The utility of verbal and behavioral assessments of value.

Subjects lived in a laboratory apartment for up to 30 days, engaging in ordinary activities such as reading, sewing, and artwork. The amount of time devoted to each activity was recorded and compared with periodic verbal ratings of the amount of time devoted to the activities. The verbal and observational assessments of the time distribution were very similar, but there were some discrepancies. Based on self-reports and on observation of time actually devoted to the activities, contingencies were arranged in which time devoted to one activity produced time available for a second activity. When the contingency relation was based on behavioral assessment, predictions of time redistribution were more accurate than when the relations were based on verbal assessment. The close correspondence between observed distributions of time and verbally assessed distributions was probably due to the well-specified situation and rigorous assessment methods. Contrary to some cognitive-behavioral accounts, the contingency results suggest that verbal assessment is not necessarily preferable to observation when the two make discrepant predictions. It is suggested that verbal reports might be used more often in behavior analysis in place of lengthy or difficult observations, and attention is drawn to a personality model that parallels important components of behavior analysis.     

Determinants of pigeons' waiting time: Effects of interreinforcement interval and food delay

Four pigeons performed on three types of schedules at short (i.e., 10, 30, or 60 s) interreinforcement intervals: (a) a delay-dependent schedule where interreinforcement interval was held constant (i.e., increases in waiting time decreased food delay), (b) an interreinforcement-interval-dependent schedule where food delay was held constant (i.e., increases in waiting time increased interreinforcement interval), and (c) a both-dependent schedule where increases in waiting time produced increases in interreinforcement interval but decreases in food delay. Waiting times were typically longer under the delay-dependent schedules than under the interreinforcement-interval-dependent schedules. Those under both-dependent schedules for 1 subject were intermediate between those under the other two schedule types, whereas for the other subjects waiting times under the both-dependent procedure were similar either to those under the delay-dependent schedule or to those under the interreinforcement-interval-dependent schedule, depending both on the subject and the interreinforcement interval. These results indicate that neither the interreinforcement interval nor food delay is the primary variable controlling waiting time, but rather that the two interact in a complex manner to determine waiting times.     

小学儿童对习俗时间的周期性特点的认知

本研究探讨了小学儿童对习俗时间周期性特点的认知发展．实验任务是让被试判断两个给定日期之间的时间距离是正向接近还是反向接近。结果表明:儿童对习俗时间的周期性特点的认知成绩随年龄增长而不断提高;随着两个日期之间距离的增大,反应时不断增加,正确率不断降低,在两个日期相互接近的方向发生改变的边界处,反应时最长,正确率最低,表现出显著的“距离效应”和“边界效应”;儿童可以利用数字系统进行判断,他们的认知加工策略包括计数、数字运算和凭借习俗时间的空间表象进行模拟加工等等。     

Reviews

Russell,Robert John, Murphy, Nancey and Peacocke, Arthur R. (eds) Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action
Tigue, John W. The Transformation of Consciousness in Myth: Integrating the Thought of Jung and Campbell     

未来时间的心理结构

２２０名大学生被试用秒、分、小时、日、星期、月和年７个时间单位和模糊统计试验方法对３９个不定的未来时间修饰词作经验赋值,结果表明：①３９个不定的未来时间修饰词与秒、分、小时、日、月、年有一定的对应关系,②未来的心理时间分为三个时间段,即以秒和分为计时单位的“较近的未来”,以小时、日和月为计时单位的“近的未来”,以及以年为计时单位的“远的未来”。③离现在越近的未来时间修饰词,词义模糊度越小,评量的把握度越大;而离现在越远的未来时间修饰词,词义模糊度越大,评量的把握度越小。     

Temporal discrimination learning of operant feeding in goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Operant temporal discrimination learning was investigated in goldfish. In the first experiment, there was a fixed daily change in illumination. Eight subjects were trained to operate a lever that reinforced each press with food. The period during which responses were reinforced was then progressively reduced until it was 1 hr in every 24. The final 1-hr feeding schedule was maintained over 4 weeks. The feeding period commenced at the same time each day throughout. The food dispensers were then made inactive, and a period of extinction ensued for 6 days. The pattern of responding suggested that the fish were able to exhibit temporal discrimination in anticipation of feeding time. This pattern of responding persisted for a limited number of days during the extinction procedure. The second experiment produced evidence that operant temporal discrimination could develop under continuous illumination.     

