The present investigation examined observational learning during equivalence-based instruction using the PEAK Equivalence curriculum, across five children with disabilities. A multiple baseline across skills was used to evaluate observational learning across the participants, including directly observed relations, as well as derived symmetrical and transitive relations. Each skill contained 5 stimulus classes, where a subset of relations for a single class was trained for each participant. The remaining 4 class subsets were observed by each of the participants. For the derived relations, participants never observed peers contact reinforcement for correct responding nor did they themselves contact reinforcement for correct responding. After multiple sessions, results indicated increases in both observed directly trained relations, as well as emergent derived relations. Over the course of the sessions, the participants average correct answers increased from an average of 12% during baseline to100% at the end of the training phase and during a follow-up test probe. The results have implications for equivalence-based ABA instruction in schools and other settings where group-based instruction is common in application with individuals with disabilities.

By using a three-choice preference test I tested food preferences in eight meerkats (Sutricata suricatta) for nine different food items. The meerkats were presented with all possible combinations of 9 food items, in total 84 combinations. The meerkats displayed the following rank order of food preference: cricket > zophoba lava > egg white > banana = tomato > orange > apple > cucumber > carrot. A correlation test between the food preference and nutritional content showed that the preference is significantly correlated with protein content. There is also a significant correlation between ash content and the food preference. There were no correlations with water, fat or vitamins and minerals. This suggests that, as in the wild, the captive meerkats at Kolmården wild life park seek food with high protein content. Ash has a high significant correlation with protein, which may explain the correlation between ash and the food preference. A comparison between the individual’s food preferences showed that the oldest individuals had the highest number of correlations with their food preferences to other individual’s food preference. This suggests an observational learning capability from older to younger individuals, which has also been reported in wild meerkat

The current study investigated the effect of observational learning during equivalence based instruction (EBI). Two boys (Tim and Nate) ages 11 and 12 with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in the study. Participants received small-group EBI training with an embedded observational learning component twice weekly for six weeks. Both participants were given a trained and observation set containing three classes (Class A, Class B and Class C) consisting of four class members. Participants served as both learners and observers during each training session. Each participant was trained on match-to-sample tasks with relations A-B and B-C and tested for class formation across the trained and observation set. Results showed that Tim was able to derive the untrained A-C and C-A relation at 100% correct on both the trained and observation set of stimuli. After the initial training, Nate averaged at 40% and 55% on the trained and observation set of stimuli, indicating that he was unable to derive the untrained relations. Two remedial training sessions were conducted, where Nate was re-exposed to the A-B and B-C training. After the remedial training, Nate averaged at 85% and 67.5%, indicating strong class formation on the trained set of stimuli, and moderate class formation on the observation set. The current study demonstrated the utility of observational learning during EBI. Limitations and implications for clinical practices are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to observe and analyze the factors that lead to a child's increase in responding to a previously neutral stimulus after observing another child's behavior and consequences in the same setting. The effects of five video presentations on rate of button-pressing responses were observed across four students. Rates of button-pressing behavior on an FR3 schedule of reinforcement were collected for each student using a computer and a metal apparatus with two flat push buttons. Each student completed two baseline phases to establish neutrality of stimuli, and viewed a total of five video presentations. Each video segment contained a model engaging in button pressing and receiving tokens under various social and nonsocial conditions, which would potentially serve as reinforcers. Rates of responding were recorded immediately after each video presentation. Three of the four students' rates of responding increased and surpassed their levels of responding during baseline sessions. From these results, it was concluded that neutral stimuli can acquire reinforcing properties for children through an observational learning procedure. It is suggested that observational learning (the presentation of a model engaging in a specific behavior) might be considered and establishing operation to temporarily increase the value of a reinforcer.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Simulation is an educational strategy used in prelicensure nursing education that has been demonstrated to effectively replace selected clinical experiences. Simulation experiences may include the use of differing roles including the active participant, who makes decisions during the simulation and the passive observer, who watches the simulation unfold. There is a lack of rigorous research testing whether students in the passive observer role during simulations demonstrate and retain knowledge similarly to those in active participant roles. In addition, differences in knowledge applied to a contextually similar case between those who actively participate and passively observe have not been studied. