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This study investigated the unidimensional assumption underlying choice behavior by examining the transitivity properties of rats' choice behavior. In Experiment 1, two variables of reinforcement, amount and delay, were manipulated simultaneously in a two lever choice situation. The conditions of strong transitivity were not present in either reponse count or indifference-measured choice behavior, indicating that choice behavior was not distributed along a single dimension with ratio scale characteristics. Moderate transitivity conditions were characteristic of both response and indifference- measured choice which was consistent with a single dimension possessing interval scale characteristics. In Experiment 2, only one reinforcement variable, amount, was manipulated. Strong transitivity was present in both response and indifference measures of choice, indicating that subjects' choice behavior was consistent with a single dimension with ratio scale characteristics. In addition, one of two subjects in Experiment 1 and two of two subjects in Experiment 2 fit Baum's expression of the matching law with response-count measured choice. The indifference measure of choice failed to fit the matching law in either experiment. The measure of choice which fit the matching law also conformed to a single dimension with interval scale characteristics. Since the response-count measure of choice behavior in both Experiments 1 and 2 was moderately transitive, the transitivity properties were consistent with fits to the matching law. The occasional presence of such behaviors as biting the levers, chewing on the cue lights and position bias may have decreased subjects' sensitivity to the amount of reinforcement variable and contributed to undermatching. The indifference measure of choice exhibited moderate transitivity in both experiments but did not fit the matching law. These results show that tests of transitivity are useful in examining the characteristics of the functional relation between behavior and its reinforcing consequences. Further research is required to determine the usefulness and the limitations of the indifference measure of choice behavior. The results were similar to other investigators' in showing that strong transitivity was not an automatic property of choice behavior and must be tested rather than assumed.

In species where males do not provide immediate benefits to females in the form of resources or parental care to offspring, adaptive mate choice may be maintained by selection because preferred males sire offspring that are genetically superior. I test the hypothesis that female mating preferences result in enhanced performance of their larvae, owing to genetic variation among sires in two species of red-eyed treefrogs. This variation in males may be manifested as body size or in advertisement call parameters. I examined natural pairing patterns and found that both species display a size-based mating pattern with substantial seasonal effects. In lean years, females mate with males that are larger on average, yet females also seem to favor a constant size ratio of the male relative to her body size. I documented significant call trait variation both within and among males and have evidence to support size-related call traits as indicators of mating success for some properties. Finally, I provide evidence for a pronounced effect of sire size on offspring traits, most notably upon hatching that may have significant post-metamorphic fitness benefits. My study provides data on the basis of female choice and may provide a link between female preference for male traits and enhanced offspring performance by larvae sired by preferred males in the evolution of anuran mating systems.

Labels are one source of our judgments. By assigning labels to objects, we not only create references but we also group prior and current experiences together. The goal of this research is to investigate how labels influence our judgments. Previous research on inductive generalization shows that labels can be more important than physical characteristics (the labeling effect), but the mechanism for this effect remains unclear. There are two differing views regarding the role of labels. One view proposes that labels are not essentially different from physical features: shared labels increase overall similarity between two items in the same way as shared physical features. The other view suggests that people have a naïve theory that shared labels are more special than shared physical features. The goal of this dissertation is to provide evidence that complements these conflicting views. I suggest that the role of labels varies depending on the background knowledge: types of categories (living things vs. man-made objects), amount of knowledge (number of exemplars people could list for the category), and types of labels (categorical vs. indexical). The results from four experiments showed that, for living things, the labeling effect is strong and depends less on the amount of knowledge; for man-made objects, the labeling effect is weak and depends on the amount of knowledge.

