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<p>When learning a new motor skill, how we choose to go about the learning process can influence how quickly and how well we learn the task. In particular, the role of learner involvement during the acquisition period can be manipulated through how practice is scheduled. Two separate sets of literature (progression of task difficulty and self-controlled practice) which discuss learner involvement during acquisition were reviewed. The motivation behind this thesis is to examine the effects of progressive and self-controlled practice on measures of retention, transfer and dual-task performance as well as to attempt to determine the underlying factors responsible for any benefits of each of these schedules. We examined the influence of practice scheduling during acquisition of a fine-motor skill within the context of the minimization and facilitation of learner involvement through a series of four experiments and one review paper.</p> <p>The findings of the four experiments suggest that an easy-to difficult progression through versions of a task, whether prescribed or chosen, does not always induce implicit learning processes and is also not always beneficial to performance under a secondary task load. The only manipulation that was found to have an effect on dual-task performance was, not the minimization of learner involvement but the proximity of the version of the task first practiced in acquisition to the tested version of the task. Participants that began practice using versions of the task most similar to the test version performed a novel task well under dual-task conditions and maintained this performance over time.</p> <p>The overall difficulty of versions of a task practiced in acquisition appears to have an influence on participants’ ability to perform well on immediate transfer tests and to maintain that performance on delayed transfer tests. These results suggest that learner involvement can be beneficial to performance on transfer tests.</p> <p>The possible benefit of cognitive involvement for learning of motor tasks found in the studies that examined the progression of task difficulty is consistent with one of the main explanations of the benefits of self-controlled learning summarized in the review paper. Interesting motivational implications found in study four, where motivational factors may have overridden the cognitive effort involved are also consistent with the findings summarized in the review paper from the perspective of the self-determination theory.</p> <p>The results and information presented in this thesis present implications for anyone responsible for organizing a practice of motor skills. The most beneficial organization of versions of a practiced task is dependent upon the goals of the testing context.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Feral and fearful cats and kittens in animal shelters are not likely to be adopted as companion animals because they emit fearful or aggressive behaviors in the presence of humans. The purpose of the fearful to friendly (F2F) research was to investigate a shaping procedure to increase friendly behaviors of feral and fearful domestic cats and kittens with the goal of achieving animal shelters’ adoptability criteria. The results showed the F2F procedure was a safe and very effective procedure to quickly tame feral kittens deemed unadoptable. The day after implementing F2F, three out of four kittens approached me and accepted petting and holding without any additional training.

Numerous studies have evaluated and confirmed many benefits of errorless learning and fluency-based procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of combining an errorless learning procedure, stimulus shaping, and fluency-based procedures to teach see/say letter sound discriminations to three preschool children. Participants were taught 6 letter sounds using a hear/point stimulus shaping procedure followed by a see/say fluency-based procedure. A second letter set was taught using only the fluency-based procedure. Results showed that combining the procedures reduced the amount of teaching time by up to 40% and the percent of errors by up to 50%. This preliminary evidence shows exceptional promise in application of this combination of procedures to teach letter sounds to preschool children.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T14:19:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Denise Neves da Silva.pdf: 904562 bytes, checksum: 63e2a778a3e524351e15a8323a899fa7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-24 / This study is a systematic replication of the reading program proposed by Iñesta (1980), extended by the researcher, based on the methods of learning errorless and stimulus control using the techniques of disappearance and equalization of the model in order to verify the effect in increasing the reading repertoire in children presenting developmental delay. The study included four children from seven to nine years old, students in the first stage of basic education of a public school in the country of Goiás. All participants were referred by the school with complaints of delay in reading development, not getting reports that would justify it. To implement the program paper sheets with words or phrases and record protocol were used. The reading program was applied in three stages and four parallel lines were established in order to compare the results. The data were analyzed and it was found that the four children learned to discriminate the textual stimuli presented. Thirty days after the application of the program follow-up sessions were carried out, which confirmed that the increase of the participants reading repertoire in relation to the repertoire obtained at baseline 1. It was confirmed that the hypothesis that children with delayed reading development may have a broader repertoire, since it is possible to maintain control of the stimuli through errorless education programs. / O presente estudo é uma replicação sistemática do programa de leitura proposto por Iñesta (1980), estendido pela pesquisadora, baseado nos métodos de aprendizagem sem erro e controle de estímulos utilizando as técnicas de esvanecimento e igualação do modelo, objetivando verificar seu efeito no aumento do repertório de leitura em crianças com atraso no desenvolvimento. Participaram do estudo quatro crianças com idades entre sete e nove anos, estudantes da primeira fase do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública municipal do interior de Goiás. Todos os participantes foram encaminhados pela escola com queixa de atraso no desenvolvimento da leitura não obtendo laudos que a justificassem. Para a aplicação do programa foram utilizadas fichas com palavras ou frases e protocolos de registros. O programa de leitura foi aplicado em três etapas e paralelamente a elas foram estabelecidas quatro linhas de base a fim de comparar os resultados. Os dados foram analisados e verificou-se que as quatro crianças aprenderam a discriminar os estímulos textuais apresentados sem responderem aos estímulos negativos. Trinta dias após a aplicação do programa foram realizadas sessões de follow-up que confirmaram o aumento do repertório de leitura dos participantes em relação ao repertório obtido na linha de base 1. É confirmada a hipótese de que crianças com atraso no desenvolvimento da leitura podem ter um repertório mais amplo, uma vez que se consegue manter o controle dos estímulos por meio de programas de ensino sem erros.

