Generalized oddity performance in preschool children: a bimodal training procedure.

Oddity performance requires relational discriminative responding, which typically is difficult to establish in children with MAs below five. In Experiment 1, a combination intrasubject reversal and multiple baseline across subjects design was used to establish the internal validity of a bimodal intervention in establishing generalized oddity performance. Six of seven children demonstrated oddity responding when presented with stimuli that instantiated the oddity relation in the visual and auditory modalities simultaneously. Oddity performance was evaluated with both reversal assessments and assessments with new sets of stimuli. The newly acquired oddity performance was durable; the six children continued to respond discriminatively when returned to a visual-only task on which they previously had been unsuccessful. Utilizing a reversal assessment more stringent than that of Experiment 1, Experiment 2 replicated this effect. The present studies are the first to demonstrate the utility of bimodal training in establishing oddity performance. The bimodal procedure is discussed with respect to the theoretical positions of Gibson, Dinsmoor, and Dixon.

Attentional functioning and relational learning.

Stimulus properties such as similarity-dissimilarity and novelty-familiarity are inherently relational and are embedded in ubiquitous stimulus contexts. Children with mental retardation and young children without mental retardation are particularly prone to failure on relational tasks such as oddity and match-to-sample (Greenfield, 1985; Soraci et al., in press). Converging evidence from a number of studies suggest that a critical factor in the performance discrepancies between these and other children is a differential sensitivity to relational information. In these studies relational characteristics of stimulus arrays were enhanced in order to facilitate performances on such relational tasks. Findings indicate the theoretical and practical significance of perceptually based interventions that induce rapid discrimination learning.

Oddity learning in developmentally delayed children: facilitation by means of familiar stimuli.

Four of 8 low-functioning, developmentally delayed children initially failed to demonstrate oddity responding under conditions in which ostensibly similar children did show oddity responding (e.g., Soraci et al., 1987). In the context of a multiple baseline across-subjects design, each of the 4 previously unsuccessful children demonstrated statistically significant increases in the percentage of correct oddity responses immediately upon introduction of familiar stimuli. These results indicate that perceptual differentiation enhances relational learning of the type required by the oddity task.

Oddity performance in preschool children at risk for mental retardation: transfer and maintenance.

The oddity performance of five preschool children at risk for mental retardation was facilitated by increasing the number of nonodd elements in a visual array. A combination intrasubject reversal and multiple baseline across subjects design indicated the internal validity of interventions designed to enhance the perceptual salience and consequent stimulus control of the odd stimulus. Results demonstrate that transfer and maintenance of oddity learning can be obtained even with individuals for whom correct oddity responding is uncommon. The typically poor performance of young and developmentally delayed children as compared to nondelayed children on tasks such as the oddity task may be attributable to a lower sensitivity to relational information.

Sustained responding under intermittent reinforcement in psychotic children.

A procedure is described that classifies abnormal children with respect to their capacity to sustain adaptive responding without consistent, extrinsic reinforcement. The procedure was used to assess individual differences in tolerance for intermittent reinforcement among a group of 21 psychotic children. The procedure was found to correlate with three variables established by previous research to be important prognostically--i.e., measures of intelligence, social competence, and language functioning. Findings are discussed with respect to the construct of motivation as distinguished from the construct of ability. It is suggested that whether or not the experimental measure is regarded as relevant to the global construct of motivation, it has clear relevance to potential deficits in the important capacity to sustain adaptive responding.

Consistency among commonly used procedures for assessment of abnormal children.

Administered the Stanford-Binet and/or its downward extension the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale to 22 children in a school for severely behaviorally disordered boys and girls. Assessments also were made with the Vineland Social Maturity Scale and with a scale of language development. A subgroup of 17 children were assessed with Rimland's E-2 Scale, which is designed to assess the presence and degree of the condition of autism. Correlations among these commonly used assessment procedures are reported. Findings are discussed with respect to the construct validity of the tests and with respect to practical problems of implementation. Issues that concern the distinctiveness of specific classification dimensions and the heterogeneity of the syndrome of autism also are discussed.

Classification of abnormal children: discrimination learning ability.

Large individual differences exist among psychotic and retarded children, and a procedure that would enable classification of discrimination learning ability would be of value. A procedure designed to assess the discrimination learning thresholds of low-functioning children is described. A performance index (PI) that reflects accuracy of discriminative responding, difficulty of the discriminations attained, and learning rate was found to correlate significantly with mental age, intelligence quotient, Vineland Social Age, Vineland Social Quotient, and language functioning, but not with chronological age. The question of the optimal magnitude of correlation between a new measure and existing measures is discussed.

Autoshaping of abnormal children.

Three experimentally naive abnormal children were exposed to a terminal operant contingency, i.e., reinforcement was delivered only if the children pressed a panel during intervals when it was lighted. Despite the absence of both successive approximation and manual shaping, it was found that each child began to respond discriminatively within a small number of trials. These data replicated previous animal studies concerned with the phenomena of autoshaping and signal-controlled responding. It was also found, however, that one type of autoshaping, the classical conditioning procedure, had a powerful suppressive effect on the discriminative responding. An experimental analysis that consisted procedure, had a powerful suppressive effect on discriminative responding. An experimental analysis that consisted of intrasubject reversal an multiple baseline designs established the internal validity of the findings. The finding of rapid acquisition of signal-controlled responding obtained with the initial procedure is suggessted to have practical significance. The disruptive effects of the classical form of autoshaping are discussed in terms of negative behavioral contrast.

An expectancy-value theory approach to the long-term modification of smoking behavior.

Despite the research interest in modifying smoking behavior, therapeutic treatments that can produce long-term cessation have not been demonstrated rigorously. A follow-up study of two attitude change experiments (N = 173) examined the effects of a fear appeal, that is, increasing smokers' awareness and appreciation of the highly noxious consequences of smoking. Although this familiar type of information may be an integral component of many smoking treatment programs, its long-term suppressive effect has not been demonstrated in well-controlled experiments. The results disclosed that 3 months and also 1 year after treatment, a high-fear manipulation had increased significantly the percentage of smokers who were able to stop smoking completely.

Effects of fear appeals and physiological arousal upon emotion, attitudes, and cigarette smoking.

Two experiments are reported that attempted to replicate conceptually Schachter's theory of the determinants of emotion and to test the feasibility of extending the theory to attitudes and behavior that may be mediated by the emotion of fear. A total of 279 cigarette smokers were administered either epinephrine or a placebo and then exposed to situational cues suggestive of disparate emotional states (Experiment 1) or different intensities of the same emotion (Experiment 2). Contrary to preictions based upon Schachter's theory, manipulated physiological arousal was not necessary for emotional labeling and under some conditions elicited fear. The situational cues affected emotion and attitudes. Higher levels of fear appeals strengthened intentions to quit smoking, and reassurance of the efficacy of stopping smoking reduced cigarette consumption.