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Relevancy Of Exteroceptive And Response Produced Cues As A Determinant Of Mixed Delayed Matching To Sample Performance., David Perkins

Psychology ETDs

ABSTRACT

Traditional delayed matching-to-sample paradigms may confound the cue properties associated with external stimuli and those cues produced by Ss delay interval behavior. This possible confounding arises since traditional paradigms explicitly control external stimuli, but include no control of Ss delay interval behavior.

In order to control the response produced cues during the delay interval, the present experiment required three groups of four pigeons each to complete, either a FR8 or FR16 during the delay intervals between the offset of standard hues and the onset of the comparison or matching stimuli. Depending upon the experimental conditions, a particular fixed ratio …

Intersensory Transfer: A Component Analysis, Ronald W. Shaffer

Psychology ETDs

Recently, a number of investigators have examined the effect of changes in the sensory modality by which stimuli are presented in a two-stage, paired-associates transfer of training task. The positive transfer effects usually found have been termed intermodal or intersensory transfer IST. Inferences as to the precise nature of component sources of transfer contributing to this positive effect have been limited, however, due to the type of controls that have been employed. The present study was designed to identify two sources of specific transfer, that of stimulus-response associations and stimulus learning, by the use of controls not normally employed. All …

An Analysis Of Incentive And Behavioral Contrast, Amado M. Padilla

Psychology ETDs

In 1942 Crespi reported the results of an experiment in which rats were given runway training with one magnitude of reward and then shifted to another magnitude of reward. He found that animals shifted from a small to large reward showed an abrupt increase in performance, while Ss shifted from a large to small reward showed an immediate decrease in running speed. These changes in performance were found to exceed the performance levels expected from the absolute postshift magnitude of reinforcement. Crespi called these effects "elation" and "depression," respectively. Later, Zeaman (1949) conducted an experiment which closely paralleled Crespi's and …

Transfer Of Response Differentiation: A Quantitative Analysis, David M. Grilly

Psychology ETDs

Recent transfer of response differentiation studies have found that training Ss on easy differentiations and then transferring them to harder differentiations along the same continuum facilitates performance as compared to giving all training on the harder differentiations. These results are analogous to those found in transfer of stimulus discrimination and have been interpreted as evidence for the proposition that response differentiation is a special instance of stimulus discrimination. The only difference between the two is hypothesized to be in the nature of the cues used by the organism, interoceptive versus exteroceptive. More recent evidence, however, has suggested that the generalization …

Imitation Of Tolerance For Delay In Children: The Effects Of Model-Subject Similarity., Susan Mendenhall

Psychology ETDs

The experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of high and low delay tolerant models on children's delay behavior, and to assess effects of subject-model delay similarity on imitation of a second task. High, low, and middle delay subjects heard a model give either high or low delay responses to the Mischel questionnaire. Subjects were also shown the model's success expectancy on a ring toss game. Analysis of post-test delay change showed that high and low delay models produced significantly differential modeling, which was in part a function of the initial delay tolerance of the subjects. Subject-model delay similarity did not …

An Analytical Investigation Of Instructions Designed To Elicit Test Anxiety, Karl Kilby Long

Psychology ETDs

Three components of motivating instructions typically used to elicit performance decrements in high test-anxious Ss were investigated to determine whether: (a) the mention of a test, (b) identifying the test as an intelligence test, or (c) suggesting evaluation in relation to a peer-group is primarily responsible for the observed decrement. High and low test-anxious Ss were given 12 paired-associate lists of English word pairs, with the experimental instructions given between the 8th and 9th lists. Analyses of post-instruction changes in learning behavior revealed significant differences only between the instruction condition containing the full set of components and the controls. These …