THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT REINFORCEMENT CONDITIONS ON THE TEST PERFORMANCE OF MULTIHANDICAPPED DEAF CHILDREN1

The present study explored the effects of different reinforcement conditions on the number of correct responses on the Raven Progressive Matrices. Four groups of 11- to 18-year-old multihandicapped deaf children matched on the basis of mean age and pretest scores were used. The groups were randomly assigned to any of four posttest conditions: end-of-session reinforcement, noncontingent reinforcement, delayed reinforcement, and immediate reinforcement. The mean posttest score of subjects tested under the immediate-reinforcement condition was significantly higher than that of any other group. No significant differences were observed between the mean posttest scores of the three other groups. The practical implications of using reinforcement procedures for testing purposes are discussed.     

Reinforcement magnitude and pausing on progressive-ratio schedules

Rats responded under progressive-ratio schedules for sweetened milk reinforcers; each session ended when responding ceased for 10 min. Experiment 1 varied the concentration of milk and the duration of postreinforcement timeouts. Postreinforcement pausing increased as a positively accelerated function of the size of the ratio, and the rate of increase was reduced as a function of concentration and by timeouts of 10 s or longer. Experiment 2 varied reinforcement magnitude within sessions (number of dipper operations per reinforcer) in conjunction with stimuli correlated with the upcoming magnitude. In the absence of discriminative stimuli, pausing was longer following a large reinforcer than following a small one. Pauses were reduced by a stimulus signaling a large upcoming reinforcer, particularly at the highest ratios, and the animals tended to quit responding when the past reinforcer was large and the stimulus signaled that the next one would be small. Results of both experiments revealed parallels between responding under progressive-ratio schedules and other schedules containing ratio contingencies. Relationships between pausing and magnitude suggest that ratio pausing is under the joint control of inhibitory properties of the past reinforcer and excitatory properties of stimuli correlated with the upcoming reinforcer, rather than under the exclusive control of either factor alone.     

EVALUATION OF A SOCIAL INTERACTION COACHING PROGRAM IN AN INTEGRATED DAY-CARE SETTING

We used a multiple baseline design across teachers (with a reversal phase for 1 teacher) to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of a structured coaching procedure on the teaching behaviors of 3 day-care teachers. Structured coaching preceding daily caregiver routines resulted in (a) substantial increases in adult delivery of behavioral support of social interaction during group activities with 2- and 4-year-old children and (b) marked collateral increases in positive interactions of socially withdrawn children. Long-term maintenance effects were demonstrated by both the teachers and target children, and social validity measures indicated that the teachers rated coaching very positively on several dimensions. The results are discussed in relation to in-service training of day-care staff, the concept of coaching as a setting event, and the dissemination of teaching technology related to social interaction of young children.     

Two metamodels of causal effects

Two metamodels, termed Model S and Model V, are proposed for definition, measurement, and generalization of quantitative causal effects. The effect is defined as a part change in score in Model S and as a part change in variance in Model V. Two additional changes, total and remainder change, are defined. The latter is due to all other factors or variables than the cause, while total change is the sum of remainder and effect change. Furthermore, it is shown how contrafactual concepts, which imply that some parts of the study situation are supposed to be otherwise, enter into the metamodels. Casual effects are defined and measured in terms of non-contrafactual concepts, except that statistical induction includes contrafactual as well as non-contrafactual inferences. Non-statistical generalization involves both kinds of inferences. Contrafactual definitions are considered inadequate, and a contrafactual interpretation of statistical adjustment is unnecessary and should be replaced by a non-contrafactual one.     

Issues associated with repeated neuropsychological assessments

Distinguishing practice effects from other factors in repeated neuropsychological assessments are discussed in the context of research studies and clinical/forensic assessments. Potential methodological procedures for reducing the impact of practice effects in research settings are outlined. In contrast, the potential clinical utility and interpretation of practice effects in clinical assessments and forensic evaluations are highlighted.     

