This study examined the use of air-puff conditioning audiometry in the hearing assessment of 12 multiply handicapped (including severe/profound mental retardation) subjects, ages 9-32. Ten subjects reached criterion conditioning and then completed the hearing assessment with the air-puff procedure while one reached criterion with a modified…

A study examined sensitivity to reinforcement in two boys (ages 7-10) with attention deficit hyperactivity using the matching law and evaluated effects of methylphenidate. In the medicated condition, the matching function for both subjects resulted in higher asymptotic values, indicating an overall elevation of behavior rate under these…

In honeybees, the proboscis extension response (PER) can be conditioned by associating an odor stimulus (CS) to a sucrose reward (US). Conditioned responses to the CS, which are acquired by most bees after a single CS-US pairing, disappear after repeated unrewarded presentations of the CS, a process called extinction. Extinction is usually thought…

The basolateral amygdala's involvement in fear acquisition and expression to visual and auditory stimuli is well known. The involvement of the basolateral and other amygdala areas in fear acquisition and expression to stimuli of other modalities is less certain. We evaluated the contribution of the basolateral and medial amygdala to olfactory and…

We recently reported that fear extinction, a form of inhibitory learning, is selectively blocked by systemic administration of L-type voltage-gated calcium channel (LVGCC) antagonists, including nifedipine, in mice. We here replicate this finding and examine three reduced contingency effects after vehicle or nifedipine (40 mg/kg) administration.…

The [delta] subunit of the GABA[subscript [Alpha]] receptor (GABA[subscript [Alpha]]R) is highly expressed in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Genetic deletion of this subunit reduces synaptic and extrasynaptic inhibition and decreases sensitivity to neurosteroids. This paper examines the effect of these changes on hippocampus-dependent trace…

After training conditional discriminations among selected stimuli from two perceptual classes, the emergence of novel relations involving other members of both classes was assessed using cross-class probes. The cross-class probes were presented using one of four different testing schedules. In the 2/9 test, nine different probes were presented in…

One symptom of depression is loss of motivation, which can be defined as responsiveness to response-eliciting stimuli and quantified as reward-related behavioral output. Long-term changes in reward-related behavior have been shown to follow early life stress. Most rodent studies investigating the effects of postnatal separation, an early stress,…

To determine the influence of successful or unsuccessful competitive outcomes and small or large margins of victory/defeat on performance, pairs of female undergraduate students "competed" against each other in a dart tossing contest. False feedback about the outcomes and margin of victory/defeat led subjects to believe they were winning every…

This paper presents a review of relevant literature on treatment approaches for the modification of smoking behavior, followed by an outline of an approach developed by the author to decrease his own rate of cigarette smoking. Studies are reviewed which have used various treatment methods: use of electric shock, satiation and/or use of cigarette…

The paper provides an overview of a prelanguage program that was developed for a low functioning, 7 1/2-year-old congenitally deaf-blind child. It is explained that the program was based on principles and procedures as they related to operant behaviors, that reinforcement techniques were continually applied, and that a great deal of successive…

The effectiveness of four operant procedures (differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior, omission training, overcorrection, and reinforcement withdrawal) in changing self injurious behavior (SIB) of 16 severely handicapped students was examined. Analysis of correlations between reduction in SIB and subject characteristics, adaptive…

The effectiveness of the reinforcing of low rates of responding (DRL) in the reduction of unacceptable behaviors was demonstrated with two students in regular first and second grade classes. Ss were given play-time reinforcement when the total number of disruptions (such as fighting with other students) during a session were below the DRL limit.…

A contract and point system were used to decrease the pilfering behavior of an 11-year-old boy. Under the contract system, the boy kept a daily record of his progress and earned points toward a trip to the planetarium. After introduction of the contract the pilfering dropped from at least two times a week to none at all. (LS)

This project was designed to collect information on the types of skills common to the appliance repair, refrigeration, and air conditioning service areas. A single task inventory was constructed from available course materials, revised by consultants, and administered to a random sample of 30 incumbent workers in each of the two service areas in…