Hyperactive and normal children and the error,latency, and double median split scoring procedures of the matching familiar figures test

To further evaluate the construct validity of Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF), three different scoring methods—the MFF error measure, the MFF latency measure, and Kagan's double median split—were used to compare learning disabled and behavior disordered boys at two age levels with their normal peers on the frequency with which they were designated as impulsive. In the comparison of 7-year-old and 12-year-old learning disabled boys with the normal children, the MFF error measure identified a greater frequency of the learning disabled boys as impulsive at both age levels. No differences occurred between the learning disabled and the normal boys at either age level on the latency measure. Kagan's double median split procedure differentiated only between the older learning disabled and the normal boys. Thus, combining the latency measure with the error measure detracted from the effectiveness of the error measure. None of the MFF scoring procedures differentiated between the behavior disordered and the normal boys at either age level. Although the findings tend to support the results of studies with normal children in indicating that the error measure is more sensitive than the latency measure, the failure of the error measure to designate a greater frequency of the severely behavior disordered boys as being impulsive than are their normal peers raises further questions about the construct validity of the MFF, regardless of the scoring procedure used.     

Reversal and nonreversal shifts in autistic children

Reversal and nonreversal shifts in nineteen 2- to 14-year-old autistic children were studied. Each child was taught both a reversal and nonreversal shift discrimination task. The reversal shift condition entailed teaching the child to respond to one (the S+) of a pair of stimuli during training and subsequently reversing the S+ during testing. The nonreversal shift condition consisted of teaching the child two unrelated discriminations during training and testing. The results indicated that the older autistic children did better on reversal shifts than younger children who did better on nonreversal shifts. These findings are consistent with those for normal children.     

Self-monitoring in communicative interactions: Social cognitive consequences of goal-directed message modification

The hypothesis was examined that previously demonstrated message modification and its subsequent social cognitive effects would be more characteristic of high than low self-monitors. Subjects first read an essay describing a stimulus person and were then requested to communicate a referential message concerning him to a listener who supposedly either liked (positive audience condition) or disliked (negative audience condition) the stimulus person. Subjects were subsequently given, after both a brief and long delay interval, a reproduction, impression, and attitude measure. The results indicated that high self-monitors were more likely to modify their message in a manner that was evaluatively consistent with their listener's attitude. In addition, this message modification had the predicted social cognitive consequences in that it affected the high self-monitor's subsequent impressions of (but not necessarily attitude toward) the target person. The results suggested that the responses obtained from high self-monitors in many experimental contexts may themselves be the results of a self-monitoring strategy. The implications of these results for research examining the effects of “self-monitoring” are discussed.     

论现代高科技在中药复方研究中的应用

中药复方是中医临床治疗的重要方法。由于具有多组分、多环节协同作用的特色,因此在某些方面可能优于以单一成分为主的西药。但是这一特点也增加了对其治疗机理进行研究的难度,从而影响到中医药的进一步发展和走向世界。本文认为应用现代高新技术是中医复方研究和发展的必由之路,但是在具体应用时应注意中医药本身所具有的独特的理论框架和思路,不能拘泥于西药药用植物的研究思路和方法。     

Left hemisphere selectivity for processing duration in normal subjects

The role of the left cerebral hemisphere for the discrimination of duration was examined in a group of normal subjects. Two tasks were presented: the first required a reaction-time response to the offset of monaural pulse sequences varying in interpulse duration, and the second required the discrimination of small differences in durations, within a delayed-comparison paradigm. In each task a right-ear advantage was obtained when the durations were 50 msec or less. No ear advantage was obtained for the larger durations of 67 to 120 msec. Since the perceptual distinctiveness of phonemes may be provided by durations approximating 50 msec, the nature of the relationship between the left hemisphere's role in temporal processing and speech processing may be elaborated.     

Reactivation-induced interference in a short-term retention paradigm

In Experiment 1 it was demonstrated that interference with a rat's retention of a target spatial cue decreases as the interval between prior conflicting cues and the target increases. Experiment 2 showed that interference can occur even when the interstimulus interval is long, if the memory of a conflicting cue is reactivated just prior to exposing an animal to the target cue. A third experiment suggested that these findings could not be easily interpreted in terms of a stimulus satiation effect. The implications of these findings for a trace decay model of short-term retention were discussed.     

Attention as a predictor of learning in infants

A total of 240 fourteen-week-olds were rewarded with a pattern of lights and tones for kicking. The reward display interrupted a background of random alternation between two lights and tones. In experiment 1, attention to this background stimulus during a 1-min baseline was assessed using the number of fixations of alternating lights. During 6 min of reward, high-attention subjects showed significantly greater changes in kicking rate from baseline than low-attention subjects. In experiment 2, the proportion of subjects with low attention ratings increased dramatically during an extended 5-min baseline period, and those subjects with low attention ratings at the end of baseline did not show an increase in kicking from baseline to the reward phase, while high-attention subjects did show evidence of learning. Thus, an objective measure of attention, empirically separate from the dependent learning measure, provided a significant prediction of the effectiveness of subsequent reinforcement, and could be manipulated simply by extending the baseline by as little as 4 min.     

The response cost lottery: A time efficient and effective classroom intervention

An ABAB design was used to evaluate the effect of a response cost lottery procedure on the percentage of on-task behavior and accuracy of academic work of three fourth-grade students. Although contingencies were attached primarily to behavior, both on-task behavior and academic performance measures increased in treatment conditions. Teacher reports indicated the intervention was both easy to use and effective.     

Parents' and preschool children's choices of disciplinary childrearing methods

Forty preschoolers individually were shown a videotape containing six 30-second scenes depicting common parent/child conflicts. The children were asked to tell the experimenter what they would do if they were the parent on the tape, and what their own parents would do if this happened at home. In addition, 15 mothers of these children were selected randomly to view the same scenes and to indicate their choice of conflict resolution methods. Taped responses of parents and children were then coded as verbal/physical coercion or no coercion. Results indicated that preschoolers tended to choose disciplinary actions in accordance with their perceptions of their parents' manner of dealing with the same situation, and also revealed a high congruence between parent and child on consequences for discipline. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the development of childrearing methods at an early age and the intergenerational transmission of family violence.