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between nursing student’s roles in simulation and cognitive knowledge demonstration, retention, and application about two contextually similar cases of respiratory distress. An experimental, pretest-multiple posttest, repeated measures study was conducted with a convenience sample of 119 baccalaureate prelicensure nursing students from a large multi-campus Southwestern university. Two knowledge instruments were administered throughout different stages of the simulation and four weeks later. Associations between role in simulation and scores on the knowledge instruments were examined using t-tests and mixed repeated measures-analysis of variance. Of the 59 active participants and 60 observers, there were no significant differences in knowledge demonstrated or retained after simulation, after debriefing, or four weeks later. Additionally, there were no significant differences in knowledge demonstrated when applied to a contextually similar case after debriefing or four weeks later between active participant and observer. Future research is needed to examine these relationships in larger and more diverse samples and different contextual clinical situations in simulation. These results will contribute to the further testing and implementation of using observation as a strategy for teaching and learning with simulation for nursing and health professions education.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of video modeling on skill acquisition in learning the golf swing. One-hundred-eight college students participated in this study. All participants were pre-tested via videotaping to determine initial skill level. The pre-test videotaping was analyzed using DartTrainer software. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of three groups (1) control (2) single-view or (3) multi-view. Participants in the control group viewed a compact disc (CD) with a putting demonstration repeated 40 times. The participants in the single-view group viewed a CD with a front view only demonstration repeated 40 times of the golf swing with a driver. Participants in the multi-view group viewed a CD with a multi-view (front, back, left, and right) demonstration of the golf swing using a driver. The demonstration was performed by a golf professional and each view was repeated 10 times for a total of 40 repetitions. After five weeks of CD viewing, practice, and class instruction, participants were video-taped to determine the level of improvement. Factorial ANOVA (3 groups x 2 trials) indicated significant within group pretest to posttest differences (F (1, 105) = 295.93, p<0.001). Between group differences were also noted (F, (2,105) = 18.33, p<0.001). Post hoc analysis indicated significantly fewer posttest deviations in the MV group than in the control group (p<0.001). The single-view group also had fewer posttest deviations than did the control group (p<0.001). There were no significant differences between the multi-view and single-view groups. The current study suggests that video modeling provided on a CD, which a learner can access on their own, may significantly increase skill acquisition rate and performance in learning the golf swing.

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Os efeitos da demonstração na aprendizagem motora tem sido objeto de estudo de longa data. Porém, o efeito da demonstração autocontrolada e das formas de utilização da possibilidade de autocontrolar esse fator ainda são pouco explorados na literatura. Dessa forma, quatro questões de estudo foram formuladas: 1) qual o efeito da demonstração autocontrolada na aprendizagem de uma habilidade motora seriada? 2) há diferença na aprendizagem entre aqueles que gastam mais tempo para tomar a decisão sobre pedir a demonstração e aqueles que gastam menos tempo? 3) há diferença na aprendizagem entre aqueles que processam a informação observada de forma mais rápida e aqueles que processam de forma mais lenta? 4) há diferença na aprendizagem entre aqueles que mais demonstrações pedem e aqueles que menos pedem? Para investigar essas questões, quatros estudos foram realizados com a participação de 120 indivíduos voluntários, universitários, de ambos os sexos. A tarefa de aprendizagem foi uma habilidade motora seriada que consistiu em movimentar com o mouse um quadrado vermelho, exibido na tela de um computador, de forma a tocar sequencialmente todos os alvos retangulares apresentados na tela, em um determinado padrão temporal. O Estudo 1 envolveu a formação de dois grupos: Auto (demonstração autocontrolada, n=60) e Yoked (demonstração espelhada a partir do grupo Auto, n=60). O experimento consistiu de quatro etapas: fase de aquisição (100 tentativas de prática); teste de retenção 24 horas (20 tentativas); teste de transferência 50 (20 tentativas); teste de transferência 100 (20 tentativas). Os Estudos 2 e 3 foram realizados com a participação de 40 e o Estudo 4 com a participação de 38 indivíduos, todos do grupo Auto do Estudo 1. Para cada um desses estudos foram selecionados participantes que obtiveram valores extremos para as variáveis: Tempo para Tomada de Decisão (TTD), Tempo de Processamento da Informação Observada (TPIO) e quantidade de Demonstrações (DEM). Para a verificação da aprendizagem, o Erro Relativo (ER), Erro Total (ET), Erro Absoluto (EA) e Erro na Sequência (ES) foram medidos. Também foram adotadas medidas complementares para a verificação de como os participantes se envolveram no processo. Com relação ao Estudo 1, os principais resultados foram: a) a superioridade do grupo Auto sobre o Yoked, especialmente, quanto ao ER e o EA; b) o grupo Auto processou por mais tempo a informação observada que o grupo Yoked; c) as demonstrações foram requeridas no início da prática, momento em que o desempenho era significativamente baixo, em ambos os grupos; d) o grupo Yoked se mostrou satisfeito com o momento em que recebeu as demonstrações. Os resultados dos Estudos 2, 3 e 4 mostraram, em síntese, que: a) o gasto de mais tempo tomando a decisão sobre pedir a demonstração promoveu melhor aprendizagem que a condição de gasto menor; b) ambos os grupos, formados a partir da variável Tempo de Processamento da Informação Observada (TPIO), aprenderam de forma semelhante; c) o grupo + DEM teve aprendizagem superior ao DEM em todas as medidas de desempenho. A partir desses resultados concluiu-se que a demonstração autocontrolada produziu melhor aprendizagem que a condição externamente controlada, sendo o Tempo para a Tomada de Decisão e a Quantidade de Demonstração, fatores determinantes dessa superioridade / The effects of demonstration on motor learning have been studied for a long time. However, the effect of self-controlled demonstration and the strategies of the learner in this process have been little explored in the literature. Thus, four questions for study were posed: 1) what is the effect of self-controlled demonstration on learning of a serial motor skill? 