A NOTE ON TRANSFER OF STIMULUS CONTROL IN THE DELAYED-CUE PROCEDURE: FACILITATION BY AN OVERT DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSE

This case study describes initially unsuccessful attempts to use the delayed-cue procedure to teach conditional discriminations to an individual with moderate mental retardation. The task was matching printed-word comparison stimuli to dictated-name sample stimuli. In three experiments, the subject typically waited for the delayed cue unless differential responses to the dictated samples (repeating the sample names) were required. Hence, the study provides an example of a way to make the delayed-cue method more effective. The stimulus control bases for the results are discussed.     

Predicting and scaling hens' preferences for topographically different responses

Six hens were exposed to several concurrent (second-order) variable-interval schedules in which the response requirements on the alternatives were varied. The response requirements were one key peck versus five key pecks, one key peck versus one door push, and five key pecks versus one door push. Response- and time-allocation ratios undermatched the obtained reinforcement ratios but were well described by the generalized matching law. Time and response bias estimates from two pairs of response requirements were used to predict bias in the third pairing. The predicted values were close to those obtained; this result supports the notion that both numerically and topographically different responses act as constant sources of bias within the generalized matching law. The differences between the response and time biases could be accounted for by the different times needed to complete each response requirement. The results also suggest that the door push is a useful operant for research with domestic hens.     

Essential independence and likelihood-based ability estimation for polytomous items

A definition ofessential independence is proposed for sequences of polytomous items. For items satisfying the reasonable assumption that the expected amount of credit awarded increases with examinee ability, we develop a theory ofessential unidimensionality which closely parallels that of Stout. Essentially unidimensional item sequences can be shown to have a unique (up to change-of-scale) dominant underlying trait, which can be consistently estimated by a monotone transformation of the sum of the item scores. In more general polytomous-response latent trait models (with or without ordered responses), anM-estimator based upon maximum likelihood may be shown to be consistent for under essentially unidimensional violations of local independence and a variety of monotonicity/identifiability conditions. A rigorous proof of this fact is given, and the standard error of the estimator is explored. These results suggest that ability estimation methods that rely on the summation form of the log likelihood under local independence should generally be robust under essential independence, but standard errors may vary greatly from what is usually expected, depending on the degree of departure from local independence. An index of departure from local independence is also proposed.This work was supported in part by Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-87-K-0277 and National Science Foundation Grant NSF-DMS-88-02556. The author is grateful to William F. Stout for many helpful comments, and to an anonymous reviewer for raising the questions addressed in section 2. A preliminary version of section 6 appeared in the author's Ph.D. thesis.     

Parental divorce as a factor in children''s perception of human relationships: An analysis of human movement responses in the Rorschach test

The subjects were 108 Swedish children between 10 and 12 years old, who constituted a divorce and a non-divorce group of 27 girls and 27 boys each. Rorschach Tests were administered individually and human movement responses were analysed. Non-divorce children perceived more cooperative and fewer hostile interactions than the divorce children. Responses containing figures engaged in hostile interaction were most common among divorce girls, whereas the divorce boys had difficulties in perceiving any interaction whatsoever. The different effect of parental divorce on the ability of girls and boys to develop satisfactory social relationships is discussed.     

NORMAL CHILDREN AS TUTORS TO TEACH SOCIAL RESPONSES TO WITHDRAWN MENTALLY RETARDED SCHOOLMATES: TRAINING,MAINTENANCE, AND GENERALIZATION

The findings of the three experiments reported herein indicate that normal children can successfully teach social responses (i.e., delayed imitation, cooperative play, and verbalization of positive comments) to withdrawn mentally retarded peers. The effects of the intervention generalized across stimulus and response conditions, while the trained and generalized levels of responding were maintained after the end of the intervention. Moreover, the subjects developed social responding within their classrooms and play areas parallel to the intervention and continued to increase such responding after the interruption of the intervention. Direct edible reinforcement appeared to be necessary at least during the initial period of the intervention. Vicarious edible reinforcement seemed useful to prompt the appearance of responding. Vicarious social reinforcement was ineffective at the beginning of the intervention, but apparently acquired prompting power at a later stage of training. Generalization results indicated that the similarity between the response occasions used for training and those used for testing generalization played an important role. Yet, the extensiveness of training and the development of responding within the classrooms and play areas may also have had a relevant effect. The development of social responding within the classrooms and play areas appeared to be mainly the effect of new learning. This was perhaps due to vicarious and direct social reinforcement.     

Changes in a multiple-response repertoire during response-contingent punishment and response restriction: Sequential relationships

A multiple-response baseline of four activities was established using gerbils as subjects. When one of the baseline responses was punished (Experiment 1) or restricted (Experiments 2 and 3), only the most probable of the alternative baseline responses increased. The response most likely to follow the punished or restricted responses during baseline sessions was also suppressed during subsequent punishment or response-restriction treatment.     

ANALYSIS OF THE CONSISTENCY OF OBJECTIVE MEASURES OF SEXUAL AROUSAL IN WOMEN

Eight adult women volunteers viewed the same erotic film in two different sessions. Their resulting genital responses were recorded simultaneously by three different measures: vaginal pressure pulse, vaginal blood volume, and labial temperature change. During the erotic stimulation, the vaginal pressure pulse and labial responses always increased, and the vaginal blood volume response increased on all but two occasions. Although there was considerable intersubject variability in each genital measure, all three measures were found to have some intrasubject consistency over sessions with respect to either their response amplitudes or patterns, with labial temperature being the most consistent on both parameters. The relationship between the response patterns of the three measures during the film was also relatively consistent across sessions, as was the correspondence between subjective ratings of arousal and both vaginal pressure pulse and labial responses but not vaginal blood volume response. To overcome the problem of considerable intrasubject variability of response amplitudes, it was suggested that the inclusion in the data analysis of several parameters of response patterns, which were relatively stable over sessions, might facilitate the evaluation of a treatment.     

Cognitive and physiological indices of sexual arousal in homosexual,bisexual, and heterosexual males

Cognitive and physiological indices of sexual arousal were investigated utilizing groups of homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual subjects (ten subjects per group) who were presented both homosexual and heterosexual films and slides. The results indicated that both homosexual and heterosexual subjects were able to estimate accurately their degree of erection to the erotic stimuli. Bisexual subjects, however, showed a large discrepancy between the magnitude of actual erection and verbally reported estimates of penile tumescence. In terms of physiological arousal, the erectile responses of the homosexual and bisexual groups were indistinguishable, a finding which questions the existence of male bisexuality as distinct from homosexuality or as a different sexual orientation in males.     

EMPLOYING TASK ARRANGEMENTS AND VERBAL CONTINGENCIES TO PROMOTE VERBALIZATIONS BETWEEN RETARDED CHILDREN1

This study investigated the effects of arranging task events for interdependence, to increase the probability of social responding. During task interdependence, the subjects, participating in dyads and a four-person group, obtained task materials (a puzzle piece) from their partner before completing their task (appropriately placing the puzzle piece). The verbal contingency required a verbal request to precede a subject's receiving a task material from his partner. The verbal contingency yoked with task interdependence made task completion contingent on the appropriate verbalization. The findings from two experiments suggested that task interdependence was sufficient to increase partner-directed verbalizations for three of the four subjects. When the verbal contingency was added, all subjects increased their requests and other verbalizations to partner. Applied to a four-person group, the verbal contingency yoked with varying levels of task interdependence correspondingly affected the pattern and level of group communications. The greater the task interdependence, i.e., the more members each subject depended on to complete his task, the more complex the social network of verbal contacts, and the higher the level of both requests and other verbalizations for the group.