Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded subjects: programming acquisition and learning set.

In Experiment 1, 3 subjects with retardation were exposed to two visual-visual arbitrary matching-to-sample problems each day. One conditional discrimination was presented under trial-and-error conditions, and the other was presented under a component training procedure. The latter began by establishing the comparison discrimination and its rapid reversal. The successive discrimination between the sample stimuli was established through differential naming. Then, sample naming was maintained in conditional discrimination sessions in which the same sample was presented in blocks of consecutive trials. Block size was decreased across sessions until sample presentation was randomized as in trial-and-error training (but with naming maintained). Two subjects initially learned only with component training. The performance of the 3rd subject was inconsistent across conditional discriminations. One of the successful subjects ultimately learned rapidly and consistently with trial-and-error procedures. Experiment 2 sought to demonstrate learning set in the other 2 subjects. Elements of the component training procedure were withdrawn over successive conditional discriminations. Ultimately, 1 subject nearly always learned under trial-and-error conditions, and the other learned under trial-and-error conditions combined with differential sample naming.     

Equivalence classes generated by sequence training

In Experiment 1, 3, adult females were taught with verbal instructions and contingencies to select, in sequence, three arbitrary visual stimuli from an array of five stimuli. After four different sequences were taught, match-to-sample tests assessed emergent conditional relations among all stimuli that had been selected in the same order in the sequences. Subjects' performances indicated development of four stimulus classes, three based on ordinal position and one based on nonselection. Next, match-to-sample training established conditional relations between each of four novel figures and one member of each of the ordinal stimulus classes. Tests confirmed that the classes were equivalence classes, each expanded by one new member. In subsequent sequence tests, the new stimuli were selected in a sequence that was consistent with ordinal class membership. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with 2 different adult females, but the verbal instructions were omitted. Results were similar to Experiment 1, except that extensive review and retesting were required before expansion of the ordinal classes with the novel figures was observed.     

Verbal self-reports of delayed matching to sample by humans

Undergraduates participated in two experiments to develop methods for the experimental analysis of self-reports about behavior. The target behavior was the choice response in a delayed-matching-to-sample task in which monetary reinforcement was contingent upon both speed and accuracy of the choice. In Experiment 1, the temporal portion of the contingency was manipulated within each session, and the presence and absence of feedback about reinforcement was manipulated across sessions. As the time limits became stricter, target response speeds increased, but accuracy and reinforcement rates decreased. When feedback was withheld, further reductions in speed and reinforcement occurred, but only at the strictest time limit. Thus, the procedures were successful in producing systematic variation in the speed, accuracy, and reinforcement of the target behavior. Experiment 2 was designed to assess the influence of these characteristics on self-reports. In self-report conditions, each target response was followed by a computer-generated query: “Did you earn points?” The subject reported by pressing “Yes” or “No” buttons, with the sole consequence of advancing the session. In some cases, feedback about reinforcement of the target response followed the reports; in other cases it was withheld. Self-reports were less accurate when the target responses occurred under greater time pressure. When feedback was withheld, the speed of the target response influenced reports, in that the probability of a “Yes” report increased directly with the speed of accurate target responses. In addition, imposing the self-report procedure disrupted target performance by reducing response speeds at the strictest time limit. These results allow investigation of issues in both behavioral and cognitive psychology. More important, the overall order in the data suggests promise for the experimental analysis of self-reports by human subjects.     

实质取样对因果强度估计的影响

使用单个目标原因和单个效果的图形集中呈现范式协变关系探讨实质取样增量（12.5%< 50%< 87.5% <100%）对大学生被试因果强度估计的影响。实验结果显示：1）实质取样增加在Power-PC=.50和1协变关系上都导致高估计,在Power-PC=0的协变关系上导致低估计;2）相同实质取样增量对被试在Power-PC=.50（1）协变关系上强度估计的影响符合一次（二次）函数假设。结果说明高实质取样促使被试做出符合理性预期的强度估计,混合假设可以解释被试的强度估计偏离Power-PC值的现象。     

The Güttingen study of psychoanalytic therapy: First results

Results of a naturalistic study of the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy are reported. Outcome data are presented for a sample of N = 36 patients who were treated with psychoanalytic therapy. For a sample of n = 23 of these patients, data for 1-year follow-up are available at present. According to the results, psychoanalytic therapy yielded signifi cant improvements in symptoms (Symptom Checklist 90-R, SCL-90-R and rating of psychoanalysts), in interpersonal problems (Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, IIP), in quality of life (Questionnaire of Quality of Life, FLZ), in well-being (Questionnaire of Changes in Experience and Behaviour, VEV) and in target problems defi ned by the patients (Goal Attainment Scaling, GAS). Large effect sizes between 1.28 and 2.48 were found in symptoms (GSI of the SCL-90-R), interpersonal problems (IIP-total), quality of life (FLZ-total), well-being (VEV) and target problems (GAS). At 1-year follow-up, all improvements proved to be stable or even increased. The self-reported improvements in symptoms were corroborated by the ratings of the psychoanalysts. At the end of therapy, 77% of the patients showed clinically signifi cant improvements. In the 1-year follow-up group, this was true for 80%. Further results are presented and discussed.     

Teaching identity matching of braille characters to beginning braille readers

We taught three children with visual impairments to make tactile discriminations of the braille alphabet within a matching‐to‐sample format. That is, we presented participants with a braille character as a sample stimulus, and they selected the matching stimulus from a three‐comparison array. In order to minimize participant errors, we initially arranged braille characters into training sets in which there was a maximum difference in the number of dots comprising the target and nontarget comparison stimuli. As participants mastered these discriminations, we increased the similarity between target and nontarget comparisons (i.e., an approximation of stimulus fading). All three participants’ accuracy systematically increased following the introduction of this identity‐matching procedure.     

Empirically Corrected Rescaled Statistics for SEM with Small N and Large p

Survey data often contain many variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is commonly used in analyzing such data. With typical nonnormally distributed data in practice, a rescaled statistic T_rml proposed by Satorra and Bentler was recommended in the literature of SEM. However, T_rml has been shown to be problematic when the sample size N is small and/or the number of variables p is large. There does not exist a reliable test statistic for SEM with small N or large p, especially with nonnormally distributed data. Following the principle of Bartlett correction, this article develops empirical corrections to T_rml so that the mean of the empirically corrected statistics approximately equals the degrees of freedom of the nominal chi-square distribution. Results show that empirically corrected statistics control type I errors reasonably well even when N is smaller than 2p, where T_rml may reject the correct model 100% even for normally distributed data. The application of the empirically corrected statistics is illustrated via a real data example.     

取样大小对因果强度推理的影响研究

摘 要：使用纸笔测验探讨表格集中呈现信息条件下取样大小对单一因果关系强度推理的影响,并比较五种模型ΔP、效力PC、SS效力、Support和χ2的预测与实验数据的相关。结果显示：（1）取样大小对不同的问题有不同的影响：高取样在ΔP=0时导致了低估计值,在0<|ΔP|=PPC时没有效果,在|ΔP|相似文献   

闪光滞后效应的机制：时间错觉与空间错觉

闪光滞后效应（flash—lag effect,FLE）是指在与某运动物体相同的位置上呈现的闪光（flash）知觉上滞后于该运动物体的视错觉。本文简要介绍了有关闪光滞后效应机制的理论模型。笔者认为,目前各种理论的争议可归结为时间错觉假说与空间错觉假说之争,并在此基础上就今后进一步研究的方向提出了建议。