The autoshaping procedure as a residual block clock

In the first experiment, 4 pigeons were each presented with a recurring sequence of four key colors followed by the delivery of grain (block clock). Once the rate of pecking had stabilized, three of the colors were replaced, during different series of sessions, by a darkening of the key. The rate of pecking was reduced within those segments of the interval between deliveries of food during which the key was dark; when the key was dark during the final portion of the interval, rates were reduced throughout the entire interval. In the second experiment, 3 new pigeons were exposed to a different sequence of colors, and the final stimulus was replaced in successive conditions by a novel color, a darkened key, and a restoration of the original color. The data indicated that darkening the key had a more severe, more extensive, and more persistent effect than did a mere change in color. These results suggest that it may be fruitful to conceptualize the autoshaping procedure as a special version of the block clock in which pecking is suppressed throughout the greater part of the interval by darkening the key. In the final condition, the same stimulus appeared in each of the last three portions of the interval. The rate of pecking was lower during the last two portions than when distinctive colors were presented, with the peak rate now appearing in the fifth of seven equal temporal components.     

A multipurpose activity platform utilized in the open-field setting

An automated multipurpose activity platform (MAP) that can be used to measure activity in the horizontal plane is described. Detection of the position of a small-bodied animal is based on completion of an electronic circuit in one or several cells of a 21 by 21 matrix below the floor. The MAP is constructed on the basis of an 11 by 11 matrix, but, through electronic averaging, operates functionally on the basis of a 21 by 21 matrix. The MAP has no built-in data storage facility and needs to be interfaced with a recording system. The system has been successfully utilized in measuring open-field activity of the rats.     

The locus of tool-transformation costs

Transformations of hand movements by tools such as levers or electronic input devices can invoke performance costs compared to untransformed movements. This study investigated by means of the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm at which stage of information processing such tool-transformation costs arise. We used an inversion transformation, that is, the movement of the operating hand was transformed into a spatially incompatible movement of a lever. As a basic tool-transformation effect, the initiation of inverted tool movements was delayed compared to noninverted movements. Experiment 1 suggested a central (or postcentral) locus of this tool-transformation effect and ruled out a (precentral) perceptual locus. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed the central locus and ruled out a later, motor-related stage of processing. The results show that spatially incompatible tool movements delay a capacity-limited stage of information processing, often referred to as response selection.     

Perceiving by proxy: Effect-based action control with unperceivable effects

Anticipations of future sensory events have the potential of priming motor actions that would typically cause these events. Such effect anticipations are generally assumed to rely on previous physical experiences of the contingency of own actions and their ensuing effects. Here we propose that merely imagined action effects may influence behaviour similarly as physically experienced action effects do. Three experiments in the response–effect compatibility paradigm show that the mere knowledge of action–effect contingencies is indeed sufficient to incorporate these effects into action control even if the effects are never experienced as causally linked to own actions. The experiments further highlight constraints for this mechanism which seems to be rather effortful and to depend on explicit intentions.     

The function of concrete emotions in rational decision making

The present study investigates the role of anticipated concrete emotions in preferential decision making. Concrete emotions are conceptualized as a special set of attributes in a multi-attribute utility framework. It is argued that emotions cannot be reduced to patterns of objective attribute values. It is hypothesized that decisions are determined by both concrete emotions and objective attributes. Furthermore, the relative impact of emotions is hypothesized to vary with characteristics of the decision task, namely, the decision domain (persons vs. cities), the similarity of the decision options (similar vs. dissimilar), and the response mode (rating vs. ranking). Four sets of decision options were presented to subjects on a questionnaire. For each option, subjects indicated a preference rating, a ranking of the option within its set, the intensity of four concrete emotions, and the degree to which the option is characterized by four objective attributes. Regression analyses show that including emotions as predictors significantly increases the portion of explained variance of preferences. The relative impact of emotions is moderated by the response mode. Factor analyses yield two independent factors of positive and negative emotions. Surprisingly, only positive emotions are significantly correlated with preferences. We conclude that concrete emotions are a necessary and non-redundant part of the decision process.     

Was ist seit BGHSt 45, 164 geschehen? Ein Überblick über die neuere Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs zur Beurteilung der Glaubhaftigkeit von Zeugenaussagen

Zusammenfassung  Der 1. Strafsenat des Bundesgerichtshofs hat in seinem Urteil vom 30. Juli 1999 (BGHSt 45, 164) die wissenschaftlichen Anforderungen beschrieben, die an eine aussagepsychologische Begutachtung (Glaubhaftigkeitsgutachten) zu stellen sind, und die Richter verpflichtet, zukünftig darauf zu achten, dass diese Mindeststandards bei der Erstattung von Gutachten eingehalten werden. Ausgehend von dieser Entscheidung stellt der Beitrag die seitherige Entwicklung der Rechtsprechung zur Glaubhaftigkeitsbeurteilung von Zeugenaussagen dar. Er geht dabei über die an das Gutachten zu stellenden Anforderungen hinaus und befasst sich auch damit, wann ein solches Gutachten erforderlich, von wem es zu erstatten und in welcher Weise es vom Richter in den Entscheidungsgründen darzustellen ist. Zudem schildert er, welchen Einfluss die Anerkennung der hypothesengeleiteten, kriterienorientierten Aussageanalyse auf die Beweiswürdigung durch den Tatrichter und deren überprüfung durch das Revisionsgericht hat.

Rule-violations sensitise towards negative and authority-related stimuli

Rule violations have usually been studied from a third-person perspective, identifying situational factors that render violations more or less likely. A first-person perspective of the agent that actively violates the rules, on the other hand, is only just beginning to emerge. Here we show that committing a rule violation sensitises towards subsequent negative stimuli as well as subsequent authority-related stimuli. In a Prime-Probe design, we used an instructed rule-violation task as the Prime and a word categorisation task as the Probe. Also, we employed a control condition that used a rule inversion task as the Prime (instead of rule violations). Probe targets were categorised faster after a violation relative to after a rule-based response if they related to either, negative valence or authority. Inversions, however, primed only negative stimuli and did not accelerate the categorisation of authority-related stimuli. A heightened sensitivity towards authority-related targets thus seems to be specific to rule violations. A control experiment showed that these effects cannot be explained in terms of semantic priming. Therefore, we propose that rule violations necessarily activate authority-related representations that make rule violations qualitatively different from simple rule inversions.     

Joint response–effect compatibility

When performing jointly on a task, human agents are assumed to represent their coactor’s share of this task, and research in various joint action paradigms has focused on representing the coactor’s stimulus–response assignments. Here we show that the response–effect (R–E) contingencies exploited by a coactor also affect performance, and thus might be represented as if they were used by oneself. Participants performed an R–E compatibility task, with keypresses producing spatially compatible or incompatible action effects. We did not observe any R–E compatibility effects when the task was performed in isolation (individual go–no-go). By contrast, small but reliable R–E compatibility effects emerged when the same task was performed in a joint setting. These results indicate that the knowledge of a coactor’s R–E contingencies can influence whether self-produced action effects are used for one’s own motor control.