Bias in self-evaluation: Signal probability effects

Two experiments examined apparent signal probability effects in simple verbal self-reports. After each trial of a delayed matching-to-sample task, young adults pressed either a “yes” or a “no” button to answer a computer-presented query about whether the most recent choice met a point contingency requiring both speed and accuracy. A successful matching-to-sample choice served as the “signal” in a signal-detection analysis of self-reports. Difficulty of matching to sample, and thus signal probability, was manipulated via the number of nonmatching sample and comparison stimuli. In Experiment 1, subjects exhibited a bias (log b) for reporting matching-to-sample success when success was frequent, and no bias or a bias for reporting failure when success was infrequent. Contingencies involving equal conditional probabilities of point consequences for “I succeeded” and “I failed” reports had no systematic effect on this pattern. Experiment 2 found signal probability effects to be evident regardless of whether referent-response difficulty was manipulated in different conditions or within sessions. These findings indicate that apparent signal probability effects in self-report bias that were observed in previous studies probably were not an artifact of contingencies intended to improve self-report accuracy or of the means of manipulating signal probability. The findings support an analogy between simple self-reports and psychophysical judgments and bolster the conclusion of Critchfield (1993) that signal probability effects can influence simple self-reports much as they do reports about external stimuli in psychophysical experiments.     

A Critical Review of the Clinical Effects of Therapeutic Irradiation Damage to the Brain: The Roots of Controversy

We critically examined the damaging affects of therapeutic irradiation by comparing results from cross-disciplinary studies of early- and late-delayed radiotherapy effects. Focus is attained by concentrating on clinical treatment issues (volume of brain, dose, timing of effects, age, modality types, and stereotactic treatment techniques), rather than on methodological means or problems, which is necessary to understand the mechanisms and characteristics of radiotherapy-induced behavioral dysfunction including cognition. We make observations and hypotheses about the actual risks from radiotherapy that could be informative in the treatment decision process, and which may lessen the concerns of some patients and their families about the risks they take when receiving radiation. Conditions that predispose to radiation injury are reviewed: (1) higher doses even to part of the brain versus lower doses to the whole brain, (2) combined treatment modalities, (3) malignancy itself, (4) radiation early during postnatal brain development, and (5) late-delayed effects (more than 3 years posttreatment). Current neurocognitive frameworks for understanding cognitive change over time in children and adults are summarized, along with the literature on effects of brain tumors and treatment on depression. No studies have as yet identified candidate brain regions that are more sensitive to radiotherapy. Two studies have provided early, preliminary evidence for a specific vulnerability of visual attention/memory to the early stage of late radiation damage. Furthermore, radiation effects appear severe only in a minority of patients. Risk is related to direct and indirect effects of cancer type, concurrent clinical factors, and premorbid risk factors.     

Social Consequences of the Internet for Adolescents: A Decade of Research

ABSTRACT— Adolescents are currently the defining users of the Internet. They spend more time online than adults do, and they use the Internet for social interaction more often than adults do. This article discusses the state of the literature on the consequences of online communication technologies (e.g., instant messaging) for adolescents' social connectedness and well-being. Whereas several studies in the 1990s suggested that Internet use is detrimental, recent studies tend to report opposite effects. We first explain why the results of more recent studies diverge from those of earlier studies. Then, we discuss a viable hypothesis to explain the recent findings: the Internet-enhanced self-disclosure hypothesis. Finally, we discuss some contingent factors that may deserve special attention in future research.     

Domain-specific anger expression assessment and blood pressure during rest and acute stress

Anger expression has been linked to hypertension, although assessment of anger expression has not accounted for situational influences. We predicted that anger expression style varies across social situations. Two studies assessed reported anger expression in three domains (home, work, and during free time) and compared findings to those obtained using a global assessment. Participants reported expressing anger more openly when at home and they tend to exert greater control when at work. The domain-specific assessment was also more sensitive to sex differences than the general assessment. The second study examined the influence of this domain-specific anger expression assessment on blood pressure (BP) at rest and during acute challenge. In addition to replicating the first study, the second study showed that open anger expression particularly at work was associated with elevated BP. These studies represent a first step towards improving assessment of anger expression and determining how anger might relate to hypertension risk.     

不同阅读水平与文章熟悉程度条件下文章标记效应的研究

探讨文章阅读过程中读者的阅读水平与文章熟悉程度对文章标记效应的影响。结果表明,文章标记与文章主题熟悉程度存在显著的交互作用,文章标记对熟悉文章的信息保持无明显的促进效应．但对不熟悉文章信息保持的促进效应非常明显;文章标记对不同阅读水平读者的文章信息保持都有显著的促进效应,但对阅读水平高的读者的促进效应大于对阅读水平低的读者的促进效应。文章阅读中的结构搜索加工的观点得到初步证明。