In the analysis of travelers¡¦ decision-making behavior, Discrete Choice model in Revealed Preference data or Stated Preference data, such as logit model and probit model, is generally used in the exploration of travelers¡¦ mode choice behavior. Some former research adapted Structural Equation Model (SEM) or Fuzzy Theory in exploring the variables of travelers¡¦ psychological decision process, because the variables which were not easily measured directly and tend to be latent variables.This study combines Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and EMB Model in consumer behavior science, to investigate the relationship and degree of interaction between psychological variables and actual mode choice behavior. The comuter represent high percentage of inter-city transportation, therefore, this empirical study has focused on the commuters in Taipei metropolitan area. Commuter¡¦s feedback on MRT preference was collected through the face-to-face interview. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS10.0 for chi-square test, the regression analysis and multi-variables analysis. Through the study of their attitude, the degree of involvement, group affection and intention towards various modes, the psychological decision process for commuter was analyzed and concluded. The results of the research concluded that: private transportation users have higher degree of involvement to MRT than the public ones. It is observed that the variables of age, occupation, possession of veheche, the distance from commutes' place to MRT station, among all variables, have significant reciprocity with the degree of involvement for MRT.In the aspects the commuters' attitude of using the MRT¡¦s, both private and public transportation users showed positive opinions. Among all variables, the group influence had the least significance to the action intention, while the involvement and attitude showed high significance to the MRT¡¦s action intention.The public transportation users show higher difference between actual mode use behavior and intention, as compared to the private one. Therefore, the traffic authorities and businessman need to increase the quality of the service of MRT and convience of transfer between transportation modes, if they want to raise the percentage of commuters to using MRT.

This research studies travelers' route choice behavior in a driving simulator with real-time information en-route. We investigate whether travelers plan strategically for real-time information en-route or simply select a fixed path from origin to destination at the beginning of a trip, and whether network complexity and a parallel driving task affect subjects' strategic thinking ability. In this study, strategic thinking refers to a traveler's route choice decision taking into account future diversion possibilities downstream enabled by information at the diversion node. All of the subjects in this study participated in driving-simulator-based tests while half of the subjects participated in additional PC-based tests. Three types of maps were used. The first type required a one-time choice at the beginning of a trip to test the traveler's risk attitude. The other two types offered route choices both at the beginning of and during a trip to test the traveler's strategic thinking. The study shows that a significant portion of route choice decisions are strategic in a realistic driving simulator environment. Furthermore, different network complexities impose different cognitive demands on a subject and affect his/her strategic thinking ability. A subject tends to be more strategic in a simple network. Lastly, a parallel driving task does not significantly affect a subject's strategic thinking ability. This seemingly counterintuitive conclusion might be caused by the simplicity of the tested network.

No description available.

O presente trabalho teve, como objetivos, a) desenvolver um procedimento para estabelecer, em abelhas Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, com base em dados da literatura; b) testar o procedimento elaborado; c) aperfeiçoar ou modificar esse procedimento, com base nos dados obtidos. Como o procedimento, inicialmente proposto para ser testado, tivesse se mostrado ineficaz para instalar a resposta desejada, várias modificações foram efetuadas com base nos dados que estavam sendo produzidos, até chegar à elaboração de um procedimento eficaz para instalar, nos sujeitos, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, utilizando estímulos de duas cores diferentes. Esse procedimento iniciava-se com a apresentação de apenas dois cartões de tamanhos diferentes, sendo que o maior (SD ) englobava os estímulos modelo e de comparação de mesma cor. Através de fading da dimensão tamanho, o modelo era gradualmente separado do estímulo de comparação de mesma cor, ate que os três estímulos ficassem igualmente espaçados e distribuídos em três cartões de igual tamanho. Os resultados obtidos com esse procedimento mostraram um ,aumento gradativo na porcentagem de RD, até estabilizar na porcentagem máxima; cada aumento na distância entre os estímulos era seguido de uma diminuição, pequena e de curta duração, na porcentagem de RD Esses resultados, e os obtidos com outros procedimentos utilizados, foram discutidos em ter mos dos efeitos das modificações efetuadas na situação experimental sobre o desempenho dos sujeitos. / The present work has, as main goal, the development of a procedure to stablish matching-to-sample response in bees (Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides ). Based on an analysis of the literature, a procedure was chosed. The data of the testing of such a procedure, showed the need to introduce several modifications, until gradual improvement of the final procedure was achieved. The dimension along which the work was developed was wavelength. On the final procedure, two post cards of different sizes were used, the e larger one contained both the standard and one of the comparison stimuli, the smaller card contained the remaining comparison stimulus, and initially this was always the one not-to-be-chosen. Gradually, standard and comparison stimuli present in the same card were separated, by fading the size dimension, until all three stimuli were evenly spaced and distributed on three equal size cards. Under this procedure, correct responses showed a gradual increase reaching the maximum percentage of correct responses. Each increase in the space between the standard and the to-be-chosen comparison stimulus was followed by an small and short living decrease in the percentage of correct responses. Different features of this, and other discarded procedures were analyzed in connection to the subjects performance.

