EFFECT OF REINFORCEMENT PROBABILITY AND PRIZE SIZE ON COCAINE AND HEROIN ABSTINENCE IN PRIZE‐BASED CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT

Although treatment outcome in prize‐based contingency management has been shown to depend on reinforcement schedule, the optimal schedule is still unknown. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial (Ghitza et al., 2007) to determine the effects of the probability of winning a prize (low vs. high) and the size of the prize won (small, large, or jumbo) on likelihood of abstinence until the next urine‐collection day for heroin and cocaine users (N = 116) in methadone maintenance. Higher probability of winning, but not the size of individual prizes, was associated with a greater percentage of cocaine‐negative, but not opiate‐negative, urines.     

Relational learning in children with deafness and cochlear implants

This four-experiment series sought to evaluate the potential of children with neurosensory deafness and cochlear implants to exhibit auditory-visual and visual-visual stimulus equivalence relations within a matching-to-sample format. Twelve children who became deaf prior to acquiring language (prelingual) and four who became deaf afterwards (postlingual) were studied. All children learned auditory-visual conditional discriminations and nearly all showed emergent equivalence relations. Naming tests, conducted with a subset of the children, showed no consistent relationship to the equivalence-test outcomes. This study makes several contributions to the literature on stimulus equivalence. First, it demonstrates that both pre- and postlingually deaf children can acquire auditory-visual equivalence relations after cochlear implantation, thus demonstrating symbolic functioning. Second, it directs attention to a population that may be especially interesting for researchers seeking to analyze the relationship between speaker and listener repertoires. Third, it demonstrates the feasibility of conducting experimental studies of stimulus control processes within the limitations of a hospital, which these children must visit routinely for the maintenance of their cochlear implants.     

The long-term effects of naloxone,dibutyryl cyclic CMP,and chlorpromazine on aggression in mice monitored by an automated device

A device that records the squeaks of attacked mice, used in combination with a microcomputer, was evaluated as a means of monitoring fighting over extended periods. The influences of chlorpromazine, naloxone, and dibutyryl cyclic cytidine 3′5′ monophosphate were monitored for 23 hours. These drugs differed in their ability to decrease squeaking over this extended period. Naloxone, although it significantly decreased squeaking in the short-term, did not influence the 23-hour total. In contrast, dibutyryl cyclic cytidine 3′,5′ monophosphate proved to have a potent influence that resulted in a significant decrease in the total squeaking recorded over 23 hours.     

Role of female behavior in controlling population growth in mice

Sex ratio does not appear to be a factor in generating the characteristic population growth curve. Freely growing populations of house mice, consisting of all females and one male, stopped their growth at approximately the same densities as normal sexratio populations used as references. The mechanism(s) of female control of population dynamics may be related to female aggressive behavior. As the all-female/one-male populations approached their maximum size, the females began to show wounding patterns and social hierarchies in much the same manner as males in populations with normal sex ratios. The male in each of the populations was severely wounded in the posterior region, and each lost its tail as a result of injuries which could have been inflicted only by the females. The female social hierarchy can be seen only when there has been reproduction and population growth. Assembled populations of all females rarely exhibit aggressive behavior. Female aggression becomes apparent only when the population approaches its maximum size and thereafter. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that males are competitive among themselves for territory and social rank, and ultimately to mate with the females. Other investigators have indicated that females respond to population size, which may reflect increased competition between the females with the establishment of territories. Thus female agression may control population growth, a role previously ascribed to male aggression.     

