COMPARING TREATMENT TACTICS WITH A HYPERACTIVE PRESCHOOL CHILD: STIMULANT MEDICATION AND PROGRAMMED TEACHER INTERVENTION1

Two treatment tactics, food and praise contingent on appropriate play and varying doses of methylphenidate (Ritalin), were evaluated for their effects on a preschool child's activity changes. In addition, other social, verbal, and academic behaviors were monitored to examine possible side effects of the two treatment tactics. Fewer free-play activity changes occurred during contingent reinforcement phases while medication had variable effects: increasing attention to tasks but, at higher doses, decreasing intelligibility of speech and responsiveness to mands. The study outlines a replicable model for comparing medication with alternative behavioral strategies to control hyperactivity and enhance skill development.     

An operant analysis of human altruistic responding

Human altruistic responding (called give responding), which delivered a reinforcer to someone other than the responder, was compared to responding where the responder was the recipient of the reinforcer (called earn responding). The same type of response (button pressing), the same reinforcer (a point representing a penny), and the same reinforcer contingency (a 40-response fixed-ratio schedule) were used for both give and earn responding. Since points representing pennies were used to reinforce give and earn responding, responding for points not worth money was also assessed. Give, earn, and point responding were arranged as concurrent incompatible operants. Lowest rates were obtained for point responding. Compared to earn responding, give responding occurred at lower rates, was more susceptible to cessation when point responding was possible, extinguished more rapidly in the absence of money, and produced less responding during reconditioning compared to conditioning when reconditioning followed a period of nonreinforcement. Give responding was less when it reduced the giver's opportunity to earn. Finally, histories of getting reinforcement from others were shown to determine give responding.     

The effect of rearing environments on the contrafreeloading phenomenon in rats

Eight naive rats were reared in enriched or impoverished environments for 39 days after weaning and then lived in operant chambers, in which they could obtain food pellets freely or by lever pressing, for 25 or 30 days. The animals raised in an impoverished environment acquired the bar-press response quickly when placed in the operant chambers and maintained a preference for obtaining food via bar pressing. Animals raised in an enriched environment did not learn to lever press, as demonstrated by low levels of responding and the lack of bar pressing when free food was subsequently removed. It was concluded that restricting animals' postweaning environments facilitated learning in a choice situation, probably because of increased activity levels. The results are interpreted in relation to previous studies on rearing environments and on contrafreeloading.     

Interactions in multiple schedules: the role of the stimulus-reinforcer contingency

In Experiments I and II, pigeons were exposed to single-key multiple schedules of response-independent and -dependent food presentation. Components were correlated with different keylights. When the rate of food presentation in the first component exceeded that in the second component, the local rate of key pecking was relatively high at onset of the first component. Overall rate in that component varied inversely with component duration and the rate of food presentation in the second component. When responding was maintained in the second component, the local rate of key pecking was relatively low at onset of that component. Overall rate in the second component varied directly with component duration and the rate of food presentation in that component. In Experiment III, pigeons were exposed to a two-key multiple schedule. Pecks on a constantly illuminated key produced food. Components were correlated with the color of a second key on which pecks had no scheduled consequences. The effects of component duration and rate of food presentation under the single-key response-dependent schedule were synthesized by combining response rates on each concurrently available key under the two-key procedure. The results support an account of multiple-schedule interactions in terms of the joint influence on responding of stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer contingencies.     

ADHD and Behavioral Inhibition: A Re-examination of the Stop-signal Task

The current study investigates two recently identified threats to the construct validity of behavioral inhibition as a core deficit of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on the stop-signal task: calculation of mean reaction time from go-trials presented adjacent to intermittent stop-trials, and non-reporting of the stop-signal delay metric. Children with ADHD (n = 12) and typically developing (TD) children (n = 11) were administered the standard stop-signal task and three variant stop-signal conditions. These included a no-tone condition administered without the presentation of an auditory tone; an ignore-tone condition that presented a neutral (i.e., not associated with stopping) auditory tone; and a second ignore-tone condition that presented a neutral auditory tone after the tone had been previously paired with stopping. Children with ADHD exhibited significantly slower and more variable reaction times to go-stimuli, and slower stop-signal reaction times relative to TD controls. Stop-signal delay was not significantly different between groups, and both groups’ go-trial reaction times slowed following meaningful tones. Collectively, these findings corroborate recent meta-analyses and indicate that previous findings of stop-signal performance deficits in ADHD reflect slower and more variable responding to visually presented stimuli and concurrent processing of a second stimulus, rather than deficits of motor behavioral inhibition.     

