Independence of terminal-link entry rate and immediacy in concurrent chains

In Phase 1, 4 pigeons were trained on a three-component multiple concurrent-chains procedure in which components differed only in terms of relative terminal-link entry rate. The terminal links were variable-interval schedules and were varied across four conditions to produce immediacy ratios of 4:1, 1:4, 2:1, and 1:2. Relative terminal-link entry rate and relative immediacy had additive and independent effects on initial-link response allocation, and the data were well-described by a generalized-matching model. Regression analyses showed that allowing sensitivity to immediacy to vary across components produced only trivial increases in variance accounted for. Phase 2 used a three-component concurrent-schedules procedure in which the schedules were the same as the initial links of Phase 1. Across two conditions, the relative reinforcer magnitude was varied. Sensitivity to relative reinforcer rate was independent of relative magnitude, confirming results of prior studies. Sensitivity to relative reinforcer rate in Phase 2 did not vary systematically across subjects compared to sensitivity to relative entry rate in Phase 1, and regression analyses confirmed again that only small increases in variance accounted for were obtained when sensitivities were estimated independently compared with a single estimate for both phases. Overall, the data suggest that conditioned and primary reinforcers have functionally equivalent effects on choice and support the independence of relative terminal-link entry rate and immediacy as determiners of response allocation. These results are consistent with current models for concurrent chains, including Grace's (1994) contextual choice model and Mazur's (2001) hyperbolic value-added model.     

The relationship between nonverbal immediacy, student motivation, and perceived cognitive learning among Japanese college students

Research in the United States has found a strong and consistent relationship between teacher behavior and learning. Data collected from American college students indicate that perceptions of teacher nonverbal immediacy (NVI) are associated with students' feelings toward learning and perceptions of cognitive learning. The purposes of this study were to accomplish the following: (1) develop standardized Japanese versions of the instruments used to measure teacher nonverbal immediacy, student motivation, and perceived cognitive learning (how much students think they have learned); and (2) assess the relationship between NVI, student motivation, and perceptions of cognitive learning among Japanese college students. Results note that Japanese students report (1) a positive relationship between reported levels of teacher NVI and student motivation; (2) a negative relationship between reported levels of teacher NVI and perceived learning loss; and (3) a negative relationship between student motivation (SM) and perceived learning loss (how much students think they did not learn with their teacher compared to an ideal teacher). Further, cross-cultural comparisons between Japanese and American students were conducted. Results from the cross-cultural comparison suggest that the relationships between reported teacher nonverbal immediacy, student motivation, and learning loss among Japanese college students are similar to those found among American college students, but the dimensional structure of the questionnaires was different.     

Bringing life into the group experience: The power of immediacy

One of the great advantages of group treatment is the potential for immediacy. It is possible to charge interpersonal exchanges with a therapeutic power rarely achieved in other modalities. Members responses to one another occur in front of the group as a whole, which makes the dynamics more available and comprehensive than if such interchanges were merely reported. The art of group treatment may be said to consist of fostering this immediacy. It calls for systematically removing blocks to the living moment. This paper presents four techniques for resolving impediments to immediacy: 1. Translating the remote past into the living present; 2. Resolving tendencies of members to fixate rather than to engage in progressive interchanges; 3. Converting oblique communications into their true interpersonal messages; 4. Resolving any tendency to construe oneself as a victim, in order to ward off meaningful and immediate give- and-take.     

Rapid acquisition of preference in concurrent chains when alternatives differ on multiple dimensions of reinforcement

Pigeons responded in a concurrent-chains procedure in which terminal-link reinforcer variables were changed unpredictably across sessions. In Experiment 1, the terminal-link schedules were fixed-interval (FI) 8 s and FI 16 s, and the reinforcer magnitudes were 2 s and 4 s. In Experiment 2 the probability of reinforcement (100% or 50%) was varied with immediacy and magnitude. Multiple-regression analyses showed that pigeons' initial-link response allocation was determined by current-session reinforcer variables, similar to previous studies which have varied only immediacy (Grace, Bragason, & McLean, 2003). Sensitivity coefficients were positive and statistically significant for all reinforcer variables in both experiments. Analyses of responding within individual sessions showed that final levels of preference for dominated sessions, in which all reinforcer variables favored the same terminal link, were more extreme than for tradeoff sessions in which at least one reinforcer variable favored each alternative. This result implies that response allocation was determined by multiple reinforcer variables within individual sessions, consistent with the concatenated matching law. However, in Experiment 2, there was a nonlinear (sigmoidal) relationship between response allocation and relative value, which suggests the possibility that reinforcer variables may interact during acquisition, contrary to the matching law.     

Resistance to change produced by access to fixed-delay versus variable-delay terminal links

Pigeons' responding was reinforced on a multiple schedule consisting of two two-link chain schedules presented in regular alternation. Responding in initial links (always variable-interval 60-s) produced a key-color change and access to a terminal link. The terminal link for one chain provided food after a fixed delay (fixed-interval or fixed-time); the terminal link for the other provided food after a variable delay (variable-interval or variable-time). The average duration of the terminal-link schedules was varied across conditions, but in every condition the arithmetic mean of the variable-delay terminal-link schedule was equal to the duration of the fixed delay. Response rates were higher in the initial links of the chains with the variable-delay terminal links. Response-decreasing operations (satiation, extinction) were used after performances reached asymptote. Response rates maintained by access to variable-delay terminal links tended to be more resistant to change than were rates maintained by access to fixed-delay terminal links. These results are consistent with the preference for variable- over fixed-interval terminal links observed with concurrent-chains schedules, suggesting (1) that immediacy of reinforcement influences the conditioned reinforcing potency of access to a terminal link and (2) that choice in concurrent chains and resistance of responding to change may be manifestations of the same effect of reinforcement.