2) are there learning differences between the learners that spend more time and the learners that spend less time in making a decision about asking for a demonstration? 3) are there differences in the motor learning process between learners that spend more time and the learners that spend less time in processing the demonstration information? 4) are there differences in the motor learning process between learners that ask for more and the learners that ask for less demonstration in the acquisition phase? To investigate these questions four studies were designed involving 120 volunteer university students of both sexes. A timing task was used whose objective was to manipulate the mouse to move a red square on the computer screen so as to touch, in a sequential manner, all the rectangular targets shown on the screen in a determined temporal pattern. Study One was designed with two groups: Self (self-controlled visual model, n=60) and Yoked (control, n=60). The experiment consisted with four stages: acquisition phase (100 practice trials); retention test, 24 hours after acquisition phase (20 trials); transfer test 50 (20 trials); and transfer test 100 (20 trials). The other three studies were performed with participants from the Self group of Study One with 40 subjects being selected for Study Two and Study Three and 38 subjects for Study Four. Subjects were selected according to those that achieved extreme values for the variables of decision-making time, time for processing the demonstration information, and number of demonstrations. To assess motor learning, relative error, total error, absolute error and sequence error were measured. Complementary measures were also adopted to verify how the participants were involved in the process. In relation to Study One, results indicated: a) superiority of the Self group over the Yoked group, especially in relation to relative error and absolute error; b) the Self group processed the demonstration information for a longer time than the Yoked group; c) demonstration was requested at the beginning of practice, a time at which performance was poor for both groups; and d) the Yoked group was satisfied at the time the demonstration was presented. In short, the results of the Studies Two, Three and Four showed that: a) the more time spent in decision making on requesting demonstration, the better the learning of a sequential motor skill; b) the motor learning of both groups formed through time for demonstration information processing was similar; c) the group that asked for more demonstration learned better than the group that asked for less. Based on these results, it may be concluded that the self-controlled demonstration condition promoted better motor learning than the externally-controlled condition, with decision making time and the amount of demonstration being decisive factors in this respect

Kin recognition is the ability to identify a conspecific as a relative and can occur even when animals are complete strangers. By being able to recognise relatives, animals are able to give preferential treatment to those with which they share genes. Recognition may occur by either direct familiarisation (learning a phenotypic cue that reliably correlates to kinship), or by indirect familiarisation (learning kinship relationships through previous encounters). Rats (Rattus norvegicus) can recognise kin, however to what degree kin recognition is mediated by genetics (direct familiarisation) or social relationships (indirect familiarisation) are unknown; the influences of kinship and familiarity on the ability to learn from a conspecific is also unknown. Furthermore, the sex of an animal can also influence its ability to learn but this effect has received little attention in the literature, particularly when considering observational learning tasks. I assessed if relatedness and/or familiarity influenced a rat's ability to learn through observation, and if gender relationships influence the learning process. Eighty rats ( observers ) were given the opportunity to observe a demonstrator rat press a joystick in a given direction to obtain a food reward. Observers watched a demonstrator that had one of the following relationships with them: related and familiar, related and unfamiliar, unrelated and familiar, or unrelated and unfamiliar. When observers were given the opportunity to manipulate the joystick, the number of sniffs of the joystick, the latency to first move the joystick and the total number of presses were recorded. Rats that were both familiar and related to the demonstrator consistently performed better than any other treatment group; furthermore, rats that were familiar with the demonstrator performed the task more efficiently than rats that were not familiar with the demonstrator. When the demonstrators and observers were related, the observers produced more presses and sniffs of the joystick while having a lower latency to the first push In addition, male observers learnt better than females regardless of the demonstrator sex, with males that were familiar to their demonstrator making nearly twice as many pushes than any other treatment group. The results from this study are discussed in relation to both the mechanisms of direct and indirect recognition and the potential adaptive value on kin discrimination in the learning process. The home range hypothesis may explain why gender differences in learning were found: male rats have larger home ranges than females. Male rat will regularly encounter more rats than females and would need to ascertain if unfamiliar individuals are relatives. Females remain closer to natal sites and as such are more likely to encounter kin and therefore may not need as well as developed kin recognition ability.