不同铆测验设计下多维IRT等值方法的比较

实际应用中测验往往具有多维结构, 如果仍采用单维IRT方法进行等值, 会得到不准确的结果。因此对于多维结构的测验, 需要使用多维IRT等值方法来实现参数的转换。基于共同题设计, 文章通过模拟研究的方法, 考察了不同铆测验设计下几种多维IRT等值方法的表现, 同时考虑了测验长度、两个维度题目数量的比例、铆测验长度、铆测验的选择策略、两个维度之间的相关和等值群体的能力水平差异六个因素的影响。所比较的多维IRT等值方法有：均值/均值(MM)方法, 均值/标准差(MS)方法, Stoking-Lord (SL)方法, Haebara (HB)方法, 最小平方(LS)方法。结果显示：(1) SL, HB和LS方法得到的等值误差均方根最小, 且在各条件下表现较为稳定。(2) MM和MS方法在非等组条件下呈现出很大的误差均方根。(3)铆测验设计对SL, HB和LS方法的等值结果没有显著影响。(4)在两个维度之间的相关较高, 测验长度和铆测验长度较长, 等值群体的能力水平没有差异的条件下, SL, HB和LS方法得到的等值误差均方根最小。     

工作投入研究的现状

工作投入指的是一种与工作相关的积极、完满的情绪与认知状态,具有持久性和弥散性的特点。工作投入对个体的工作绩效和某些工作态度及行为变量,以及顾客满意度、生产力、利润率和单位总体绩效等组织结果变量均具有一定的影响。工作投入的影响因素包括个体特征因素、与工作相关的因素以及与家庭相关的因素等3个方面。文章在对工作投入的相关研究进行全面述评的基础上,指出未来的研究有必要进一步加强对工作投入的干预机制等五方面问题的探讨     

注意缺陷多动障碍的研究与治疗

注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的发病群体多为5岁以后的儿童,主要临床表现是多动、冲动,注意力无法集中,对一项任务不能够有规划进行下去,而且脾气暴躁、易怒。近年来,心理学界、神经科学界和教育学界等对ADHD的研究取得了很多进展。本文概括性地介绍了ADHD病症的基本特征,目前对于患者脑机制损害的研究,并从药理学和行为学等方面讨论了ADHD的治疗方法和手段。     

图形项目记忆与位置来源提取的ERP研究

采用事件相关电位（ERP）方法研究大学生图形项目记忆与位置来源提取新/旧效应的时、空分布特征。学习屏幕左侧（或右侧）呈现的图形后在屏幕中央呈现某一测验项目（已学图形或新图形）,对受试者进行两类测验：其一是判断该项目是否已学过;其二是将从某侧学过的测验项目判断为目标,而将其它测验项目判断为非目标的来源测验（排除任务）。实验结果表明：图形位置来源提取比项目再认新/旧效应的头皮分布更广,持续时程更长;与前人相同实验范式的研究结果相比,本研究位置来源提取效应的头皮分布范围较广;非目标-旧图形与目标图形新/旧效应的头皮激活程度不同。上述结果说明：图形位置来源提取比项目再认激活的大脑区域更多,这与双重加工模型的观点一致;实验范式和来源知觉的特性共同调节来源记忆新/旧效应的时、空分布特征;意识水平对来源信息提取的新/旧效应存在一定的影响     

The heterogeneity of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and conduct problems: Cognitive inhibition,emotion regulation,emotionality, and disorganized attachment

This study examined the contributions of several important domains of functioning to attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and conduct problems. Specifically, we investigated whether cognitive inhibition, emotion regulation, emotionality, and disorganized attachment made independent and specific contributions to these externalizing behaviour problems from a multiple pathways perspective. The study included laboratory measures of cognitive inhibition and disorganized attachment in 184 typically developing children (M age = 6 years, 10 months, SD = 1.7). Parental ratings provided measures of emotion regulation, emotionality, and externalizing behaviour problems. Results revealed that cognitive inhibition, regulation of positive emotion, and positive emotionality were independently and specifically related to ADHD symptoms. Disorganized attachment and negative emotionality formed independent and specific relations to conduct problems. Our findings support the multiple pathways perspective on ADHD, with poor regulation of positive emotion and high positive emotionality making distinct contributions to ADHD symptoms. More specifically, our results support the proposal of a temperamentally based pathway to ADHD symptoms. The findings also indicate that disorganized attachment and negative emotionality constitute pathways specific to conduct problems rather than to ADHD symptoms.