This study tested whether conditioning to one member of a compound stimulus can be blocked by presence of a second member to which the response was previously conditioned. Eight mentally retarded students (ages 7-9) were presented with words, sometimes accompanied by pictures. Six students performed best when words were presented without pictures.…

Describes the establishment of a psychological space for any set of stimuli by determining metric distances between the stimuli with the probability that a response learned for a stimulus will generalize to the other. (Author/TW)

This overview reviews a program of interlinked cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations of the nature of cognitive development in infants and young children with Down's Syndrome. The research falls into three groupings: object concept studies, operant learning experiments, and IQ studies. Early results suggest a common learning style which…

Describes two new exercises in classical conditioning that use earthworms and houseflies. The animals are available year-round and pose no risk to the students or instructor. The conditioned stimuli are odorants. These elicit a conditioned response of contraction in worms or proboscis extension in flies. (MJP)

An exploratory study examined gender differences in writing in the essays of five male and five female freshman composition students. The findings suggest parallels between the writing and speaking behaviors of men and women students and between student writing and the work of male and female professional writers. The male students made few…