Language development involves the learning of multiple sets of equivalence relations. Research has shown that if certain conditional relations are directly taught for one member of a class of stimuli, then additional conditional relations often emerge for other members of that class, without direct training. There are currently very few studies which have demonstrated this research finding in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The research design used for the present experiment was a single-subject AB cross-over design replicated across five plus five children with ASD and five plus five typically developing children. The children with ASD and the typically developing children were matched on their level of vocabulary development. Participants were randomly assigned to either a teaching order Treatment A+B or a teaching order Treatment B+A. The first experimental treatment (Treatment A+B) involved teaching responses to S1 and S2 in the order Condition A followed by Condition B. The second experimental treatment (Treatment B+A) involved teaching responses to S1 and S2 in the order Condition B followed by Condition A. Condition A involved the teaching of AB and AC (hear-select) relations, and Condition B involved the teaching of BA and CA (see-say) relations. The participants in this study were taught stimulus-response relations that involved six names and numerical representations of quantities in the range 1 to 18. Tests for the emergence of symmetry and transitivity were then conducted. The relationships between the emergence of the untaught equivalence relations and teaching condition, the entering characteristics of the children, and trials to criterion were examined. The results of this study showed that five out of ten participants with ASD demonstrated the emergence of all of the untaught equivalence relations regardless of the treatment condition. The remaining five participants with ASD showed substantial variability. Of the children in the Typically Developing Group nine of the ten demonstrated emergence of all of the untaught equivalence relations. The variables that were most strongly correlated with the emergence of untaught equivalence relations were speed of acquisition of taught relations, functional academics scores, and the chronological age of the participants. The effect of communication ability, pre-academic numeracy skill level, and the experimental treatment (the teaching order conditions) were not strongly related to the emergence of untaught equivalence relations. These findings suggest that outcomes on tests for emergence may have been a function of children’s rate of development and prior learning history. The findings of the current study are best explained by Relational Frame Theory. The implications of these findings for teaching children with ASD and other developmental disabilities, and also teaching in general are discussed.

The Chinese stimulus package of 2008 was a response by the government to rebound the second largest economy from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis. The package was one of the largest, and arguably one of the most successful, in boosting demand and spurring growth through targeting infrastructure projects and consumer spending. This paper investigates whether the package had any spillover effects on the US industrial and consumption companies with large markets in China through the time series multiple regression technique. This paper found that Chinese net exports had some explanatory power over the consumption companies, and the US industrial companies were hurt by the stimulus package. The findings also suggest that there are more macroeconomic variables that have more explanatory power over the returns of the companies than the ones included in the regressions.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Until recently, research into the social consequences of affect has focused almost exclusively on conscious judgments and behaviours. The present research investigates the impact of positive and negative affective states on automatic behavioural priming, a nonconscious social process that enables us to efficiently and effortlessly assimilate or contrast our behaviour with contextual cues. Based on previous research into factors moderating the outcome of behavioural priming, it is hypothesized that positive affect will increase the magnitude of assimilation effects, while negative affect will induce contrast effects. The results of seven experiments conducted both in the laboratory and in the field provide support for this hypothesis, and suggest that the impact of affect on behavioural priming is mediated by the way in which primed mental content is used to guide behaviour. The theoretical and clinical implications of this research as well as future research directions are discussed.

In the present study, footshock, which produces a powerful aversive emotional response was used in a Pavlovian conditioning experiment as an unconditioned stimulis (UCS), and was paired with the presentation of a light used as a conditioned stimulis (CS). There is an accumulation of evidence that supports the assertion that dopaminergic (DA) neurons within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are active in processes that contribute to the amygdala-based circuitry involved in regulating emotionally salient responses. To build upon findings implicating VTA DA, excitatory glutamate (Glu), NMDA and AMPA receptors, were examined with respect to their role in Pavlovian conditioned fear responding. Fear potentiated startle (FPS) was used to assess the effects of intra-VTA infused AP5, and intra-VTA infused CNQX on conditioned fear responding in laboratory rats. The administration of the NMDA receptor antagonist AP5 (at 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0ug doses), blocked the ability of a conditioned stimulus (CS) previously paired with footshock to become conditioned to the UCS. Similarly, administration of the AMPA receptor antagonist CNQX (at 1.0, 2.5, 5.0ug doses), inhibited the ability of the CS to become conditioned to the UCS. The results of this study indicate the VTA is an important site for synaptic modifications associated with fear learning, and that activation of excitatory Glutamatergic receptors in the VTA play a necessary part of the processing underlying fear conditioning. Measures of shock reactivity demonstrated that the infusion of AP5 and CNQX into the VTA did not inhibit baseline startle amplitudes. The administration of AP5 and CNQX did not suppress the perception of footshock as an aversive stimulus. This study provides further definition to established knowledge surrounding the neural processes whereby neutral environmental cues gain negative emotional salience as occurs in fear conditioning. It was hypothesised that the action of excitatory glutamatergic transmission within the VTA acts on NMDA and AMPA receptors is to assist in the acquisition of Pavlovian conditioned fear, possibly through the same synaptic mechanisms that govern LTP.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2007. / "May, 2007." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 33-36). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : [83]-85).

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 24-25).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 95-97)