TEACHING CHILD-CARE SKILLS TO MOTHERS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

The present study identified and remediated child-care skill deficits in parents with developmental disabilities to reduce their risk of child neglect. Eleven mothers with developmental disabilities who were considered by social service and child welfare agencies to be providing neglectful child care were found in baseline to have several important child-care skill deficits (e.g., bathing, diaper rash treatment, cleaning baby bottles) compared to nonhandicapped mothers. Parent training (consisting of verbal instructions, pictorial manuals, modeling, feedback, and reinforcement) resulted in rapid acquisition and maintenance of child-care skills in all mothers. Mean percentage correct scores increased from 58% in baseline to 90% in training and 91% in follow-up (M = 31 weeks). The latter two scores compare favorably to the mean score (87%) of 20 nonhandicapped mothers on the same skills. Where observable, parent training was associated with corresponding benefits to the children (e.g., elimination of diaper rash and cradle cap, increased weight gain, successful toilet training). These results indicate that parent training may be a viable option to the removal of the child from the home when parenting skill deficits place the child's well-being in jeopardy.     

Time-place learning by pigeons, Columba livia

In each of two experiments, 2 pigeons received discrimination training in which food reinforcement for key pecking was conditional upon both spatial and temporal cues. In Experiment 1, food was available for periods of 30 s at each of three locations (pecking keys) during trials that lasted 90 s. In Experiment 2, food was available for periods of 15 min at each of four locations (pecking keys) during a 60-min trial. In both experiments, pigeons' key pecking was jointly controlled by the spatial and temporal cues. These data, and other recent experiments, suggest that animals learn relationships between temporal and spatial cues that predict stable patterns of food availability.     

4-5年级学生的空间表征与几何能力的相关性研究

本研究是“学生空间能力和几何能力关系”研究的一部分,以小学4、5年级学生为被试(共117人),以空问表征能力测验和几何能力测验为测验工具,初步探讨了学生空间表征与几何能力的关系。对数据结果的分析表明:①就总成绩而言,五年级学生的空间表在成绩明显高于四年级学生的成绩,但并不是空间表征的所有方面都存在着显著的年级差异;②就空间测验的总成绩而言,无论是四、五年级分别考察还是总起来考察,空间成绩与几何成绩之间的相关显著,但就各个分项而言,并不是空间测验的各项都与几何测验成绩有显著相关;学生的几何成绩在一定程度上可通过回归方程:Y_i=0.5736X_i+0.7635加以预测。     

Combinatorial data analysis: Association and partial association

A combinatorial data analysis strategy is reviewed that is designed to compare two arbitrary measures of proximity defined between the objects from some set. Based on a particular cross-product definition of correspondence between these two numerically specified notions of proximity (typically represented in the form of matrices), extensions are then pursued to indices of partial association that relate the observed pattern of correspondence between the first two proximity measures to a third. The attendant issues of index normalization and significance testing are discussed; the latter is approached through a simple randomization model implemented either through a Monte Carlo procedure or distributional approximations based on the first three moments. Applications of the original comparison strategy and its extensions to partial association may be developed for a variety of methodological and substantive tasks. Besides rank correlation, we emphasize the topics of spatial autocorrelation for one variable and spatial association between two and mention the connection to the usual randomization approach for one-way analysis-of-variance.     

Child abuse and neglect by parents with disabilities: A tale of two families

Two families, in which the children had been placed in foster care due to abuse and neglect by parents who had disabilities, were studied. In the first case, the mother was instructed in skills that our assessment suggested were important for her child's survival. The mother readily acquired and applied these skills, a fact reflected both in changes in her behavior and in changes in the child's well-being. In the second case, the parent's incremental resumption of child custody was made contingent upon completion of relevant parenting tasks. Initially, improvements in the completion of such tasks were evident, but over time and with the onset of militating factors, no further progress was made and all parental rights were terminated. The implications of these cases for behavior analysis and the effort to reunite and preserve families are discussed.     

