Speech timing of grammatical categories

A series of experiments was performed to determine how the duration of a word spoken in a sentence is influenced by: (1) the grammatical category to which it belongs, and (2) the position of the word in a constituent. Experiment I contained Noun-Verb homophones (e.g. “I saw the coach…” — noun; “I saw him coach…” — verb), in sentences matched for phonetic environment and stress pattern. Results support the notion that Nouns are longer than Verbs in typical sentences. Experiment II, however, demonstrated that the duration of Noun-Verb homophones in matched clause-final position is approximately equal. Experiment III contained transitive and intransitive Verbs in matched sentences. The results of Experiments II and III provided support for a lengthening account based on constituent-final position, while ruling out an account based on a debatable deletion site. Results of Experiment IV generalized the account of constituent-final lengthening for Nouns and Verbs to additional major categories, by comparing the duration of the phrase-initial Adjective two with the phrase-final Adverb too. Finally, Experiment V tested the distinction between minor and major categories. Results demonstrated that the Preposition to is shorter than the Adjective two by approximately 50 percent. Taken in sum, these findings indicate that it is sufficient to make a binary distinction between major and minor categories for purposes of a theory of speech timing and speech synthesis. Durational effects traditionally ascribed to differences within the class of major categories can be accounted for solely in terms of constituent boundaries, already required in the theory to account for three other classes of phenomena.     

Planning units and syntax in sentence production

The study was conducted to determine, first, whether it is the deep or the surface clause that is more important as a speech planning unit, and second, whether syntactic decisions are made during sentence production. Subjects, while talking, heard tones to which they had to respond by pressing a button; reaction times to these tones were taken as an index of processing load during production. It was found that there were increased RTs at the ends compared with the beginnings of deep structure clauses. No difference was found between RTs at the beginnings and ends of surface clauses not corresponding to a deep clause. The results were interpreted as showing that deep clauses are major planning units and that some planning for clauses occurs at the end of the preceding clause. Differences were found between RTs during clauses of different syntactic structure. These results were interpreted as indicating that syntax influences production and were discussed in relation to previous studies of pausing and speech disruption.     

Physical attractiveness and interpersonal influence

The relative success of influence attempts undertaken by attractive vs. unattractive fifth- and sixth-graders was investigated by giving subjects a monetary incentive contingent upon their influencing a peer's behavior. Compared to a control group which was not subject to peer pressure, three groups were successful: attractive males and attractive females with opposite-sex peers and unattractive males with same-sex peers. Attractive girls tended to be more successful than their unattractive counterparts in influence attempts directed toward peers of the opposite-sex. Unattractive males were more effective than attractive males with same-sex peers. Analysis of the influence strategies employed revealed markedly different styles of interpersonal influence, particularly between attractive males and attractive females. The former made considerably more influence attempts and were judged to be more persistent. This type of behavioral difference was not found for unattractive males compared to unattractive females.     

Field and laboratory studies of littering

Four studies are reported. In the first, it was shown that littering rates vary substantially across areas of a large urban region and that the rate for a particular area is correlated with the amount of litter already present. It was also found that males litter more than females and young people more than old. In the second study, a laboratory experiment, a causal relationship between the amount of litter in an area and the likelihood it will be littered was demonstrated. A third study replicated this latter finding, but did not find a relationship between the amount of stress experienced by a subject and the likelihood that he or she would litter. In the fourth study, a field experiment, subjects who were approached and asked to sign a petition about clean streets littered less than control subjects.     

Variables affecting preference for signaled shock in a symmetrical changeover design

In a signaled-shock situation, the signal's presence serves a warning function (prediction of shock) whereas the signal's absence serves a safety function (prediction of nonshock periods). The relative contribution to preference for signaled shock made by these two potential sources of reinforcement was assessed using a symmetrical changeover procedure in which rats were permitted to control the amount of time spent in one of two mutually exclusive conditions, the signaled and unsignaled states. The stimulus conditions that prevailed in the signaled state differed for several groups of animals. For some groups, the safety function of signals was degraded while the warning function was left intact. For other groups, the warning function was degraded and the safety function was not. The availability of the unaltered feature was then manipulated in both sets of groups to determine its effect on preference for the signaled state. Changeover behavior was strongly related to the availability of the signal's safety function and weakly related to its warning function, indicating that the two variables contribute differentially to preference for signaled shock. Other sources of behavioral control, having little to do with the safety or the warning function of signals, were also demonstrated, suggesting the need for careful control procedures when using changeover behavior as a measure of preference.     

Reinforcement and the organization of behavior in golden hamsters: Punishment of three action patterns

Golden hamsters received free shock (Experiment 1) or they were partially (Experiments 2 and 3) or continuously (Experiments 4 and 5) punished with mild electric shock for face washing, open rearing, or scrabbling. Punishment immediately and enduringly reduced the time engaged in scrabbling and the number and length of its bouts. Face washing was also clearly associated with shock, since effects specific to the contingency between face washing and shock were retained when shock was discontinued, but under some conditions punishment increased the number of bouts of face washing. Open rearing was the most refractory of the three activities to suppression and showed least evidence of retaining the effects of punishment. This pattern of results differs from that found previously when food reinforcement was given for the same activities. It is discussed in terms of constraints on performance of learned associations by a variety of response-specific and reinforcer-specific motivational factors.     

Exposure and response prevention in the natural environment: A comparison with obsessive-compulsive patients

Thirteen obsessive-compulsive clients were treated with different methods of response prevention. Four experimental conditions were obtained through a 2 × 2 factorial design, in which the two main variables were varied: (1) gradual treatment vs flooding; and (2) modeling vs no-modeling. Clients were treated at their homes, three times weekly. Each session lasted 2 hr. Results at the post-test revealed, that modeling was superior to no-modeling (p < 0.05) on avoidance-other compulsions, therapist-rating only. On anxiety-main compulsions, clients rating the gradual method of treatment had been superior to flooding (p < 0.05). No other significant differences were found.