Human choice in concurrent ratio-interval schedules of reinforcement.

Seven undergraduates participated in a concurrent-choice experiment with monetary reinforcers. Response-independent analogues of variable-interval and variable-ratio schedules were used to assess whether subjects would maximize reinforcement rate. The optimal pattern of behavior, in terms of maximizing reinforcement rate, involved a large bias toward the ratio alternative, with only occasional sampling of the interval schedule. Most experiments with pigeons, however, demonstrate matching of response rates to reinforcement rates, with only slight biases for the ratio schedule. Although subjects in the present experiment allocated more time to the ratio alternative than required by matching, the magnitude of the bias did not approximate that predicted by a maximizing account. After exposure to clock stimuli correlated with the operation of each schedule, 1 subject's behavior did show a substantial level of bias, increasing the total number of reinforcers obtained, and lay at a point between the predictions of matching and maximizing. The other subjects, however, continued to respond less optimally. The present results can be accounted for by a view of matching that incorporates the effects of delayed reinforcement.     

Teaching spontaneous requests to children with autism using a time delay procedure with multi-component toys

Children with autism were taught spontaneous requests through a time delay procedure. Unlike previous research, which usually employed food as the target stimuli to be requested, the present study used toy pieces from multi-component toys. The procedure involved presenting a child with the target stimulus, with the trainer prompting the child by immediately modeling the request response. When the response was imitated without error, prompting was delayed with the time interval gradually being increased over trials. A spontaneous or imitated response was reinforced by giving the child the requested object. As the stimulus/model interval increased, children with autism were expected to initiate the request by themselves prior to the prompt. The efficacy of the time delay procedure was assessed using a multiple baseline across subject design with three Chinese boys with autism. Results showed that the three children acquired a 100% performance within five to nine sessions of training and the skill was maintained at the one-month and three-month followups. Furthermore, the learned response transferred to various conditions when tested across setting, person, toy, and food items. These results suggest that toys, the multi-component ones in particular, served well as reinforcers for language training. Furthermore these findings confirmed the practical utility of the time delay procedure for promoting spontaneous communication skills in children with autism.     

Residence time and choice in concurrent foraging schedules

Five pigeons were trained on a concurrent-schedule analogue of the “some patches are empty” procedure. Two concurrently available alternatives were arranged on a single response key and were signaled by red and green keylights. A subject could travel between these alternatives by responding on a second yellow “switching” key. Following a changeover to a patch, there was a probability (p) that a single reinforcer would be available on that alternative for a response after a time determined by the value of λ, a probability of reinforcement per second. The overall scheduling of reinforcers on the two alternatives was arranged nonindependently, and the available alternative was switched after each reinforcer. In Part 1 of the experiment, the probabilities of reinforcement, ρ_red and ρ_green, were equal on the two alternatives, and the arranged arrival rates of reinforcers, λ_red and λ_green, were varied across conditions. In Part 2, the reinforcer arrival times were arranged to be equal, and the reinforcer probabilities were varied across conditions. In Part 3, both parameters were varied. The results replicated those seen in studies that have investigated time allocation in a single patch: Both response and time allocation to an alternative increased with decreasing values of λ and with increasing values of ρ, and residence times were consistently greater than those that would maximize obtained reinforcer rates. Furthermore, both response- and time-allocation ratios undermatched mean reinforcer-arrival time and reinforcer-frequency ratios.     

The Experience of Time in Acute Psychosis and Schizophrenia

From the narrative point of view the plot of a story configures time. In psychosis, when experiences remain unnarrated, experience being-in-time is also missing. Once experiences are given narrative form, they can be left behind as a part of individual's personal history, thus enabling present experiences to be narrated. Unnarrated experiences do not accumulate. Narrative history contains, however, enough redundancy to invite you to restory your past in a new way if you need to. Hence, from the narrative point of view, early, family- and network-centered intervention is of special value in cases of acute psychosis.