Resistance to continuous delay of reinforcement or extinction following partial delay or partial reinforcement in acquisition: A direct comparison

Rats received either partial reward (PR) or partial delay (PD) in acquisition with one, two, or three delay or nonreward trials followed by an immediately rewarded trial or one delay or nonreward trial followed by an immediately rewarded trial. These four groups were then split in half and given either continuous delay or continuous nonreward (extinction) in a “response persistence” phase. In addition, two continuously reinforced groups, one experiencing continuous delay, and the other experiencing extinction were included. The results showed that response persistence was greater when PD groups were given continuous delay rather than extinction, but the opposite was true for PR groups. The “length” (1, 2, or 3 versus 1 nonreward or delay trial) also transferred to the response persistence phase with the length 1, 2, and 3 conditions being more persistent than the 1 length conditions. The results were discussed with respect to theoretical notions of response persistence.     

Magnitude of negative reinforcement and resistance to extinction

In the first experiment rats experienced large or small magnitude of negative reinforcement (shock reduction) in a straight alley. Half of the subjects in each magnitude group received continuous reinforcement, and the other half received a 50% partial reinforcement schedule (nonreinforcement consisting of no shock reduction in the goal box). In extinction the groups were ordered: large partial > small-partial > small-continuous > large-continuous. In the second experiment rats received large, small and nonreinforcement in various sequences using the runway-negative reinforcement procedure and were ordered: SNL>LNL>SNL>LNS in resistance to extinction (letters represent the magnitudes in the sequence experienced in acquisition). The results of these experiments indicate a commality between positive and negative reinforcement with respect to behavioral phenomena and theoretical accounts of those phenomena.     

Further test of a subjective probability model of social inference

Subjects read paragraphs suggesting that a fictitious person (O) either did or did not possess an attribute X. Then, they reported their beliefs that they would like O (P_L), that O possessed X (P_X), that O was intelligent (P_I) and that O was sarcastic (P_s). Other beliefs necessary to test the predictive accuracy of Wyer's subjective probability model of cognitive organization were also reported. The model accurately predicted P_L on the basis of beliefs about X (the attribute to which information about O directly pertained); this accuracy was greater than that obtained in an earlier study in which real persons were evaluated, and did not depend upon the favorableness of X. However, predictions of P_L based upon beliefs about O's intelligence overestimated obtained values, while predictions based upon beliefs about O's sarcasm underestimated these values; moreover, P_I and P_S were underestimated and overestimated, respectively, by beliefs about X. It was speculated that these discrepancies were due to temporary inconsistencies among beliefs resulting from the information presented which did not have time to be resolved before beliefs were reported. Changes in P_L, P_I, and P_S resulting from additional information about X were accurately predicted in all cases. Implications of the model for other formulations of social evaluation processes are noted.     

An experimental analysis of exposure to “explicit” heterosexual stimuli as an effective variable in changing arousal patterns of homosexuals

The effect of exposure to explicit heterosexual stimuli on heterosexual arousal was experimentally analyzed in four homosexuals in a series of single case experimental designs. Each subject was sequentially exposed to films of female or male sexual content under positive therapeutic instructions. Penile response to female slides in separate measurement sessions increased during exposure to the female film, decreased during exposure to the male film, and increased once again when the female film was reinstated. The increase in penile response to female stimuli was paralleled in many instances by changes in masturbatory fantasy, reports of arousal and heterosexual behavior outside the laboratory. Increasing heterosexual arousal had little effect on homosexual responsivity. Results are discussed in terms of exposure facilitating extinction of avoidance responses toward females and providing new sexual fantasy content.     

Acoustic memory and the perception of speech

The nature of acoustic memory and its relationship to the categorizing process in speech perception is investigated in three experiments on the serial recall of lists of syllables. The first study confirms previous reports that sequences comprising the syllables, bah, dah, and gah show neither enhanced retention when presented auditorily rather than visually, nor a recency effect—both occurred with sequences in which vowel sounds differed (bee, bih, boo). This was found not to be a simple vowel-consonant difference since acoustic memory effects did occur with consonant sequences that were acoustically more discriminable (sha, ma, ga and ash, am, ag). Further experiments used the stimulus suffix effect to provide evidence of acoustic memory, and showed (1), increasing the acoustic similarity of the set grossly impairs acoustic memory effects for vowels as well as consonants, and (2) such memory effects are no greater for steady-state vowels than for continuously changing diphthongs. It is concluded that the usefulness of the information that can be retrieved from acoustic memory depends on the acoustic similarity of the items in the list rather than on their phonetic class or whether or not they have “encoded” acoustic cues. These results question whether there is any psychological evidence for “encoded” speech sounds being categorized in ways different from other speech sounds.     

Number development in young children

This paper presents new data on children's acquisition of counting skills. Three aspects of counting were studied: the formation of the cardinality rule that the last number named during counting denotes the number of objects in an array, the mastery of the counting procedure or the coordination of ordered number names and objects counted, and the growth of the knowledge that x + 1 is greater than x. A model was outlined which posits the hierarchic integration of six number skills to account for the growth of the knowledge that x + 1 is greater than x and the development of number conservation. The six skills are: the cardinality rule, the counting procedure, acquisition of more x's, judgments of relative numerosity, pattern recognition of small numbers, and one-to-one correspondences.     

The effect of failure and frustration on reflective and impulsive children

Failure was hypothesized to be an antecedent of a reflective style of responding and frustration an antecedent of an impulsive style. Failure and frustration were manipulated with an anagrams task and their effect on latency and errors on the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF) was assessed. The Failure group increased its latency on the MFF, replicating Messer's (1970) research, while the Frustration group showed a nonsignificant decrease in latency. There was a relation between an increase in latency and a decrease in errors on the MFF. The findings were related to research on the “frustration effect” in children and were interpreted as suggesting the need for research on the effects of the amount and patterning of failure on reflection-impulsivity.     

Evaluative and taxonomic encoding in children's memory

The experiments were conducted to investigate the development of evaluative and taxonomic encoding in children's memory. The task used was a modification of the Wickens short-term memory task in which subjects' recall of words is tested following a distraction task. The first experiment found that 11-year-old children, but not 8-year-old children, encoded words using the evaluative dimension of the semantic differential. In the second experiment, both 7- and 11-year-olds demonstrated the ability to encode words according to taxonomic categories. These findings were related to other recent work on the development of encoding in memory.     

On the choice between eating and aggressive display in the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens)

In Expt 1, male Betta splendens were given a choice between food and a mirror image in a T-maze. All fish consistently preferred food. In Expt 2, the choice of fish that lived in the T-maze for the duration of the experiment was compared with the choice of fish that were transferred to the T-maze for each experimental session. Fish that lived in the T-maze consistently preferred food, but fish that were transferred showed a shift in preference toward mirror image. Differential inhibition of hunger and aggression by fear is suggested as the cause of the preference shift.