Behaviors observed during S- in a simple discrimination learning task

Key pecking of pigeons was reinforced with food in the presence of a horizontal line and never reinforced in the presence of a vertical line. Highly stereotyped behaviors, as well as key pecking, were observed and recorded in the presence of both stimuli. Results showed that a high proportion of time spent in the presence of the horizontal line was occupied by key pecking, a high proportion of time in the presence of the vertical line was occupied by stereotyped nonkey-pecking behaviors, and intermediate proportions of time spent in the presence of intermediate stimuli were occupied by each class of behavior during generalization tests. Similar running rates (number of key pecks divided by observed key-pecking time) were obtained in the presence of all stimuli, indicating that changes in time rather than tempo accounted for the changes in overall rates of key pecking. An exception occurred in responding to the horizontal line as differential performance was developing. In addition to an increase in time spent key pecking, increased running rates occurred in seven of eight birds, suggesting that both time allocation and tempo play a role in behavioral contrast of overall rates of key pecking.     

THE INFLUENCE OF CHILD-PREFERRED ACTIVITIES ON AUTISTIC CHILDREN'S SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

One of the characteristics of autistic children is severe social avoidance behavior. We assessed whether the type of activity (child-preferred vs. activities that were arbitrarily determined by an adult) engaged in during an interaction was correlated with the amount of social avoidance behaviors these children exhibit. Results revealed a negative correlation between appropriate child-preferred activities and social avoidance behavior. Additional analyses revealed that (a) social avoidance behaviors could be manipulated within a reversal design, and would predictably decrease when the children were prompted to initiate appropriate child-preferred activities; and (b) these procedures could be used to teach children to initiate child-preferred activities in community settings, resulting in reductions in social avoidance responses even after the therapist's prompts were completely removed. These data suggest that the manipulation of task variables may influence the severe social unresponsiveness that is characteristic of autistic children.     

INDIRECT FACILITATION OF ON-TASK BEHAVIOR PRODUCED BY CONTINGENT FREE-TIME FOR ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY1

This study investigated the relationship between on-task behavior and the academic performance of three low achieving and disruptive children in an elementary school special-education class. A number of researchers have postulated that the direct elimination of off-task or disruptive behavior is a necessary prior requirement when increases in academic performance are sought in special-education classrooms composed of low achievers with below-average socioeconomic environments. The present research program investigated this issue and measured the incidence of on-task behavior and its relationship to changes in the performance of a variety of academic tasks brought about by the opportunity to engage in daily free-time activities. Three children from a class of eight “educably mentally handicapped” students were chosen as target subjects, as their repertoires seemed to be especially defective. These children were observed by the first author for 90-minute sessions three days a week, and data regarding on-task behavior were obtained by the use of an interval recording technique. In conjunction with the teacher, the first author also monitored the academic performance of the children in six structured activities—answer completion from boardwork instructions, task completion from handout assignments, comprehension of reading assignments and vocabulary recognition, accuracy of direction-following to audiotaped instructions, quality of copied handwriting, and the matching of appropriate phonetic sounds to pictured objects and situations. Following baseline sessions during which both on-task and academic performance was measured, several experimental sessions were conducted during which free-time was given noncontingently. During these sessions, no reliable changes in student performance were observed. Subsequently, the teacher and experimenters defined a specified percentage of correct completion of each of the six categories of skill performance as necessary for the achievement of the free-time reinforcer, during each experimental session. As a result, both the academic productivity and the on-task measures of behavior were observed to increase, even though reinforcement was not directly contingent upon on-task behavior. The subsequent reinstitution of noncontingent free-time was followed by lower rates of both output and on-task behavior. The final reintroduction of contingent free-time for academic productivity again produced substantial increases in both work accomplished correctly and on-task behavior. Corresponding increases in productivity were noted for most nontarget children as well. While the present investigation has shown a high correspondence between productivity and on-task behavior, we must keep in mind that on-task behavior can be defined in many different ways. It remains possible that differences in the degree of correlation between outcome measures and the topography of “work” activity may relate to the degree to which the specific on-task behaviors measured are actually required for the outcome behavior. The failure of many researchers to identify a direct relationship between “appearances” and output may be inherently a measurement problem.     

Involvement in Meaningful Activities and Self-Reported Aggression and Delinquency Among Inner-City Teenagers

Ninth grade students from an inner-city high school (n = 163) completed self-report measures assessing their participation in meaningful activities, behavioral problems, and locus of control. In multivariate analyses, Gender × Activity Level interaction effects were shown: males with higher levels of meaningful activity had significantly lower scores on aggression and delinquent behavior subscales than males with lower levels of meaningful activity. However, this relationship was not shown for females. Of youth who reported clinically significant levels of aggression and/or delinquency, females reported significantly higher levels of meaningful activities than males. Gender differences in findings and future research directions are discussed.     

活动参与在认知损害中的延缓作用

认知损害有关的病理机制、危险因素研究由来已久,但尚未找到有效治疗认知损害的途径,认知损害的保护性因素研究进而成为研究者们关注的热点。前人的研究显示活动参与对认知损害具有积极的影响,可能是认知损害的重要保护性因素,但活动参与对认知损害的影响机制以及各活动之间存在的交互作用仍不明确。未来的研究可着重探讨不同活动类型及其交互作用同认知损害的关系,并分析活动参与对认知损害起保护作用的公共因子。     

Recovery at home and performance at work: A diary study on self–family facilitation

This 5-day diary study among 65 Dutch employees focuses on the interplay between time on and off the job. We examined how daily off-job (work-related, physical, household) activities, in combination with the degree to which people want to engage in these activities relate to self–family facilitation (i.e., the positive influence of the fulfilment of one's own interests on one's family life). Further, we tested whether self–family facilitation relates to psychological detachment from work, recovery, and finally whether recovery relates to job performance. Multilevel analyses revealed that household activities enhance self–family facilitation only on days that people want to engage in such activities. Furthermore, spending time on household activities hinders psychological detachment on days people do not want to spend time on these activities. In addition, self–family facilitation and psychological detachment relate to better recovery the next morning. Finally, feeling recovered in the morning is beneficial for task performance during work. These findings emphasize the role of one's “wants” in the degree to which off-job activities lead to recovery. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of keeping a good interaction between the self and the family for daily recovery and performance.     

The organization of children's secure base behaviour in two-parent Portuguese families and father's participation in child-related activities

The organization of children's secure base behaviour was studied in two-parent Portuguese families, with 44 father–child and mother–child dyads, children's age was on average 31.91 months. An analysis of Attachment Q-sort (AQS; Waters, 1995 Waters, E. 1995. “Appendix A: Attachment Q-set (version 3.0)”. In Caregiving, cultural, and cognitive perspectives on secure base behavior and working models: New growing points of attachment theory and research Edited by: Waters, E., Vaughn, B. E., Posada, G. and Kondon-Ikemura, K. Monographs of the Society for Research in the Child Development, 60(2–3), 234–246 [Google Scholar]) data revealed no significant differences in security scores for mothers and fathers. Both parents independently responded to a questionnaire about their participation in child-related activities, relative to their spouse's participation in these activities. A traditional division in the Care/Organization tasks and a shared participation in the Play/Leisure activities emerged. Fathers with higher scores for both types of activities tended to have children with higher security scores. Fathers' participation in Play/Leisure activities was associated with children's AQS scores with their mothers. In this sample father's participation is positively associated with the quality of secure base relationships within the family context.