The prevalence and sequelae of moderate-to-severe (M/S) traumatic brain injury (TBI) are significant and pervasive problems, and effective rehabilitation techniques are key. Errorless learning is regarded as a useful tool for memory impairments; however, the efficacy of errorless learning in a M/S TBI population is unclear. The primary goal (aim 1) of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a single session of errorless vs. errorful learning in a group of M/S TBI survivors and matched controls. A secondary goal (aim 2) was to investigate the neural time course of errorless learning in participants with M/S TBI by analyzing the error-related negativity (ERN) component of the scalp-recorded event-related potential (ERP). The ERN is an electrophysiological measure of error processing that is disrupted in M/S TBI survivors. Measures of neuropsychological performance, self- and informant-report of executive functioning, and affect further informed both study aims. Data from 28 M/S TBI survivors (9 female) and 28 controls (9 female) were analyzed for aim 1, with data from 19 M/S TBI survivors (6 female) and 20 controls (8 female) analyzed for aim 2. There were significant differences between the TBI and control groups with regard to executive, mood, and neuropsychological functioning. Results from aim 1 indicated that TBI participants were slower across learning conditions, while both groups had significantly faster reaction times in the errorless condition. Regarding accuracy, there was not a statistically significant main effect of learning condition (p = .07), group (p = .06), or Group x Condition x Accuracy interaction (p = .33). Indices of memory and executive functioning, and group (TBI, Control) used in regressions predicted accuracy in both learning conditions (ps < .01). The memory composite was a significant independent predictor of errorless accuracy. Results from aim 2 indicated a reliable ERN was present across conditions, although there were no main effects of Condition, Group, or Group x Condition interactions on ERN amplitude or latency (ps > .22). ERN latency was not predictive of accuracy for either condition (ps > .08). Group was a significant independent predictor of accuracy in the errorless condition (p = .05), but not the errorful condition (p = .45). Findings indicate that memory functioning was a better predictor of accuracy than executive functioning or group membership. This suggests that the errorless learning benefit may be specific to memory functioning, rather than other cognitive variables. This conclusion aligns with research reporting that benefits of errorless learning depend upon the severity of memory impairments. Results from ERN analyses are only partially supported by previous research, and further work is needed to clarify the role of neural representations of errorless learning in M/S TBI.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Cristina Marques.pdf: 1583337 bytes, checksum: 89fc35b70bc25acc6534461616827a7e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-05 / This study evaluated three procedures to teach single digit addition to three children diagnosed with Autism. It was intended to specifically compare a parallel design of independent variables for the three procedures including Constant Time Delay, Simultaneous Prompting and No-No Prompting. With the simultaneous model, a matching procedure was used to train the children to point to the sum (model) when given a field of three numbers to compare, one being the correct answer. Prior to teaching, a complete probe of all additions of all blocks was implemented to determine baseline levels. Then the children were taught three additions in each block for each procedure, ensuring that the number of training trials for all teaching sessions remained constant for each procedure in each session. Daily probes were also conducted, as they were considered the most effective to achieve 100% accuracy in three consecutive daily sessions. Results indicate that the Constant Time Delay procedure was the most effective for teaching two participants whereas Simultaneous Prompting was most effective for the other participant. Theses results also demonstrate the need for more comparative studies to further evaluate the optimal teaching procedure / Este estudo ensinou somas por meio dos procedimentos Atraso de Tempo Constante, Simultaneous Prompting e No-No Prompting para três crianças com diagnóstico de autismo. Utilizou-se o emparelhamento com o modelo simultâneo no qual as crianças foram treinadas a apontar o resultado de uma soma (modelo) quando apresentados três números comparação, sendo um deles a resposta correta. O presente estudo pretendeu comparar por meio de um delineamento de tratamento paralelo de variáveis independentes os três procedimentos. Foram ensinadas três somas em cada bloco para cada procedimento. O número de tentativas nas sessões de ensino permanecia o mesmo em cada sessão para cada procedimento. Antes do início do ensino era aplicada uma sonda completa composta por todas as somas de todos os blocos. Também foram realizadas sondas diárias. Considerava-se mais eficaz o procedimento de ensino que atingisse 100% de acertos em três sessões diárias consecutivas. Os resultados mostraram que o procedimento Atraso de Tempo Constante foi o mais efetivo para o ensino desta tarefa para dois participantes e o Simultaneous Prompting para um participante. Os resultados indicam a necessidade de mais estudos comparativos de procedimentos de ensino

