Correspondence as conditional stimulus control: insights from experiments with pigeons.

Correspondence between saying and doing, typically studied in young children and individuals with developmental disabilities, was examined as an instance of conditional stimulus control. In Experiment 1, 3 pigeons were exposed to a two‐component repeated‐trials procedure. In the first—sample or say—component, two response keys transilluminated by different colored lights were presented and the pigeon pecked one of the keys. After 1 s of darkness in the chamber, the second—choice or do—component was presented, in which the two keys again were transilluminated, one by the color selected in the first component and the second by another color. Selecting the color that matched that selected in the say component resulted in access to food. Selecting the other color produced a blackout of the chamber. After an intertrial interval (ITI), the next say component was programmed, and the procedure was repeated. Correspondence remained at chance levels through several manipulations of ITI duration and sample response requirement. When a correction procedure was added such that only the originally selected sample stimulus was re‐presented until a correct choice response occurred, reliable correspondence developed in 2 pigeons. This correspondence was eliminated by making reinforcement independent of correspondence and subsequently was reestablished when reinforcement again depended on correspondence. In Experiment 2, 3 other pigeons rapidly acquired correspondence under the final procedure used in Experiment 1. Increasing the time interval between the say and do components diminished correspondence. The results of the two experiments suggest how correspondence may be considered an instance of conditional stimulus control and that it is possible to construct a homologue of human say‐do correspondence with pigeons.     

The role of kinematic mental simulation in creating false memories

Our investigation focuses on memory for scenes depicted in photos. According to the mental model theory, the observation of a static scene depicted in a photo which portrays an actor near to perform an action can trigger a kinematic mental simulation of that action unfolding in time. The deriving prediction is that such a kinematic mental model supports the creation of a false memory of the actor performing an advanced phase of the action. We test this prediction in three experiments in which participants are presented with static scenes of actions, and after three days they perform a recognition task in which they assess recognition of old and novel static scenes depicting actions. The results confirm that false memories occur for actions that represent the unfolding over time of the static action initially observed. Our theoretical framework can accommodate also several previous findings in the literature on false memories.     

市场信息整合的创造性思维机制初探

采用个别测试和集体测试相结合的方法, 辅以个别访谈等技术, 运用自编的实验测试材料, 通过两个实验探索市场信息的量、关键启发信息的突出性等对商业投资问题的思维决策结果的影响, 初步探讨了市场信息整合的创造性思维过程和机制。实验结果发现, 提供给被试的市场信息越多, 信息整合的问题空间越大, 其整合过程难度越大; 在问题空间进行搜索时, 被试需要抓住关键启发信息形成一个初始意向, 明确进一步搜索的思维方向; 初始意向形成后, 被试须筛选必要信息、排除冗余信息, 并进一步整合有用信息, 使初始意向更加精致化, 最终形成一个“可盈利的完善的投资方案”。     

PIGEONS (COLUMBA LIVIA) APPROACH NASH EQUILIBRIUM IN EXPERIMENTAL MATCHING PENNIES COMPETITIONS

The game of Matching Pennies (MP), a simplified version of the more popular Rock, Papers, Scissors, schematically represents competitions between organisms with incentives to predict each other's behavior. Optimal performance in iterated MP competitions involves the production of random choice patterns and the detection of nonrandomness in the opponent's choices. The purpose of this study was to replicate systematic deviations from optimal choice observed in humans when playing MP, and to establish whether suboptimal performance was better described by a modified linear learning model or by a more cognitively sophisticated reinforcement‐tracking model. Two pairs of pigeons played iterated MP competitions; payoffs for successful choices (e.g., “Rock” vs. “Scissors”) varied within experimental sessions and across experimental conditions, and were signaled by visual stimuli. Pigeons' behavior adjusted to payoff matrices; divergences from optimal play were analogous to those usually demonstrated by humans, except for the tendency of pigeons to persist on prior choices. Suboptimal play was well characterized by a linear learning model of the kind widely used to describe human performance. This linear learning model may thus serve as default account of competitive performance against which the imputation of cognitively sophisticated processes can be evaluated.     

Key-peck durations under behavioral contrast and differential reinforcement

Pigeons were maintained on a multiple schedule in which both components were variable-interval one-minute schedules. When they were switched to a condition in which one component was extinction, behavioral contrast was observed. The median durations of the key pecks in the unchanged component did not decrease in size. The results are incompatible with a theory of behavioral contrast which considers the added pecks to be short-duration responses. In a second experiment, pigeons were required to emit short-duration key pecks in one component of a multiple schedule, and long-duration pecks in the other. Two of three pigeons learned to emit responses appropriate to the requirements of the component in effect, suggesting that the duration of the key-peck response is sensitive to differential reinforcement.     

Pigeons' preferences for stimulus information: effects of amount of information

A concurrent-chain procedure was used to study pigeons' preferences as a function of amount of information. Pigeons chose between two terminal links. Both terminal links ended in food reinforcement with probability (p) and in blackout with probability (1–p). One terminal link (noninformative link) was signalled by a stimulus uncorrelated with either food or blackout. The other terminal link (informative link) was signalled by stimuli correlated with these outcomes. Amount of information conveyed by these stimuli was varied across conditions by changing the probability of reinforcement (p) and blackout (1–p). The pigeons strongly preferred the informative link, and preferences were greater at p values above 0.50 than for their complements. The pigeons engaged in different behaviors during the stimulus periods, suggesting that the value of informative stimuli may be in their function as discriminative stimuli for interim activities and terminal responses.     

Patterns of responding within sessions.

Rates of responding changed systematically across sessions for rats pressing levers and keys and for pigeons pressing treadles and pecking keys. A bitonic function in which response rates increased and then decreased across sessions was the most common finding, although an increase in responding also occurred alone. The change in response rate was usually large. The function relating responding to time in session had the following general characteristics: It appeared early in training, and further experience moved and reduced its peak; it was flatter for longer sessions; and it was flatter, more symmetrical, and peaked later for lower than for higher rates of reinforcement. Factors related to reinforcement exerted more control over the location of the peak rate of responding and the steepness of the decline in response rates than did factors related to responding. These within-session changes in response rates have fundamental theoretical and methodological implications.     

基于管理者安全管理行动的高风险企业安全氛围改善

随着系统可靠性的提高,高风险企业超过三分之二的事故原因涉及人的因素。员工不安全行为是系统失效的触发因素,潜藏的社会情境因素(如安全氛围)是“常驻的病原体”,因此探索并改善影响安全行为的社会情境因素是有效提升组织安全的关键。在众多的情境因素中,安全氛围对安全绩效的积极影响已得到充分的文献支持,但对如何改善安全氛围的探索却有限。本项目围绕管理者对安全的承诺这一安全氛围的核心维度,基于信号理论提出直接安全管理行动是体现管理者安全承诺的重要途径,并在探索主管和经理关键安全管理行动对团队和组织安全氛围影响的基础上开展相应的干预研究。具体而言,在团队层面,探索改善主管关键安全管理行动对团队安全氛围提升的有效性;在组织和团队两个层面,探索改善经理的关键安全管理行动对同时提升组织和团队安全氛围的有效性。研究结果预期可以在安全管理实践中推广应用。