Say it with flowers! An fMRI study of object mediated communication

Human communicational interaction can be mediated by a host of expressive means from words in a natural language to gestures and material symbols. Given the proper contextual setting even an everyday object can gain a mediating function in a communicational situation. In this study we used event-related fMRI to study the brain activity caused by everyday material objects when they are perceived as signals. We found that comprehension of material signals activates bilaterally areas of the ventral stream and pars triangularis of the inferior frontal cortex, that is, areas traditionally associated with verbal language and semantics. In addition, we found that right-hemisphere inferior frontal cortex is recruited as a function of the increasing unconventionality of communicative objects. Together these findings support an interpretation of the traditional language areas as playing a more general role across modalities in relation to communicational mediation of social semantic meaning.     

目标定向与进步反馈对优差生写作成绩影响的实验研究

本研究以24名优生和24名学习困难学生(以下简称差生或学困生)为被试,通过实验探讨了目标定向与进步反馈对优差生写作成绩的影响。结果表明：(1)目标定向和反馈对优生的写作成绩影响不显著;(2)在成绩目标定向时,接受进步反馈的差生其作文成绩显著优于无进步反馈的差生;在掌握目标定向时,进步反馈对差生的影响不显著;(3)在无进步反馈时,掌握目标定向的差生其写作成绩显著优于成绩目标定向的差生;在给予进步反馈时,目标定向对差生的影响不显著。     

文章结构清晰度对修改的影响研究

研究了文章结构清晰度对文章修改的影响。高低水平的作者各分别修改结构清晰度不同的材料。实验结果表明,文章修改质量的水平差异显著;文章结构清晰有助于修改者在修改过程中建构文章的整体模式,从而促进意义错误的修改。文章结构清晰度对修改的影响主要是通过影响工作记忆资源的分配而实现的。     

The dynamic relationship between performance feedback, trust, and conflict in groups: A longitudinal study

Moderate task conflict has generally been associated with higher group performance, and relationship conflict associated with lower performance. Past studies have most often discussed their findings as though differences in level of intragroup conflict cause differences in group performance—rather than testing the additional possibility that reported group conflict is a reaction to feedback on past group performance. This paper explores the dynamic relationships between intragroup conflict and performance with a longitudinal design. Results from 67 groups suggest that initial performance feedback to groups can have significant consequences for future team interaction. We find evidence to suggest that, (a) negative initial group performance feedback results in later increases in both task and relationship conflict, but that (b) groups with high early intragroup trust are buffered from experiencing the worst of future relationship conflict.     

Pheromone‐mediated intrasexual aggression in male lizards,Podarcis hispanicus

Sex recognition is based on color signals in many species of lizards. However, olfactory stimuli are also clearly involved, and many species might rely primarily on chemoreception. We aimed to examine whether color pattern or odors, or a combination of both factors, induce the aggressive response of males of the lizard P. hispanicus. We experimentally manipulated the coloration and odor of male P. hispanicus, thereby creating groups with all combinations between coloration and odor of males or females. Using data from staged encounters, we compared the responses of resident males to the experimental groups of manipulated males and their response to unmanipulated individuals (males and females). Responding males reacted significantly more aggressively to intruders with male odors independent of their coloration, whereas intruders with female odors did not elicit aggressive responses but were preferentially courted, irrespective of their actual sex and body coloration. In addition, intruders with female odors elicited a higher number of tongue‐flick explorations than male odor ones. Comparisons with unmanipulated male and female intruders agreed with these expectations. Therefore, at least at close range, odoriferous cues seem to be more important than color patterns in sex recognition and intrasexual aggression by male P. hispanicus. We suggest that this might be a pattern commoner than expected in many species of reptiles.Aggr. Behav. 28:154–163, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Effect of goal difficulty and feedback seeking on goal attainment and learning1

Abstract: This field study investigated the effect of goal difficulty and feedback seeking on goal attainment and learning in Management by Objectives (MBO) programs. Participants (n = 105) described the degree of their goal difficulty. After 6 months, they answered a questionnaire that inquired about the frequency of the feedback‐seeking and the degree of learning during the 6‐month period. Data about the extent of goal attainment were obtained from the participants’ immediate supervisors. The results indicated that goal difficulty and the frequency of feedback seeking were positively related to the degree of goal attainment and learning.     

Using performance feedback to improve treatment integrity of classwide behavior plans: an investigation of observer reactivity

The current study replicated the positive effects of performance feedback on treatment integrity and extended previous work by examining reactivity using a multiple baseline design with alternating treatments for observer-present and observer-absent conditions on teachers' implementation of a classwide behavior plan. No differences were found between conditions, and treatment integrity improved across all teachers, suggesting that performance feedback, rather than observer reactivity, was responsible for reported behavior changes.     

Self-enhancement and belief perseverance

Belief perseverance—the tendency to make use of invalidated information—is one of social psychology’s most reliable phenomena. Virtually all of the explanations proffered for the effect, as well as the conditions that delimit it, involve the way people think about or explain the discredited feedback. But it seems reasonable to assume that the importance of the feedback for the actor’s self-image would also influence the tendency to persevere on invalidated feedback. From a self-enhancement perspective, one might ask: Why would people persist in negative self-beliefs, especially when the basis for those beliefs has been discredited? In the present study, actors and observers completed a word-identification task and were given bogus success or failure feedback. After success feedback was discredited, actors and observers persevered equally in beliefs about the actor’s abilities. However, following invalidation of failure feedback, actors provided significantly higher performance evaluations than observers, thus exhibiting less perseverance on the negative feedback. These results suggest that the motivation to maintain a relatively favorable self-image may attenuate perseverance when discredited feedback threatens an important aspect of the self-concept.     

Using auditory feedback to improve striking for mixed martial artists

The purpose of this study was to evaluate auditory feedback to increase the effectiveness of throwing a “right cross.” Auditory feedback, implemented by the mixed martial arts coach, was evaluated in multiple baselines across participants design with four mixed martial arts students, two males and two females, 25–54 years old. The target behavior was the percentage of correct steps in the 20‐step task analysis of throwing a right cross. In the auditory feedback procedure, the coach used a handheld clicker and make the clicking sound as a reinforcer each time the participant performed a specific step in the task analysis correctly. This process continued until all steps were performed correctly. The percentage of correct steps of the right cross improved substantially during assessment sessions following the introduction of the auditory feedback and maintained at 90% or more for all participants during follow‐up. Improvements were also noted in the social validity assessment.     

The Good Behavior Game in preschool classrooms: An evaluation of feedback

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a popular group contingency implemented to decrease disruptive behavior in classrooms. However, despite numerous replications of the GBG, there are few direct comparisons evaluating the effectiveness of specific components of the GBG. In the present study, we directly compared the type of feedback delivered during the GBG on the effectiveness of the GBG to reduce disruptive behavior in two preschool classrooms. Results showed that delivering vocal feedback (e.g., “raise your hand”) alone or in combination with visual feedback (i.e., hatch marks) was superior to no feedback or visual feedback alone during the GBG. These results suggest that different variations of the GBG are not equally effective and that a collection of effective procedural variations from which teachers can choose would be beneficial.