Dynamic equilibrium on a cyclic-interval schedule with a ramp

Five human subjects pressed a panel for money on a cyclic-interval schedule that arranged recurring periods of linearly increasing reinforcement rates (ramps). Response rate versus time functions for all subjects showed recurring periods of linearly increasing response rates. The responding of four of the five subjects was in phase with the reinforcement input. The remaining subject showed a two-minute phase shift. These results suggest that organisms may act like simple amplifiers on cyclic-interval schedules, that is, the form of the input signal is not changed by the organism, but is returned with amplification. By analogy with the variable-interval case, the controlling variable on cyclic-interval schedules with rate ramps may be the constant reinforcement acceleration that is arranged by the schedule.     

Effects of signals preceding and following shock on baseline responding during a conditioned-suppression procedure

Long-Evans rats were exposed to a succession of conditioned-suppression procedures involving pairings of (1) signal-shock, (2) shock-signal, and (3) a signal-shock-signal sequence in which first and second signals were at first physically identical. Traditional suppression of food-reinforced responding was obtained under the signal-shock arrangement, and exposure to the shock-signal sequence resulted in conditioned enhancement of responding during the signal. The signal-shock-signal condition reliably suppressed responding during the first signal, but produced no differential effect on response rate during the second signal. Baseline responding was least changed from preshock rates under the signal-shock-signal procedure, but baseline rate was considerably reduced under the signal-shock and shock-signal arrangements, the latter yielding most substantial reductions. A second experiment indicated that the magnitude and direction of changes in baseline responding reported in Experiment I were not confined to cases in which the first and second signals in the signal-shock-signal arrangement were physically identical. It is suggested that the major effects of the conditioned-suppression procedure on response rate might not be confined to presentations of the signal.     

Children's response to sales promotions and their impact on purchase behavior

Despite the growth in children's purchasing power, surprisingly little is known about how children respond to sales promotions. We conduct two experiments to address this issue. Study 1 shows that elementary-aged (second and fifth grade) children's purchase decisions are influenced by the presence of sales. Study 2 demonstrates that both age groups favor conceptually easier promotions, even when the sale is inferior. Additionally, we find that children have difficulty applying mathematical concepts to sales promotions, regardless of classroom mastery of the associated operations. Together, these results indicate that elementary-aged children routinely incorporate sales into purchase decisions, sometimes with suboptimal results.     

When an Object Appears Unexpectedly: Object Circumvention in Adults

Obstacles often appear unexpectedly in our pathway and these require us to make immediate adjustments. Despite how regularly we encounter such situations only few studies have considered how we adjust to unexpected obstacles in the pathway that require us to walk around them. The authors considered how adults adjust to the possibility of an obstacle appearing and then also how foot placement is adjusted to circumvent an obstacle. Fifteen healthy adults walked down an 11-m walkway, initially they were told this was a clear pathway and nothing in the environment would change (no gate), they then performed a series of trials in which a gate may (gate close) or may not (gate open) partially obstruct their pathway. The authors found that mediolateral trunk velocity and acceleration was significantly increased when there was the possibility of an obstacle but before the obstacle appeared. This demonstrates an adaptive walking strategy that seems to enable healthy young adults to successfully circumvent obstacles. The authors also categorized foot placement adjustments and found that adults favored making shorter and wider steps away from the obstacle. They suggest this combination of adjustments allows participants to maintain stability while successfully circumventing the obstacle.     

Acceleration and suppression of rats' responding to avoid foot shock and tail shock

Signalled response-independent shocks were superimposed on rats' wheel-turn responding to avoid shock administered to their feet through a grid floor or to their tails through fixed electrodes. In Experiment I, a tone paired with response-independent foot shock increased responding in three of four rats; a tone paired with tail shock increased responding in only one of four rats and suppressed responding in two rats. In Experiment II, a tone presented randomly with respect to response-independent shock had no reliable effect on responding to avoid foot shock or tail shock. In Experiment III, tail shock and foot shock were compared in a within-subject design while the temporal pattern of responding during conditioned stimuli was recorded. Responding during the conditioned stimulus preceding foot shock was characterized by initial suppression of responding at tone onset, followed by increased responding just before response-independent shock. Responding was suppressed throughout the conditioned stimulus preceding tail shock. Foot shock elicited bursts of responding, but tail shock did not.     