A escolha entre conseqüências imediatas e de longo prazo tem sido estudada a partir de modelos matemáticos que procuram caracterizar o fenômeno de desvalorização pelo atraso. A maioria dos estudos tem se dedicado à investigação de situações envolvendo a escolha entre dois estímulos apetitivos, um imediato e um atrasado. Situações envolvendo estímulos aversivos pouco têm sido estudadas, embora muitos autores sugiram a generalização dos modelos encontrados para estímulos apetitivos. O objetivo da presente pesquisa foi comparar as escolhas feitas com estímulos apetitivos com as escolhas envolvendo estímulos aversivos. Participaram da pesquisa 36 estudantes universitários de 18 a 28 anos, de ambos os sexos. Houve consentimento informado e a participação foi voluntária. A coleta de dados foi realizada com um computador tipo PC e consistiu de uma série de escolhas hipotéticas entre valores imediatos e atrasados. O procedimento utilizado foi o de titulação, em que os sujeitos escolhiam entre um valor fixo de R$ 1.000,00 atrasado (1 semana, 1 mês, 6 meses, 1 ano, 3 anos, 5 anos, 10 anos e 25 anos) e um valor imediato que variava entre R$ 1,00 e R$ 1.000,00, para uma situação de ganho (apetitiva-APT) e uma situação de pagamento (aversiva-AVS). A ordem das situações foi contrabalanceada. Para cada atraso e em cada situação foi encontrado, então, um ponto de indiferença que representa o valor imediato correspondente ao valor atrasado. Calculou-se a diferença entre os pontos de indiferença obtidos na situação AVS e APT. Análise de regressão linear revelou que o coeficiente angular (C1=0,05) se mostrou estatisticamente diferente de zero ao nível de significância de 8%, indicando que os pontos obtidos em AVS são maiores do que em APT. A análise realizada através da área do gráfico formado pelos pontos de indiferença corrobora essa conclusão, além de indicar a ausência de correlação entre as áreas obtidas para as duas situações (r = 0,306; ns). Os dados individuais revelaram a presença de três padrões de resposta: um padrão de desvalorização negativamente acelerada; um padrão de estabilidade caracterizado pela ausência de desvalorização e um padrão em que há uma desvalorização inicial e uma revalorização para grandes valores de atraso. A análise dos modelos matemáticos revelou que os dados da situação APT são mais bem descritos por dois modelos hiperbólicos com expoente (chamados de Hiperbólico-Exponencial e de Green). Para a situação AVS nenhum dos modelos descritos na literatura se mostrou adequado. Foi proposto, então, um modelo que soma ao modelo Hiperbólico-Exponencial o valor aversivo associado ao atraso, modulado por dois coeficientes (U e S). O modelo descreveu os dados obtidos na situação AVS de maneira adequada e se mostrou generalizável para a situação APT, mostrando um desempenho melhor do que os dois citados anteriormente. A análise dos parâmetros estimados por esse modelo revelou ausência de correlação entre as duas situações e diferença significativa apenas para o parâmetro U entre as duas situações ao nível de significância de 6%. No conjunto os dados revelam que há diferenças entre os processos de escolha envolvendo atraso em situações APT e AVS. / Choices between immediate and delayed consequences have been studied trough mathematical models that describe the delay discounting phenomena. Several studies have investigated this phenomenon with delayed and immediate appetitive stimuli. Few have studied the situation involving delayed and immediate aversive stimuli, although it has been suggested that the models that describe the appetitive scenario would well also describe the aversive scenario. The aim of this research was to compare choices made when the appetitive and aversive scenarios are presented. Participants were 36 volunteers, undergraduate students, aged 18 to 28, both sexes. Informed consent was given. Data collection was made in a PC computer and consisted of a series of hypothetical choices between immediate and delayed monetary values. A titration procedure was used in which participants choose between a fixed delayed value of R$1,000.00 (1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years and 25 years) and a variable immediate value that could range from R$1.00 to R$1,000.00 in either a gain situation (appetitive-APT) or a payment situation (aversive-AVS). The order of the situations was counterbalanced. For each delay and in each situation an indifference point representing the immediate value of the delayed value was calculated. The difference between the points for the AVS and APT situations was calculated. A linear regression analysis revealed that the slope (C1=0.05) is significantly different of zero (p<0.08), indicating that the indifference points are smaller for APT than for AVS. The analysis of the area under the curve formed by the indifference points corroborated this conclusion and indicated the absence of correlation between the areas in the APT and AVS situations (r = 0.306; ns). Individual data revealed three response patterns: a pattern of negatively accelerated discounting, a pattern of stability characterized by the absence of discounting and a pattern characterized by an initial discounting followed by an increase in the indifference points for larger values of delay. The analysis of the mathematical models revealed that two hyperbolical with exponent models described also the data in APT (called Hyperbolic-Exponential and Green’s). For the AVS situation the models found in the literature failed to describe the data obtained. An alternative model has been proposed in which the aversive value of the delay is modulated by two parameters (U and S) and added to the Hyperbolic-Exponential model. Such model was effective in describing the data obtained in the AVS situation and could be generalized to the APT situation, with better results than the other two mentioned above. The analysis of the estimated parameters revealed the absence of correlation between the two situations and only the U parameter for the AVS situation is significantly different from the same parameter obtained in the APT situation (p<0.06). Taken together the analysis indicates differences between choices involving delayed appetitive and aversive stimuli.

