Parent-implemented mand training: acquisition of framed manding in a young boy with partial hemispherectomy

This study examined the effects of parent-implemented mand training on the acquisition of framed manding in a 4-year-old boy who had undergone partial hemispherectomy. Framed manding became the predominant mand form when and only when the intervention was implemented with each preferred toy, but minimal generalization to untrained toys nevertheless occurred. A pure mand test suggested that manding was controlled by the relevant motivating operation.     

时距长度和速度变化对进度条时距知觉的影响

进度条在人机交互界面中具有广泛应用。本研究运用单任务的预期式范式和口头估计法,探究速度变化对不同时距长度进度条的时距知觉的影响,为进度条的智能化设计提供参考。研究表明：（1）时距长度影响个体的时距估计,时距长度与时距估计比率分数成反比关系;（2）进度条的不同速度变化趋势影响进度条时距知觉,在持续时间相同的匀速、减速、加速和先加后减四种进度条类型中,加速进度条的时距知觉最短,而匀速进度条时距估计最长。     

言语工作记忆对视觉工作记忆的影响

工作记忆是当前认知心理学中的一个研究热点,而其言语子系统与视觉子系统之间的关系又是一个颇具争论性的问题。实验1、2采用双任务范式考察了言语工作记忆对视觉工作记忆的影响。结果发现,满负荷言语负载条件下的视觉记忆的成绩显著低于无言语负载条件。这表明,言语工作记忆影响了视觉工作记忆任务的完成。     

The role of overt and covert self-rules in establishing a daily living skill in adults with mild developmental disabilities

The purpose of the current study was to explore the use of overt and covert self-rules in the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of a chained task by adults with mild developmental disabilities. This research differed from previous research in that the experimenter did not deliver reinforcement for correct responses during training, and we examined the correspondence between each self-rule statement and each subsequent response on each trial. Results showed that the self-rules participated in control over participants' responding, in that the skill was acquired and shown to generalize in the absence of experimenter-delivered reinforcement. Moreover, performance was shown to deteriorate when the emission of overt, but not covert, self-rules was blocked.     

It's Fascinating Research: The Cognition of Verbal Irony

ABSTRACT— Verbal irony is nonliteral language that makes salient a discrepancy between expectations and reality. For researchers who study verbal irony, a critical question is: How do we grasp the meaning of ironic language? The parallel-constraint-satisfaction approach holds promise as an answer to this question. By this account, multiple cues to ironic intent, such as tone of voice, incongruity, and knowledge of the speaker, are processed rapidly and in parallel and this information is coordinated with the utterance itself in order to construct a coherent interpretation that is the best fit for the activated information. Recently, research with individuals who struggle with irony comprehension (typically developing children, individuals with autism-spectrum disorder, individuals with brain injury) has provided new clues about the complex process by which ironic meaning is inferred.     

The roles of thought suppression and metacognitive beliefs in proneness to auditory verbal hallucinations in a non-clinical sample

In a non-clinical sample (N = 751), we investigated relations among two subscales (self-reported intrusiveness of unwanted thoughts and thought suppression) of the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), metacognitive beliefs, and proneness to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs). Both subscales of the WBSI were found to be related to AVH-proneness and strongly positively related to metacognitive beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of thoughts. Regression analyses were used to test models of the relations among AVH-proneness and a range of metacognitive beliefs. When the WBSI subscale relating to the self-reported intrusiveness of unwanted thoughts was controlled for, the metacognitive style that was the strongest predictor of AVH-proneness was cognitive self-consciousness. Cognitive confidence and beliefs about the uncontrollability of thoughts were also significant predictors of AVH-proneness. These findings are used to revise existing models of the relations between metacognitive beliefs and AVHs. Implications for the management of AVHs are discussed.     

The relation between scores on the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire and aggressive acts,impulsiveness, competitiveness,dominance, and sexual jealousy

This paper examines the relation of the four subscales (physical, verbal, anger and hostility) of the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) to act‐based aggression questionnaires (involving same‐sex or partners as opponents, and direct or indirect aggression) and evolutionarily based predictors of aggression, using an online student sample. All aggression measures were moderately correlated with one another. The BPAQ physical and verbal scales were most closely related to act‐based measures of direct aggression to a same‐sex other and the hostility scale to indirect aggression to a same‐sex other. The evolutionary variables were less closely related to the BPAQ than were the act‐based measures. Dominance and sexual jealousy were predictors of BPAQ physical, verbal and anger, and impulsiveness was a significant predictor of anger. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–10, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Much Ado About Nothing? Some Comments on B. F. Skinner's Definition of Verbal Behavior

Some have suggested that the definition of verbal behavior offered by B. F. Skinner (1957) fails to capture the essence of language insofar as it is too broad and not functional. In this paper, I argue that the ambiguities of Skinner's definition are not an indictment of it, and that suggestions to the contrary are problematic because they suffer a critical error of scientific reasoning. Specifically, I argue that (a) no clear definition of verbal behavior is possible because there is no natural distinction between verbal and nonverbal behavior; (b) attempts at an immutable definition are essentialistic; and (c) Skinner's functional taxonomy of language is in no way affected by the particulars of any definition of verbal behavior.