. Targets and nontargets were accompanied by either fear-relevant or neutral pictoral material (i.e., a picture of a spider or a picture of a flower, respectively). The fear-relevant picture did not selectively delibate reaction time performance of spider-fearful subjects. Thus, no evidence was found for an attentional bias for fear-relevant pictoral material in subjects with an intense fear of spiders. Instead, fearful subjects exhibited a general inhibition of performance which became stronger over trials. This suggests that the fear-relevant picture induced a state of anxious arousal or defensive withdrawal that interfered with reaction time performance on both fear-relevant and neutral trials.     

Effects of active student response during error correction on the acquisition and maintenance of geography facts by elementary students with learning disabilities

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of Active Student Response (ASR) error correction and No Response (NR) error correction during instruction of the capitals of states and countries. Three students with learning disabilities were provided one-to-one daily instruction on four sets of 14 unknown capitals (7 ASR capitals and 7 NR capitals). Student errors during instruction on ASR capitals were immediately followed by the teacher stating the capital and the student repeating it (an active student response). Errors on NR capitals were immediately followed by the teacher stating the capital while the student visually attended to a geography card with the correct capital handwritten on it (an on-task response). During instruction each of the three students correctly stated more capitals taught with ASR instruction than he or she stated with NR error correction. Results of same-day and next-day tests show that all three students learned more capitals with ASR error correction than with NR error correction The students also correctly stated more ASR error correction capitals on 1-week maintenance tests.     

STIMULUS (INSTRUCTIONAL) FADING DURING EXTINCTION OF SELF-INJURIOUS ESCAPE BEHAVIOR

Three individuals with developmental disabilities were exposed to a series of assessment conditions to identify the source of reinforcement for their self-injurious behavior. In each case, self-injury occurred most often in instructional (demand) situations containing a brief time-out from the task contingent on self-injury, indicating that the behavior was an escape response (i.e., maintained by negative reinforcement). Treatment was implemented in a multiple baseline across subjects design and consisted of extinction (prevention of escape) plus instructional fading (initial elimination of instructions followed by their gradual reintroduction). Results showed that the combined treatment produced immediate and large reductions in self-injury that were maintained as the frequency of instructions was increased across sessions to match the original baseline rate of presentation. Results of a component analysis conducted with 1 subject suggested that stimulus fading accelerated the behavior-reducing effects of extinction.     

婴儿共同注意能力的发展

本研究采用严格的实验室测验法,从年龄趋势、学习能力、性别差异三方面考察了8～11个月婴儿共同注意能力的发展。结果表明：1）婴儿的共同注意力在8～11个月间逐步提高,9个月左右出现显著的发展性变化,但1岁以前,该能力的发展水平都较低;2）就共同注意而言,婴儿具有从练习经验中学习的可能性,且学习能力存在年龄差异,8个月的婴儿基本不能从练习中受益,而8个月以上的其他三组婴儿在练习后共同注意水平都有不同程度的提高;3）总体而言,女婴共同注意能力的发展水平显著地高于男婴。     

人性观对心理学理论与研究的影响

心理学的基本理论,尤其是人格理论,通常都蕴含着对人性的假设。人性观的差异常常导致其理论建构的差异。而且人性观影响心理学研究的方式、方法,影响对心理成因的认识、对心理疾病的理解、及对异常矫正策略的选择。     

8─11个月婴儿迂回行为发展特点与学习能力的研究

采用程序标准化的婴儿迂回行为测验,探讨了２４４名８－１１个月婴儿的迂回行为发展特点及学习能力。结果表明：（１）８－１１个月婴儿的迂回行为水平表现出随婴儿月龄的增长而提高的趋势。（２）８－１１个月的婴儿具有从反复尝试中学会迂回行为的可能性,其中９、１０个月的婴儿的学习可能性较大,而８个月婴儿的学习可能性较小。（３）８－１１个月婴儿的学习速度随月龄增大而提高。     

Relative sensitivity of the mutual exclusivity and novel-name-nameless category assumptions

The mutual exclusivity (ME) assumption states that children affix a novel label to only one unfamiliar object, while the novel-name-nameless category (N3C) assumption states that children affix a novel label to multiple unfamiliar objects. To compare the relative sensitivity of the two assumptions, two types of tasks, with two trials in each, were given to 5-year-olds. In the first trial of each task, all children selected only the unfamiliar object for a novel label, which was consistent with the ME assumption. For the task which did not have the same unfamiliar object in the two trials, 94% of the children selected the object with the same shape but black-white reversed image in the second trial, which was consistent with the N3C assumption. For the task which had the same unfamiliar object in the two trials, 43% of the children selected the same object in the second trial, which was consistent with the ME assumption, and 48% of them selected the object with the same shape but reversed image, which was consistent with the N3C assumption. The findings suggest that the ME and N3C assumptions can be flexibly applied to children's word learning.     

Stimulus control in the use of landmarks by pigeons in a touch-screen task

Pigeons were tested in a search task on the surface of a monitor on which their responses were registered by a touch-sensitive device. A graphic landmark array was presented consisting of a square outline (the frame) and a colored “landmark.” The unmarked goal, pecks at which produced reward, was located near the center of one edge of the frame, and the landmark was near it. The entire array was displaced without rotation on the monitor from trial to trial. On occasional no-reward tests, the following manipulations were made to the landmark array: (a) either the frame or the landmark was removed; (2) either one edge of the frame or the landmark was shifted; and (3) two landmarks were presented with or without the frame present. On these two-landmark tests, the frame, when present, defined which was the “correct” landmark. When the frame was absent, the “correct” landmark was arbitrarily determined. Results showed that pecks of 2 pigeons were controlled almost solely by the landmark, pecks of 3 were controlled primarily by the landmark but the frame could distinguish the correct landmark, and 1 bird's behavior was controlled primarily by the frame. Stimulus control in this search task is thus selective and differs across individuals. Comparisons to other search tasks and to other stimulus control experiments are made.     

The effects of cocaine on behavior maintained by timeout from avoidance.

Rats were trained on concurrent schedules under which responses on one lever postponed shock (avoidance) and responses on the other lever produced brief (2-min) periods of signaled timeout from avoidance. For 6 rats, timeout from avoidance was programmed on a variable-interval 45-s schedule that generally resulted in rates that were lower than those on the avoidance lever. For another 6 rats, timeout was arranged on a variable-ratio 15 schedule that produced higher baseline rates. Cocaine (3 to 40 mg/kg) produced large, dose-dependent increases in behavior maintained by timeout in both groups of rats. Avoidance responding was also generally increased by cocaine, but the increases were of lesser magnitude. Increases in response rates were seen across a broad range of doses on behavior maintained by either interval or ratio schedules, an outcome that was unexpected on the basis of most studies of cocaine on food-maintained behavior. These results were similar to those of previous studies of the effects of amphetamine on behavior maintained by timeout from avoidance and suggest that stimulant drugs affect behavior maintained under a shock-postponement schedule differently than they affect behavior maintained by timeout from avoidance.     

Wisdom and abiding interest: Interviews with three noted historians in later life

This article explores the connections between wisdom-related attributes and abiding interest and draws upon material from interviews with three eminent historians in later life. It is proposed that one characteristic of wisdom, namely, the coordination of affective/attaching and cognitive/detaching modes of processing information, is related to abiding interest or the ability to self-regulate attention in a way that promotes lifelong learning. The article (a) reviews pertinent constructs in the literatures on adult development and wisdom; (b) presents selected excerpts from in-depth interviews; and (c) concludes by discussing the developmental implications of the ideas presented.