Choice Behaviour in a Computer-Aided Multiattribute Decision Task

Choice behaviour in an interactive multiple-criteria decision-making environment was examined experimentally. The main purpose was to investigate whether subjects are more comfortable in processing criterion/attribute information simultaneously (in parallel) or sequentially. As a research instrument, three different interactive software systems were used on a microcomputer by management students at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and the Institute of National Economy in Moscow to solve essentially the same problem of buying/leasing a home tailored to the respective decision environments. The experiments also provided us with a possibility to learn useful lessons about how human subjects make computer-supported choices. The results of the experiments are discussed. Furthermore, questions for future research are suggested. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mousekilling,intermale fighting,and conditioned emotional response in rats

Several possible relationships between two forms of aggression in rats were studied. First, mouse killing and spontaneous intermale fighting were found to be correlated. Rats which attacked other rats were those most likely to kill mice. To determine whether aggressive and nonaggressive rats were also differentially responsive to other situations involving emotional arousal, but not aggression, mouse-killers and nonkillers were compared in a conditioned emotional response (CER) situation. Mouse-killers showed greater suppression to the conditioned stimulus (CS) and to the situational cues of the apparatus. Therefore, a common arousal mechanism may underlie a number of diverse agonistic responses. Nevertheless, extensive mouse-killing experience did not increase the tendency of rats to fight with either adult males or juvenile males.     

Response of colony mice to intruders with different fighting experience

Six male mice placed in a large, moderately complex enclosure formed a stable dominance hierarchy in which two mice defended adjacent floor areas and the remaining four mice were subordinate and did not form territories. Intruder mice with winning or losing experience in prior paired encounters, or those with no fighting experience, were introduced individually into the colony for 30 minute periods. These intruders were attacked by the dominant members of the colony, and the fighting outcomes were strongly dependent upon the fighting experience of the intruder. Intruders with losing or no fighting experience engaged in little mutual fighting with residents, were easily defeated, and terminated attacks by engaging in subordinate behaviors. Intruders with winning experience fought vigorously with residents, attacked and, in many cases, defeated residents. These results suggest that relatively little winning experience gained in earlier paired encounters may be sufficient to overcome the various fighting advantages enjoyed by a dominant territorial holding member of a colony.     

Pharmacological antagonism of mouse-killing behavior in the olfactory bulb lesion-induced killer rat

Representative agents from all of the major classes of drugs that have been reported to be selective antagonists of spontaneous mouse-killing behavior (i.e., antidepres-sants, antihistamines, anticholinergics, and stimulants) were tested for their ability to antagonize the mouse-killing response in rats that became killers following removal of the olfactory bulbs (O.B. lesion-induced killer rat) and in spontaneous killers. All of the drugs tested selectively antagonized the killing behavior of both spontaneous and lesion-induced mouse-killing rats. Several drugs (i.e., imipramine, amitriptyline, d-amphetamine, and chlorpheniramine) were found to be significantly less potent antagonists of mouse killing in the 0.6. lesioned rat as compared to spontaneous killers. Since all of the drugs that exhibited significant differences in activity between the two models have been shown to possess the ability to elevate norepinephrine levels at receptor sites in the brain, alterations in noradrenergic systems may account for the differences in sensitivity that were observed in this study. The possibility that there may be a common neural substrate for mouse killing in the two models is discussed.     

对从HSK题库中计算机自动生成试卷稳定性的试验检验

由计算机从题库中自动生成的试卷能否保持难度的相对稳定？根据IRT进行的等值误差范围有多大？为了回答这些问题,本文以共同组等值作为标准,对基于IRT之上的共同题等值误差进行了试验检验。试验中,采取一定措施保证了考生的动机水平。结果显示,IRT等值的校正方向都是正确的。在4个分测验中有3个分测验的的等值校正效果较理想,1个分测验的等值校正效果不够理想。计算机自动生成的试卷与原有人工命制的试卷在得分方面比较一致,分数相关达到0.931,获得证书的情况也是比较一致的。     

Supine defense in the intraspecific fighting of male house mice mus domesticus

House mice have been reported rarely to perform the supine behavior pattern as a defensive tactic during intraspecific fighting. However, in this study of intraspecific fighting by male mice, it is shown that mice do indeed rotate to supine. This maneuver is used to evade or extricate themselves from bites to the lower dorsum by the attacking opponent. Once free from the bite the defender does not remain supine, but will immediately turn to prone and flee. Remaining motionless in the supine position may serve a submissive function in other species, but this does not seem to be the case for mice. The present findings illustrate that the supine tactic is a dynamic maneuver for defense of body areas targeted by the opponent. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.