Three experiments examined the effects of physical context changes and multiple extinction contexts on the renewal of conditioned suppression in humans. A conditioned suppression task used an undesirable event as the unconditional stimulus (US). One conditional stimulus (CS+) predicted the occurrence of the US and another (CS-) predicted US…

Implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test (OAT) have recently become popular as tools in research on evaluative conditioning. The reason is that these measures are thought to be impervious to changes in valence that are due to conscious propositional knowledge about the relation between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the…

In 2 multiple baseline experiments, we tested stimulus-stimulus pairing effects on acquisition of conditioned reinforcement for observing and manipulating stimuli and stereotypy/passivity. In Experiment I we studied a 5 year-old male with autism and we collected data using continuous 5-sec whole interval recording in 5 min sessions in which the…

Fear conditioning is a popular model for investigating physiological and cellular mechanisms of memory formation. In this paradigm, a footshock is either systematically associated to a tone (paired conditioning) or is pseudorandomly distributed (unpaired conditioning). In the former procedure, the tone/shock association is acquired, whereas in the…

Much recent research on mechanisms of learning and memory focuses on the role of heterosynaptic neuromodulatory signaling. Such neuromodulation appears to stabilize Hebbian synaptic changes underlying associative learning, thereby extending memory. Previous comparisons of three related sea-hares (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) uncovered interspecific…

In the present study, joint-control training was applied when teaching manded selection responses to children with autism. Four vocal children with autism participated in the first experiment, two males (ages seven and eight) and two females (ages seven and nine). The results showed that it was only after object-word naming was trained under joint…

In a previous issue of "The Behavior Analyst," the authors discussed the ambiguities that surround the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement. Seven distinguished behavior analysts commented on their article. The authors believe that this dialogue represented a constructive step toward clarification of an important concept within…

This pamphlet advocates air conditioning to improve educational productivity. The physiological effects of thermal environment are explained and educational experiments cited to substantiate the benefits of air conditioning in promoting learning. The necessity and economy of air conditioning for schools with large open-space learning areas and for…

Suggests that if psychologists of learning are to be of assistance to the teachers in open learning classrooms, they will have to reconsider the effect of assuming associative connections as a valid unit for the foundation underlying human learning. (Author/AM)

Includes a comprehensive bibliography. (DS)

Discusses the influence of psychology and linguistics on recent methodologies in second language teaching. (DS)

This article discusses basic learning processes utilized by children with profound intellectual disabilities, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and habituation. The article also explores how these learning processes may be used in assessing the capabilities and preferences of children with profound intellectual disabilities.…