Infants begin to coordinate their actions into means-end sequences at eight to nine months of age, as indicated by their willingness to search for objects that are occluded, and by their ability to use supports to pull distant objects within reach. However, the occurrence of perseverative responses like the A-not-B error through the end of the first year suggests an inflexibility in means-end actions, in that infants fail to respond on the basis of context-specific information, but rather respond on the basis of previously rewarded action. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate two antithetical explanations of infant search errors--one that attributes errors solely to repeated motor experience, and one that invokes the notion of representational, or working memory to describe means-end search. Nine-, twelve-, and eighteen-month-old infants were tested on a violation of expectation search procedure. Infants were given repeated practice pulling down a screen to retrieve a toy. After several trials, a second identical screen was surreptitiously inserted behind the first, forcing infants to adapt their search behavior to the novel layout in order to successfully retrieve the toy. Infants at the three ages were tested on an 'opaque' condition, in which both of the screens were opaque and covered with an identical checkerboard pattern. Nine- and twelve-month-olds were also tested in two control conditions. In the 'transparent' control condition, the two screens were fitted with plexiglass windows, thus eliminating the need to represent the existence of the toy. In the 'no-toy' control condition, the screens were opaque, but no toys were hidden and subjects were simply given a series of trials with one screen and then tested with two screens. The results supported the working memory, representational account of infant search. In the opaque condition, most nine-month-olds searched for the toy behind the second cover. Twelve-month-olds, however, were less likely than the nine-month-olds to pull down both screens, and frequently persisted in their efforts to find the toy behind the first screen. Infants in the two control conditions did not have this difficulty extending their action to the second screen. Eighteen-month-olds quickly solved the double-cover problem, rapidly pulling down both screens. The poorer performance of the twelve-month-olds suggests that they accurately represented the location of the toy where they had seen it hidden (behind the first screen), and thus failed to consider the second screen as a possible hiding location for the toy.

This study investigated the effects of Picture Rehearsal with and without covert reinforcement on the turn-taking behavior of four children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and placed in a public school. A counterbalanced multiple baseline design across participants was used to examine treatment effects. Data were analyzed using visual analysis and statistical analysis. Visual analysis included an inspection of adjacent phase changes in means, levels, trends, and latency of change. A time-series analysis was used to identify statistically significant trends in the data. Results indicated that the Picture Rehearsal with the covert reinforcement condition was more effective at increasing turn-taking behavior than the Picture Rehearsal without the covert reinforcement condition. These results offer some support for covert conditioning; however, conclusions are limited by a number of factors. Additional research is needed in order to obtain more reliable conclusions.

Coaches of high school athletes are one potentially important source of athletes' social support. This leads to the possibility that at least some coaches provide little social support to their players and thus could contribute to players' injury rates. I examined the social support high school football coaches provide their players in a specific circumstance where coach social support might be considered forthcoming, the circumstance of injured players. I sent a 21-item, 9-point Likert scale questionnaire to 2,000 California, Texas, Ohio, and Florida high school football coaches, asking about the amount of social support they provided to their injured players. A total of 668 questionnaires were returned. The social support items were reasonably homogeneous (coefficient alpha .84). Mean levels of self-reported coach social support ranged from 3.1 (almost no social support provided) to 9.0 (strong social support, provided consistently), with a mean of 6.9 (median=7.0) and a S.D. of 1.0. I then examined the relationship between the social support reported to be provided and coach-reported numbers of minor and major player injuries in a typical season. Both relationships were low and negative, but significant (r = -.14 in both cases,p is less than .0005), indicating a weak tendency for the players of low social support coaches to experience more injuries than those of high social support coaches. The results overall suggest that (a) coach social support of athletes is indeed quite low in some cases, and (b) coach social support may be an important element in determining the injury rates of high school athletes.

