Groups of 17-, 23-, and 29-week-olds were habituated to slides of women posing facial expressions varying display of teeth affect; subjects were then shown slides of women posing the familiarized expressions plus a toothy smiling expression. In a second experiment older subjects also proved to be insensitive to affect-related aspects of still…

Analyzes associative structures underlying goal-directed behavior using well-developed techniques for studying Pavlovian conditioning. Identifies the roles of the stimulus, response, and reinforcer in instrumental learning. A response and its reinforcer must be associated for acquisition and maintenance of instrumental behavior. (Author/LHW)

Electrodermal activity to auditory stimuli was compared in 20 autistic children and their matched retarded and normal controls (N=80). The autistic children were virtually indistinguishable in individual features of electrodermal activity from controls when both chronological and mental age comparisons were accounted for. (Author/CL)

Two experiments were conducted to (1) replicate the findings of habituation of behavioral responding to a tactile stimulus assuring state control and (2) demonstrate dishabituation either by reinstatement of responding to the original, habituated stimulus or to novel stimuli either within or between modalities. Subjects were newborn Caucasian…

Five experiments using identical reflex modification procedures on neonates and adults suggest developmental differences in processing auditory stimuli. Neonates failed to exhibit reflex inhibition by either prior acoustic or tactile stimuli. Adults exhibited robust reflex inhibition to these same stimuli. Developmental processes implied by these…

Determined the effects of several variations of thought stopping treatment on self-reported worry cognitions. Results indicated that the most effective thought stopping procedure was one in which the subjects (N=72) were knowledgeable of the upcoming treatment procedure, and which incorporated a well-established imperative command for an…

Investigates psychophysiological reactions of 60 women to an infant's cry and to a control sound. The 30-second pain cry evoked greater cardiac and electrodermal activity than did the control stimulus, although selected groups varied in the nature and extent of their reactions. Both maternal state and experience with infants affected reactions.…

Three studies were undertaken to examine ways in which profoundly disabled infants and children interact with the environment. Findings suggested that the Ss were active responders and processors of environmental stimuli and that automated equipment under their control was highly motivating for them. (CL)

Three observers evaluated the responses to sound with 21 mild to severely handicapped children (7 months to 10 years old) on Behavioural Observation Audiometry, an alternative to conditioning paradigms in audiometric assessment. Results showed that inter-observer agreement was high and that responsitivity was not affected by stimulus presentation…

In two studies footkicks and visual attention of 3-month-olds were measured across daily sessions with conjugate reinforcement provided by an overhead mobile containing identical components. Results imply that infants respond relationally, actively manipulating their visual environments as a function of their previous contextual experiences. (JH)

The Czech system of education has been through several years of relatively intensive transformation efforts reflecting the international processes of transformation of higher education the Czech Republic joined. The most important external stimulus directing the transformation process is the so-called Bologna process. These complex and…

Predicts that high-hostile individuals would be more vigilant for violent or aggressive stimuli than individuals relatively low on hostility, and that males would perceive more violence than females. (Author)

A verbal reinforcer and two nonverbal immediacy cues, eye contact and body lean, were manipulated by an E under far and close conditions of interpersonal distance in a projective testing situation. As hypothesized, significant increases in the dependent measure, the number of thematic responses, were found for the verbal cue at both interaction…

The use of recall measures conditionalized on other performance introduces the possibility of bias due to item and/or subject selection. Several possible cases are considered. (Editor)

Unlike previous studies, the present experiments simultaneously differentiated the stimulus events along more than one (binary) dimension. (Authors)