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Clarisse Zamith.pdf: 1728017 bytes, checksum: a5c1f7f123270a5b82dcb225a0d83a43 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Research has shown inconsistent results about the effect of errors on discrimination learning. Two studies were conducted with the general purpose of verifying the effect of errors during the acquisition of one set of conditional discriminations upon the performance on a second set that had been learned with few errors. In both studies children of 6 to 8 years of age learned two sets of arbitrary relations between Greek letters. The first study sought to produce errorless learning by way of a sample stimulus shaping procedure. One group learned all relations with stimulus shaping. A second group learned the first set in this manner and the second set through trial and error. Both groups were then tested on the first set of relations. The percentage of correct responses was higher for the relations learned with stimulus shaping than for those learned with trial and error. However, no consistent differences between procedures were found with regards to the total number of errors in the acquisition of each discrimination, which made it difficult to evaluate the effect of errors in the acquisition of the second set of discriminations upon later performance on the first set. Study 2 was a systematic replication of Study 1. The stimulus shaping procedure was substituted by an instruction procedure, and participants were tested to check for emerging equivalence classes. Group 1 learned all stimulus relations through instruction. Group 2 received instruction for the first set of relations, and learned the second set through trial and error. Groups 3 learned all relations through trial and error. Children who learned relations with the instruction procedure made fewer errors in later tests and trials involving these relations than children from Groups 2 and 3, thus indicating the detrimental effect of errors in conditional discrimination learning. There were no clear differences between groups with regards to performance on equivalence tests. High scores on some equivalence tests and average scores on others suggest that some responses were being controlled by the S- and not the S+ / Pesquisas têm mostrado resultados inconsistentes sobre o efeito do erro na aprendizagem de discriminações. Realizaram-se dois estudos com o objetivo geral de verificar o efeito de erros na aprendizagem de um conjunto de discriminações condicionais sobre o desempenho em outro, anteriormente aprendido com poucos erros. Em ambos os estudos, crianças de 6 a 8 anos aprenderam dois conjuntos de relações arbitrárias entre letras gregas. No primeiro estudo, buscou-se produzir uma aprendizagem com poucos erros por meio de um procedimento de modelagem do estímulo modelo. Um grupo aprendeu todas as relações com a modelagem do estímulo. Um segundo grupo aprendeu o primeiro conjunto dessa mesma forma e o segundo, por meio de tentativa e erro. Posteriormente fizeram um teste do primeiro conjunto de relações. A porcentagem de acertos das relações aprendidas com modelagem do estímulo foi mais alta do que a das relações aprendidas com tentativa e erro. No entanto, não houve diferenças consistentes entre os procedimentos quanto ao número total de erros na aquisição das discriminações, o que dificultou a avaliação do efeito do erro na aprendizagem do segundo conjunto de relações sobre o desempenho posterior no primeiro. O Estudo 2 foi uma replicação sistemática do Estudo 1. O procedimento de modelagem do estímulo foi substituído por um de instrução, e acrescentaram-se testes para avaliar a emergência de classes de equivalência. O Grupo 1 aprendeu todas as relações por meio de instrução. O Grupo 2 teve instrução apenas para o primeiro conjunto de relações e aprendeu o segundo por tentativa e erro. Já o Grupo 3 aprendeu todas as relações por tentativa e erro. A instrução proporcionou, no geral, um número menor de erros do que o procedimento de tentativa e erro. Crianças que aprenderam todas as relações com instrução mantiveram um desempenho com menos erros em testes e treinos posteriores dessas relações do que as crianças dos Grupos 2 e 3, o que indica o efeito deletério do erro na aprendizagem de discriminações condicionais. Não houve diferença clara de desempenho entre os grupos nos testes de equivalência. Alta porcentagem de acertos em alguns testes e porcentagens medianas ou baixas em outros sugerem que algumas respostas estavam sob controle do S- e não do S+