O presente trabalho teve, como objetivos, a) desenvolver um procedimento para estabelecer, em abelhas Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, com base em dados da literatura; b) testar o procedimento elaborado; c) aperfeiçoar ou modificar esse procedimento, com base nos dados obtidos. Como o procedimento, inicialmente proposto para ser testado, tivesse se mostrado ineficaz para instalar a resposta desejada, várias modificações foram efetuadas com base nos dados que estavam sendo produzidos, até chegar à elaboração de um procedimento eficaz para instalar, nos sujeitos, a resposta de escolha de acordo com o modelo, utilizando estímulos de duas cores diferentes. Esse procedimento iniciava-se com a apresentação de apenas dois cartões de tamanhos diferentes, sendo que o maior (SD ) englobava os estímulos modelo e de comparação de mesma cor. Através de fading da dimensão tamanho, o modelo era gradualmente separado do estímulo de comparação de mesma cor, ate que os três estímulos ficassem igualmente espaçados e distribuídos em três cartões de igual tamanho. Os resultados obtidos com esse procedimento mostraram um ,aumento gradativo na porcentagem de RD, até estabilizar na porcentagem máxima; cada aumento na distância entre os estímulos era seguido de uma diminuição, pequena e de curta duração, na porcentagem de RD Esses resultados, e os obtidos com outros procedimentos utilizados, foram discutidos em ter mos dos efeitos das modificações efetuadas na situação experimental sobre o desempenho dos sujeitos. / The present work has, as main goal, the development of a procedure to stablish matching-to-sample response in bees (Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides ). Based on an analysis of the literature, a procedure was chosed. The data of the testing of such a procedure, showed the need to introduce several modifications, until gradual improvement of the final procedure was achieved. The dimension along which the work was developed was wavelength. On the final procedure, two post cards of different sizes were used, the e larger one contained both the standard and one of the comparison stimuli, the smaller card contained the remaining comparison stimulus, and initially this was always the one not-to-be-chosen. Gradually, standard and comparison stimuli present in the same card were separated, by fading the size dimension, until all three stimuli were evenly spaced and distributed on three equal size cards. Under this procedure, correct responses showed a gradual increase reaching the maximum percentage of correct responses. Each increase in the space between the standard and the to-be-chosen comparison stimulus was followed by an small and short living decrease in the percentage of correct responses. Different features of this, and other discarded procedures were analyzed in connection to the subjects performance.