Money versus pain: experimental study of a conflict in humans.

Ten healthy human males volunteered to be subjects in an experiment in which they were to be paid to endure a painful sensation. This sensation was produced by isometric muscular contraction in the thighs. For each of six sessions the subjects received either a payment that was changed for each session (0.2, 0.5, 1.25, 3.125, 7.8125 French francs per 20 s) or a lump sum. At the beginning of a session, the subjects assumed a seated position against a wall, but without a seat, and the duration for which they could hold this position was the chief variable measured. Heart rate, blood pressure, and magnitude estimation of pain were also recorded periodically throughout each session. Pain was reported after a mean delay of 15 +/- 7 s (SE), and the magnitude estimates then increased linearly with time. The duration of maintaining the painful position increased linearly in relation to the logarithm of the increase in the amount of payment. Thus, utility of money decreased when pitted against pain.     

内隐记忆研究的实验方法探索：启动效应计量方法的改进思路及其实验研究

以实验鉴定了常规的启动效应计量方法的有效性程度,并为客观地计量启动效应,创用了“超意识广度法”、“二次比较法”等．结果发现：（１）如被试数量较少,以不同补笔率为“基线值”所求得的启动效应之间发生显著差异的可能性存在;（２）超意识广度法能克服“阈下呈现刺激法”“分散注意法”的不足,为内隐记忆提供有利的识记情境;（３）“二次比较法”能为正常人内隐记忆的存在提供更为直接、可靠的证据,并能客观、精确地计量启动效应。     

图形和汉字视觉认知任务中的部分线索效应

给被试呈现一幅图的不完整信息作为线索会干扰被试对图形的辨认,这是一种部分线索效应。实验一的任务是对模糊图形的辨认,在轮廓相似组图形中,部分线索的干扰作用随呈现模糊级次数的增加而更加显著,但在轮廓非相似组图形中,模糊级呈现次数为２次和３次的情况下,也表现出了显著的部分线索效应。实验二在不完整汉字识别任务中进一步考察了部分线索效应,在事先学习的条件下,形状相似字组汉字的辨认表现出了显著的部分线索效应,而意义相似字组和随机字组汉字的辨认表现出了部分线索的促进作用。在事先不学习的条件下,随机字组和形状相似字组汉字的辨认表现出了显著的部分线索效应,而意义相似字组汉字的辨认没有表现出显著的部分线索效应。本研究用激活的观点对这些结果做出了合理的解释。     

Toward the neural basis of verbal priming: A cognitive-neuropsychological synthesis

Repetition priming is a mnemonic phenomenon that has attracted considerable attention from neuropsychologists and cognitive scientists. In an attempt at elucidating the putative mechanisms of priming, the present review draws on evidence from both domains. The review is restricted to verbal priming of visually presented stimuli—an area that accounts for the majority of empirical studies of priming. A number of theoretical accounts are presented. The interim conclusion is that neither multiple systems nor unitary system-multiple process theories can adequately explain the data on priming, although both contain many valid components. An integrative model is proposed to improve the explanation of the empirical evidence. The central assertion of the proposed model is that repetition priming depends on perceptual processes that can be mapped on specific neural systems. It is postulated that individual differences in perceptual processing ability predict variability in memory performance. It is proposed that data-driven priming of verbal stimuli critically depends on the activity of primary and secondary visual cortices in the right hemisphere, whereas conceptually-driven priming is hypothesized to rely on the activities of higher order tertiary association cortices in language areas and more anterior neocortical areas.     

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS APPLIED TO ENVIRONMENTAL/ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS; A REVIEW1

Recent applications of operant technology, including the manipulation of environmental conditions and response consequences, have been directed toward the improvement of man-environment relations. This document summarizes the research designs, procedures, results, and conclusions of these recent behavioral interventions for ecological rebalance. Each of the 32 studies reviewed was undertaken since 1970; all studies were relatively successful in changing the probability of an ecology-related response; all studies incorporated basic methodologies applicable for large-scale, community programs; most of the investigations were conducted in field settings (e.g., college campuses, grocery stores, mobile-trailer parks, homes, movie theaters, public campgrounds, and a football stadium). Several of the studies are as yet unpublished. Sources for receiving documentation of the unpublished research are provided in this document. About 50% of the investigations reviewed were designed to influence behaviors related to environmental litter; the others were of behavior-modification programs that substantially increased bus-ridership, decreased lawn-trampling, promoted the purchase of drinks in returnable rather than throwaway containers, initiated a recycling process, or reduced energy consumption. Essentially, the interventions were either preventive in nature (i.e., designed to discourage environment-destructive behaviors before they occur), or remedial (i.e., designed to encourage behaviors that correct an existing environmental problem). Usually, the preventive measures emphasized responses priming (or prompting), while the corrective measures applied some form of positive reinforcement. Response priming was accomplished with modelling techniques, or with written and/or verbal prompts presented either publicly or on a personal, one-to-one basis. Among the positive reinforcement procedures were field applications of token economies, lottery systems, feedback programming, and intergroup contests, as well as individual contingency contracting. Some experimental designs provided for comparisons between the behavioral effects of response priming and positive reinforcement.     

