First-grade boys' responses to a new task following noncontingent feedback

Sixty-four first-grade boys trained on a two-choice discrimination task received positive feedback either contingent upon their correct responses or in the same amount but noncontingently. Each child was then asked to choose between two alternate ways of accumulating pennies. He could solve problems and earn pennies for correct responses to a contingent task, or he could collect pennies at the same rate by remaining passive. The purpose of this research was to determine if the usual effects of noncontingent feedback would transfer from a simple training procedure to a different contingent task. It was found that the total amount of time spent at the passive alternative did not differ between training conditions. However, a significantly greater number of noncontingently trained children did choose the passive alternative early during testing; these children either gave all of their time to the passive alternative or, very shortly after attempting the task, switched to the passive response. When the noncontingently trained children did choose to work actively during testing, their performance reflected ineffective problem-solving strategies. These results suggest that even when conditions change, experience with prior noncontingent feedback disrupts the ability to utilize contingent information.     

汉语儿童人称代词的获得

本文作两个方面的研究。研究一用追踪录音方法记录5名半岁到3岁半幼儿获得人称代词的过程。结果表明:汉语儿童一般在1岁半到3岁半这期间逐步掌握人称代词,顺序是从“我”、“你”到“他”。研究二用实验方法探讨28名3—4岁儿童掌握单数人称代词的情况。结果表明:儿童4岁时人称代词获得有一个发展比较迅速的时期。到这一年龄阶段,儿童对人称代词的掌握已比较完善。在以上两项研究的基础上,探讨和总结了汉语儿童人称代词发展的特点和规律以及语言的普遍性。     

EFFECTS OF INVENTED SPELLING AND DIRECT INSTRUCTION ON SPELLING PERFORMANCE OF SECOND-GRADE BOYS

Four second-grade boys, 2 rated by their classroom teacher as below average and 2 as above average in basic language skills, participated in a 16-week spelling investigation. The participants alternately received, in counterbalanced order, 5 weeks of an invented spelling approach that incorporated 15-min creative writing periods and 5 weeks of direct instruction that involved 15-min periods of guided practice on spelling word lists. At the end of 10 weeks, each condition was replicated for 3 additional weeks. Although direct instruction resulted in more targeted words spelled correctly, invented spelling resulted in more nontargeted words spelled correctly, higher preference ratings by children, and higher teacher ratings of the quality of 3 of the children's writing samples.     

A selectionist approach to reinforcement.

We describe a principle of reinforcement that draws upon experimental analyses of both behavior and the neurosciences. Some of the implications of this principle for the interpretation of behavior are explored using computer simulations of adaptive neural networks. The simulations indicate that a single reinforcement principle, implemented in a biologically plausible neural network, is competent to produce as its cumulative product networks that can mediate a substantial number of the phenomena generated by respondent and operant contingencies. These include acquisition, extinction, reacquisition, conditioned reinforcement, and stimulus-control phenomena such as blocking and stimulus discrimination. The characteristics of the environment-behavior relations selected by the action of reinforcement on the connectivity of the network are consistent with behavior-analytic formulations: Operants are not elicited but, instead, the network permits them to be guided by the environment. Moreover, the guidance of behavior is context dependent, with the pathways activated by a stimulus determined in part by what other stimuli are acting on the network at that moment. In keeping with a selectionist approach to complexity, the cumulative effects of relatively simple reinforcement processes give promise of simulating the complex behavior of living organisms when acting upon adaptive neural networks.     

Direct instruction: What it is and what it is becoming

This essay describes the principles of Direct Instruction design and delivery used to establish clear, unambiguous communication and maximize student responding. Direct Instruction research findings are summarized: achievement of low-income students in Follow Through, longitudinal results, and the effectiveness of Direct Instruction for students with handicaps. Finally, new directions for Direct Instruction, technological applications and instruction of higher-order skills, are discussed.     

Admissible values of γ in direct oblimin rotation

It is shown that for nonpositive values of the parameter in the oblimin criterion, the criterion achieves a minimum on the manifold of all possible oblique rotations of any given full rank initial loading matrixA. For every positive value of , on the other hand, it is shown that there exists a full rank initial loading matrixA for which the oblimin criterion does not achieve a minimum over the manifold of all oblique rotations ofA. These results help explain the sometimes divergent behavior that results from using direct oblimin algorithms with set to a positive value.This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant RR-3.     

Trust and the collection,selection, analysis and interpretation of data: A scientist’s view

Trust is a critical component of research: trust in the work of co-workers and colleagues within the scientific community; trust in the work of research scientists by the non-research community. A wide range of factors, including internally and externally generated pressures and practical and personal limitations, affect the research process. The extent to which these factors are understood and appreciated influence the development of trust in scientific research findings.     

The effects of transition to technician‐delivered telehealth ABA treatment during the COVID‐19 crisis: A preliminary analysis

Telehealth delivery of applied behavior analysis treatment has focused on supervision or staff and parent training, rather than the direct delivery of treatment to clients. The novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) crisis had the potential to significantly disrupt access to direct treatment for individuals with autism. We report a sample of 17 cases that transitioned from in‐person to telehealth delivery of treatment when shelter‐in‐place orders were issued. Of these cases, 76% of participants transitioned to technician‐delivered telehealth services whereas the rest transitioned to a caregiver‐implemented telehealth model. Participants continued to access a similar dosage of treatment hours per week in spite of the treatment model transition (in‐person M = 12; telehealth M = 11) and maintained or improved correct independent responding across all targets from in‐person treatment (M = 75%) to telehealth treatment (M = 80%). These findings provide initial evidence that some clients with autism benefit from technician‐delivered telehealth services.     

Judge not? The pedagogical puzzle of right interpretation and wrong interpretation

When studying the reception history of the Bible, should students be asked to suspend judgment on a particular interpretation for the sake of the pedagogical goals of the course? Or is their judgment essential to the process of learning and understanding? This essay explores the pedagogical puzzle of right interpretation and wrong interpretation through the context of my classroom, where neither the troubling events of a nation in turmoil nor our own social, religious, and cultural locations as readers could be bracketed from the learning environment, despite my best efforts. In particular, this essay integrates the approach outlined by Gary Weissman, who argues for an embrace of student misreading in his book The Writer in the Well. His suggestion that misreading and rewriting are fundamental to the process of understanding is provocative, and its application to biblical studies presents special challenges, but this paper argues for its relevance to the pedagogical puzzle at hand.     

Interpretation as Shaped by Projective Identification

How to make interpretations during the course of psychoanalytic treatment is a recurring clinical question. Certain aspects of the analysis serve as helpful signposts along the way. Patients have particular interpersonal ways of presenting themselves. The unique intrapsychic manner the patient has of relating to us (transference) and our feelings (countertransference) to these matters give us clues to study. Our understanding of these situations may lead to the development of a hypothesis we may or may not choose to share with the patient. Projective identification is a complex mental mechanism that can often shape the content and manner of an interpretation.