Simulating demand for cigarettes among pregnant women: A Low‐Risk method for studying vulnerable populations

A substantive obstacle to experimentally studying cigarette smoking and use of other tobacco products in pregnant women is the risk of adverse effects on mother and fetus from experimenter administration of the product of interest. The purpose of this study is to investigate bypassing that obstacle by using behavioral economic simulation tasks. In the present study we used the Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT) to simulate changes in demand for hypothetical cigarettes as a function of varying cigarette prices. Participants were 95 pregnant women who completed the CPT prior to participation in a smoking‐cessation trial. Aggregate and individual participant demand varied as an orderly function of price and those changes were well fitted by an exponential equation. Demand also varied in correspondence to two well‐validated predictors of individual differences in smoking cessation among pregnant women (cigarettes smoked per day, pre‐pregnancy quit attempts). Moreover, CPT indices were more effective than these two conventional variables in predicting individual differences in whether women made a quit attempt during the current pregnancy. Overall, these results represent a promising step in demonstrating the validity and utility of the CPT for experimentally examining demand for cigarettes, and potentially other tobacco and nicotine delivery products, among pregnant women.     

创造性思维中语义搜索过程：基于答案累积时间函数和语义相似性的量化分析

通过描绘发散性思维测验(物品多用途, AUT)中答案生成在累积函数和语义相似性等一系列参数上的量化特征, 揭示创造性思维的语义搜索过程。结果发现：(1)新颖AUT条件中, 语义搜索呈现与自由联想类似的负加速特点, 但搜索速度较寻常AUT条件更慢。(2)新颖AUT条件中所生成的答案与题目(即物品)均具有较低的语义相似性, 且显著小于寻常AUT条件。(3)新颖AUT条件中生成的答案比寻常AUT条件表现出显著更低的聚类程度, 其中可聚类答案和未聚类答案与题目的语义相似度均较低, 且不存在显著差异, 二者在新颖性上也不存在显著差异。以上结果说明了创造性思维的语义信息搜索过程具有与自由联想类似的激活扩散特征, 但总体搜索速度较慢。新颖性要求使得个体在最初搜索时便开始摆脱题目的语义限制而进行远距离搜索(避免就近搜索), 并倾向于在每个语义场中只生成一个答案(避免局部搜索), 但也可能会在远离题目的语义场中生成多个同类别答案。     

Leading in times of crisis: How perceived COVID-19-related work intensification links to daily e-mail demands and leader outcomes

The COVID-19 crisis brought numerous challenges to work life. One of the most notable may be the acceleration of digital transformation, accompanied by an intensification of e-mail usage and related demands such as high e-mail workload. While research quickly started to examine the implications of these changes for employees, another important group of stakeholders has been overlooked: leaders. We focus on leaders during the COVID-19 crisis and examine how COVID-19-related work intensification links to leaders' e-mail overload appraisal and finally exhaustion and transformational leadership, a leader behaviour especially needed in times of crisis. In a 5-day diary study in September 2020, 84 leaders responded to daily surveys on 343 days. Results of multilevel analysis showed that perceived COVID-19-related work intensification was positively linked to worktime spent dealing with e-mail and appraised e-mail overload. E-mail overload appraisal was positively related to leaders' exhaustion, but unrelated to their transformational behaviour. Day-specific time spent dealing with e-mail, however, was negatively related to transformational leadership. E-mail overload appraisal mediated the relationship between COVID-19-related work intensification and exhaustion. Turning the focus on leaders during the COVID-19 crisis, our study has important implications for the design of work of leaders in times of crisis and beyond.