Facilitating paper recycling: effects of prompts, raffles, and contests

The effects of prompts and reinforcement to promote paper recycling were compared in six university dormitories. For a Prompt condition, residents were urged to recycle paper for ecological reasons via flyers distributed to each room. For a Raffle contingency, residents were given one raffle ticket for every pound of paper brought to a collection center. For a Contest contingency, two dorms were paired and the dorm whose residents delivered the most paper won $15 for its treasury. Contingency awareness was strengthened via a flyer placed under the door of each resident's room. Flyers alone had little effect in increasing paper-recycling behaviors, but the raffle (substantially) and the contest (somewhat) increased the amount of paper brought to a dorm's recycling center. Students whose rooms were closest to the collection center showed the greatest participation. Removal of the reinforcement contingencies resulted in a return to baseline levels.     

The design and evaluation of a worksharing system for experimental group living

Failure to share household chores equitably may be a major cause of the high failure rate of experimental group-living arrangements. A behavioral approach to worksharing based on a point system was implemented in one experimental group and its most important components experimentally evaluated. Experiment I showed that awarding credits produced more work than not awarding credits. Experiment II showed that making credits contingent on the outcome of a detailed inspection produced more work than awarding credits noncontingently. Experiment III demonstrated that awarding rent reductions contingent on credit earnings produced more work than awarding rent reductions noncontingently. Other evaluative data suggest that the resulting living arrangement is cheaper, more effective, and more satisfactory to the residents when compared to the most popular alternative living arrangements.     

Masked emotional priming beyond global valence activations

An immense body of research demonstrates that emotional facial expressions can be processed unconsciously. However, it has been assumed that such processing takes place solely on a global valence-based level, allowing individuals to disentangle positive from negative emotions but not the specific emotion. In three studies, we investigated the specificity of emotion processing under conditions of limited awareness using a modified variant of an affective priming task. Faces with happy, angry, sad, fearful, and neutral expressions were presented as masked primes for 33 ms (Study 1) or 14 ms (Studies 2 and 3) followed by emotional target faces (Studies 1 and 2) or emotional adjectives (Study 3). Participants’ task was to categorise the target emotion. In all three studies, discrimination of targets was significantly affected by the emotional primes beyond a simple positive versus negative distinction. Results indicate that specific aspects of emotions might be automatically disentangled in addition to valence, even under conditions of subjective unawareness.     

The Persistence of Priming: Exploring Long-lasting Syntactic Priming Effects in Children and Adults

The implicit learning account of syntactic priming proposes that the same mechanism underlies syntactic priming and language development, providing a link between a child and adult language processing. The present experiment tested predictions of this account by comparing the persistence of syntactic priming effects in children and adults. Four-year-olds and adults first described transitive events after hearing transitive primes, constituting an exposure phase that established priming effects for passives. The persistence of this priming effect was measured in a test phase as participants described further transitive events but no longer heard primes. Their production of passives was compared to a baseline group who described the same pictures without any exposure to primes. Neither immediate nor long-term priming effects differed between children and adults but both children and adults showed significant immediate and persistent effects of the priming when the test phase occurred immediately after the exposure phase and when a short delay separated the exposure and test phase. The implications of these results for an implicit learning account of syntactic priming are discussed.     

象似性和手语学习经验对中国手语-汉语跨模态语义启动效应的影响

采用启动条件下的词汇判断任务,考察熟练手语使用者和无手语经验成年听人的跨模态语义启动效应。结果发现：1)在象似词条件下,两组被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时均快于语义无关词,说明手语象似词和汉语词之间存在跨模态语义启动效应。2)在非象似词条件下,仅手语熟练被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时快于语义无关词,无手语经验被试判断汉语语义相关词和无关词的速度没有差异。这是由于前者心理词库中的手语词和口语词共享语义表征,而后者主要依赖手语象似词的视觉模拟性。整个研究表明,中国手语和汉语间存在跨模态语义启动效应,但该效应受到手语词象似性和手语学习经历的调节。