A review and critique of the process approach in neuropsychological assessment

This paper surveys the process approach literature with an emphasis on higher level cognitive functions like attention and concentration, learning and memory, and problem solving and executive functioning. In particular, it discusses organizational strategies and kinds of errors found on a variety of tests as well as behavioral, situational, and interpersonal issues as they relate to test procedures. It critiques the process approach and suggests future directions.     

Circular definitions,circular explanations,and infinite regresses

This paper discusses some of the ways in which circular definitions and circular explanations entail or fail to entail infinite regresses. And since not all infinite regresses are vicious, a few criteria of viciousness are examined in order to determine when the entailment of a regress refutes a circular definition or a circular explanation.I would like to thank Professors Robert Tully, Howard Sobel, and Derek Allen for their constructive comments.     

Regulate to facilitate: A scoping review of prefrontal asymmetry in sport and exercise

BackgroundPrefrontal asymmetry (PFA) describes the relative activity of the right PFC compared to the left PFC. It has been shown that PFA is associated with affective and motivational variables in several contexts, including sport and exercise. Considering the significant roles of affect and motivation in different performance settings, PFA might also be an important indicator of athletic performance. However, the relevance of PFA in the sport and exercise setting has not yet been addressed in its entirety. Instead, previous systematic reviews have solely focused on affective variables. Mapping out the complex interactions between PFA and affective, motivational as well as performance variables could help to understand what determines successful athletic performance as well as the positive psychological effects associated with exercise.ApproachScientific databases were searched for quantitative studies in English language published in international peer-reviewed journals. All 27 selected studies assessed physical activity and measured PFA in the brain locations F4-F3 and/or F8-F7 using electroencephalography.FindingsThe majority of the studies used a non-athlete sample (78%) and exercise types were diverse. While all studies focused on affective or motivational processes, 19% also reported associations with performance. Even though findings are inconsistent, they support the assumption that PFA plays a role in self-regulation.ConclusionThere is evidence for an involvement of PFA in affective, motivational and performance processes in the sport and exercise setting that can be interpreted as regulatory mechanisms. Future research on the underlying mechanisms is warranted, in particular, associations with motivational processes and performance need to be investigated more explicitly.     

Developing the matrix representation grid (MRG): A method for observing group processes. Findings from time-limited group psychotherapy for alcohol-dependent patients

The MRG was published 1988 in order to support developments in group psychotherapy methods as one of the all too few process observation research methods for studying group-as-a-whole. After 9 years of what pilot studies have labeled successful clinical trials, this study aims at validating the MRG against the established SAVI: Structural Analysis of Verbal Interaction (Agazarian & Simon 1989). Videotaped group sessions from short-term groups for alcohol dependent patients conducted along two therapy methods, one behaviorally oriented and the other group analytic, are used as material. The MRG is validated in the study, confirmed to be clinically valuable, and some interesting comparisons between the two treatment modalities are also made.     

RESPONSE TO CRITIQUES OF ETHICS IN AN AGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Abstract. Both Roger Shinn and Robert Stivers ask whether technology has a momentum of its own that is difficult if not impossible to control (“autonomous technology” or “technological inevitability”). I reply that the difficulty in controlling technology is a product of economic and political institutions (such as corporate lobbying and campaign contributions) rather than of any inherent characteristics of technology. Against Stivers's assertion that the ecosystem should be the center of value in environmental ethics, I defend the process view that all beings are valuable, but they are not equally valuable in their richness of experience or their contribution to the experience of others. I also consider his caveats about ambiguities in the concept of sustainability. Two questions raised by Mary Gerhart are taken up: the difficulties of interdisciplinary writing and the role of theological ethics in discussions of public policy. In dialogue with Frederick Ferre I explore the role of alternative visions of the good life as a source of social change. In the face of diminished concern about social justice and environmental sustainability among citizens and in Congress since the book was written, I express long-range hope, but not optimism about the short-term prospects for change.     

A SUPERVISORY STRATEGY TO IMPROVE WORK PERFORMANCE FOR LOWER FUNCTIONING RETARDED CLIENTS IN A SHELTERED WORKSHOP

A multiple component strategy was investigated for aiding staff responsible for supervising production of lower functioning retarded clients on contract tasks in an institution-based sheltered workshop. The strategy was assessed in a combined multi-element, multiple baseline across groups design with a reversal component. Production performance increased during the production supervisory strategy with all 16 clients, with the range of increase varying from a few percentage points to 150% of baseline production. Both the clients and staff (responsible for conducting the research) preferred working under experimental conditions rather than under baseline conditions which approximated those found in “typical” sheltered workshops.     

The second offspring of General Process Learning Theory: Overt behavior as the ambassador of the mind

Wasserman suggested in a recent book review that the study of intervening cognitive processes represents a current focus of interest in animal learning and that this has led to a revitalization of comparative psychology. An examination of the volume reviewed suggests that he may have overstated the case. Most of the authors to whom he refers expressed dissatisfaction with traditional stimulus-response associationism but few argued for the extreme (information processing) sort of cognitive approach described by Wasserman.     

Human performance on conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedules

Eighteen young adults performed a lever-pulling task for money. Subjects were initially exposed to a fixed-interval 80-second schedule and subsequently to one of three conjunctive schedules in which the added fixed-ratio requirement was set at either 10, 80, or 120 responses. Three fixed-interval response patterns emerged: high constant rate, intermediate rate, or low rate, with most subjects displaying the last. Conjunctive performance was related to the subjects' prior fixed-interval patterns and the conjunctive ratio requirements. Low-rate subjects tended to optimize reinforcement (maximum reinforcers for minimum responses) on conjunctive schedules. Response rate was directly related to ratio requirements. Subjects' performance closely corresponded to their verbal statements of the contingencies.     

Concurrent schedules: undermatching and control by previous experimental conditions.

Five pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval schedules. A series of conditions in which the ratio of reinforcement rates on two keys was progressively increased and then decreased was arranged twice. The birds were then exposed to an irregular sequence of conditions. Each condition in which reinforcement was available on both keys lasted six sessions. Performance in the first, third, and sixth sessions after a condition change was analyzed. Following a condition change, preference was biased toward the preference in the last condition, but this effect largely disappeared before the sixth session of training. The birds' preferences also appeared less sensitive to reinforcement rates in early sessions after a transition. Preference in a session was a function of both the reinforcements in that session and the reinforcements obtained in as many as four or five previous sessions. The effects of reinforcements in previous sessions could be summarized by the performance in the immediately preceding session, giving a relatively simple relation between present performance and a combination of present reinforcement and prior session performance. While such hysteresis could cause undermatching when only a small number of sessions are arranged in a condition, undermatching in a stable-state performance probably arises elsewhere.     

On Herrnstein's equation and related forms

In 1970, Herrnstein proposed a simple equation to describe the relation between response and reinforcement rates on interval schedules. Its empirical basis is firm, but its theoretical foundation is still uncertain. Two approaches to the derivation of Herrnstein's equation are discussed. It can be derived as the equilibrium solution to a process model equivalent to familiar linear-operator learning models. Modifications of this approach yield competing power-function formulations. The equation can also be derived from the assumption that response strength is proportional to reinforcement rate, given that there is a ceiling on response rate. The proportional relation can, in turn, be derived from a threshold assumption equivalent to Shimp's “momentary maximizing”. This derivation implies that the two parameters of Herrnstein's equation should be correlated, and may explain its special utility in application to internal schedules.