Previous comparisons of relationship cohesion and satisfaction in homosexual and heterosexual couples have produced mixed results. Based on recent empirical findings, the hypotheses in the present investigation were as follows: (1) Female homosexuals would report significantly higher relationship satisfaction than would all other subjects; (2) female homosexuals would score significantly higher on all measures of relationship cohesion than would other groups, with heterosexual women scoring significantly higher than all men; (3) cohesion would correlate more positively with high satisfaction for female homosexuals than for any other group; and (4) the Cohesion Scale would correlate positively with the Peplau Dyadic Attachment and Spanier Dyadic Cohesion Scales. A total of 27 male heterosexuals, 26 female heterosexuals, 23 male homosexuals, and 39 female homosexuals who had been involved in their current relationships for at least 1 year completed a relationship questionnaire. None of the hypotheses were supported; however, homosexuals reported significantly higher relationship satisfaction and obtained significantly higher scores on the Peplau Dyadic Attachment Scale than did heterosexuals, regardless of sex. The present findings suggest that female homosexuals are not as distinct a group with regard to relationship cohesion as previous literature would suggest. Scale validity and implications for further research are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to develop an approach to determining relative reinforcer value for children, using unit price theory. A free operant preference assessment was conducted with four children, followed by a reinforcer assessment to determine reinforcer efficacy. Following the reinforcer assessment, the unit price evaluation was conducted. The number of reinforcers and number of responses required were manipulated by varying the number of reinforcers provided and the fixed-ratio (FR) requirement, respectively. Four or five different unit price values were compared for each child, and each child's performance was compared with two combinations of FR schedule and number of reinforcers earned for each unit price. The study tested a prediction of unit price theory that as unit price increases, number of responses will increase to an asymptote and decrease thereafter. Results showed that responding increased and then decreased as unit price increased for 2 of the 4 children for one of the two unit price series. Another unit price theory prediction tested was that the rate of consumption of obtained reinforcers at a given price will be a constant regardless of the response requirement and magnitude of reinforcer that make up the unit price. Results showed that consumption was usually similar given equal unit price values but differing FR and amount of consumables received for all 4 participants. These data suggest that unit price theory may be a useful framework for assessing relative reinforcer value. From a clinical perspective, these results suggest that reinforcers may be potent in terms of work rate under one reinforcement schedule and number of reinforcer units combination but not another combination. In terms of consumption, reinforcers may be approximately equally potent under various reinforcement schedule and number of reinforcer units combinations.

Anxiety is considered as having trait and state characteristics. The multidimensional theory of state anxiety separates this construct into cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of positive video self-modeling at reducing performance anxiety. I hypothesized that following positive video self-modeling athletes would experience: (a) decreased cognitive and somatic anxiety, (b) increased self-confidence, and (c) improved competitive performance. Nine male collegiate volleyball players were blocked into a low, medium, or high anxiety groups, and were then randomly assigned into either a: (a) positive video self-modeling group, (b) relaxation training group, or (c) no treatment control group. Positive video self-modeling participants each received five sessions of viewing their positively self-modeled videotape, relaxation group participants each received five sessions of respiratory relief training, and the control group remained in baseline. A graphical analysis of the dependent measures suggested that none of the hypotheses were supported.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether cognitive-behavioral therapy could be effective in alleviating depression in mildly mentally retarded or borderline intelligence individuals. It was hoped this would prove to be a viable alternative or adjunct to medical interventions in treating depression with this population. Subjects participated in one of two cognitive-behavioral groups for 12 weeks. Two other treatments (two exercise and two structured, talk-oriented groups) served as control groups; these group members had the same daily routine as individuals in the treatment group. Control group subjects were also administered the same pre- and post-test. Seventy-three subjects were referred to participate, all on a volunteer basis. Subjects resided at the Stockton Developmental Center. All subjects were at the Center involuntarily, with 39 percent committed to the Center due to penal code violations. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used as a pre-screening device, and subjects scoring in the clinical ranges of depression on the BDI were included in the study. Fifty-eight subjects met pre-screening criteria and were included. Based on BDI scores, subjects were assigned to one of three ranges of depression specified for the BDI. Subjects in each range were then matched on BDI scores and randomly assigned to the treatment groups. The pre- and post-test measure was the Emotional Problems Scales, which include both a personality inventory with questions answered by each individual and a behavior rating scale answered by the individual's primary counselor. Scores on depression and related scales were examined through the multivariate analysis of variance procedure. Forty-nine subjects were included in the final statistical analysis. There was no significant finding across groups for a decrease in depression or for other variables. No treatment proved more effective than any other. An examination of subject characteristics for those demonstrating the highest levels of improvement following treatment found that subjects with scores initially in the extremely severe range on depression were most likely to evidence change in a positive direction. Those who demonstrated improvement in the cognitive-behavioral groups tended to have IQ's over 62.

No description available.

No description available.

Spontaneous verbal initiations and social interactions are a central deficit of children with autism. This study examined the effects of gradually fading a tactile prompting device, a vibrating pager, as a prompt for children with autism to make verbal initiations during play activities. Three children diagnosed with autism participated in the study. An ABAB withdrawal design was used to evaluate the effect of the prompting device on verbal initiations. During training, the tactile prompt was placed in the children's pockets and they were taught to initiate a verbal interaction (e.g., “Look at this” or “I have [object label]) when the tactile prompt was activated. Once the children responded independently to the tactile prompt in their pocket, they were given access to free-play activities with normally developing peers. The tactile prompting device was then used to prompt children to initiate an interaction with a peer. The results indicated that the tactile prompting device was effective in increasing verbal initiations and decreasing aberrant behavior (e.g., stereotypy) exhibited by the participants. Peers were also more likely to initiate a verbal interaction with the participants during and after the prompting conditions. In addition, for two of the children with autism, verbal initiations remained at high levels once the use of the tactile prompting device was faded.