Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Sex Differences In Associative Structure, Riley F. Elder Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

First, the history of the concept of associative structure was traced, and various methods of its assessment were reviewed. Included, also, was a survey of word association literature, with emphasis on the most recent studies. Three separate studies followed which were diverse techniques for the assessment of sex differences in associative structure, plus suggestions of some possible reasons--both proximate and remote--for these differences.

The first procedure consisted of an investigation of the Jenkins and Palermo Word Association Norms with respect to sexually distinct responses. This revealed many significantly differing responses, and suggested that the differences were the result of a …

The Effect Of Tonal Proximity Upon The Memory Of A Set Of Tones, William M. Walters Jr.

Masters Theses

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the characteristics of music to which people respond. Ortmann's finding that the songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and R. Strauss are characterized by more frequent use of smaller intervals implies that small intervals are more typical in western music.

In Experiment I random sets of notes were played by the experimenter on a toy xylophone, and the subject was asked to reproduce the set on an identical instrument. The results were that subjects were generally capable of finding the correct notes, but this ability declined as the size of the set …

Operant Conditioning Of Heart Rate Changes In Curarized Rats With Brain Stimulation Reinforcement, David Hothersall

Doctoral Dissertations

Many learning theorists have distinguished between autonomic responses which can be conditioned using classical conditioning procedures, and skeletal responses which can be conditioned using operant or instrumental conditioning procedures. In recent years this distinction has been challenged since such autonomic responses as changes in heart rate, GSRs, vasoconstriction and vasodilation, and changes in blood pressure have all been conditioned as operants.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility that both increases and decreases in heart rate could be conditioned in groups of curarized rats using an operant conditioning procedure with brain stimulation as the reinforcement for the …

Thermoregulation In A Cold Environment: Effects Of Body Weight, Roger A. Kleinman

Masters Theses

The present experiment, then, was conducted to ascertain the role of body weight in the physiological and behavioral adjustment to cold. Specifically, it was hypothesized that animals which gained weight after periodic exposure to cold would show a decreased temperature loss as well as less lever-pressing behavior for infra-red heat reinforcement than animals which were maintained at their pre-experimental weight level.