Stimulus control in the use of landmarks by pigeons in a touch-screen task

Pigeons were tested in a search task on the surface of a monitor on which their responses were registered by a touch-sensitive device. A graphic landmark array was presented consisting of a square outline (the frame) and a colored “landmark.” The unmarked goal, pecks at which produced reward, was located near the center of one edge of the frame, and the landmark was near it. The entire array was displaced without rotation on the monitor from trial to trial. On occasional no-reward tests, the following manipulations were made to the landmark array: (a) either the frame or the landmark was removed; (2) either one edge of the frame or the landmark was shifted; and (3) two landmarks were presented with or without the frame present. On these two-landmark tests, the frame, when present, defined which was the “correct” landmark. When the frame was absent, the “correct” landmark was arbitrarily determined. Results showed that pecks of 2 pigeons were controlled almost solely by the landmark, pecks of 3 were controlled primarily by the landmark but the frame could distinguish the correct landmark, and 1 bird's behavior was controlled primarily by the frame. Stimulus control in this search task is thus selective and differs across individuals. Comparisons to other search tasks and to other stimulus control experiments are made.     

杏仁复合体损毁对大鼠空间认知能力的影响

杏仁复合体损毁大鼠Ｍｏｒｒｉｓ迷宫作业学习成绩显著低于控制组,记忆成绩较显著低于控制组。其搜索目标时主要采用与控制组的图式策略相异的趋向式策略。策略差异提示：杏仁复合体参与大鼠空间认知的辅助加工。     

Formation of transitivity in conditional matching to sample by pigeons

Four homing pigeons were trained over 5 months in a zero-delay, “arbitrary” matching-to-sample procedure with sample and comparison stimuli presented on any of three response keys. Birds were also required to complete a fixed-ratio 10 requirement on both sample and comparison stimuli to terminate their presentation. The procedure resulted in the establishment of relations that were not specifically trained and that can be characterized by the property of transitivity in a stimulus equivalence context. This result was in contrast with the findings obtained from most previous research with nonhuman subjects.     

Experimental assessment of tinnitus aurium

A 32-year-old male volunteer with an eight year history of chronic unilateral tinnitus (ear-ringing) participated in a behavioral assessment strategy that included a series of measurement and modification procedures. A psychophysical matching technique was employed throughout a planned combination of procedures to assess and manipulate the intensity or loudness of tinnitus responses. Following baseline assessment, measurements were conducted at varying times of the day, concomitant with exposure to music, during progressive relaxation training, and under conditions of caffeine consumption. The value of careful assessment to describe cues and conditions associated with tinnitus and its reduction are discussed with implications for behavior treatment design and evaluation.     

What is agentic about the Spatial Agency Bias? How pragmatic relevance contributes to the spatial representations of actions

The mental imagination of (social) actions has been shown to follow a left‐to‐right trajectory, with the thematic agent associated with the left position (Spatial Agency Bias, Suitner & Maass in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 53, 2016, p. 245–301). For example, individuals asked to choose a picture that visualizes the sentence “Tom kicks George” tend to choose an image where the agent, Tom, is positioned on the left‐hand side rather than on the right‐hand side. However, as an alternative to the thematic role of the agent, such findings may reflect a mental representation following pragmatic relevance. Specifically, a pragmatic perspective holds that word order and syntactic functions are strategic devices to communicate that the element is important for the sentence. Thus, positioning in the described picture‐matching task may actually reflect the agent's pragmatic relevance instead of agency per se. As a test, we vary whether sentences are written in the active versus the passive voice. Results from five studies indicate that the passive voice results in the tendency to place the agent on the right‐hand side rather than on the left‐hand side of a picture. Instead, the acted‐upon person is positioned on the left‐hand side of a picture. A sixth experiment reveals that for the passive voice, the agent is still seen as more agentic than the receiver, but is considered less relevant. The findings are congruent with the proposed pragmatic relevance account. Implications for the Spatial Agency Bias as well as for building mental representations in general are discussed.