The philosophies underlying the learning and structural theories used in psychology are described in this article. It is argued that a dialectical view provides some ways to breach the chasm between learning theory and the study of human development. (Author/DB)

Results of this study indicate that sample group of unskilled laborers were more productive working under a schedule of continuous reinforcement than under a varied schedule, despite higher average earnings during the latter program. (RW)

Investigates factors that have effects on conditioning. Tests nine mice with three types of reinforcement: (1) primary-need positive reinforcement; (2) secondary-need positive reinforcement; and (3) secondary-need negative reinforcement. Measures the effectiveness of the reinforcements by both rate of response and response strength. Discusses the…

Literature is reviewed documenting the relationship between implementation of communication intervention and decreases in excess behavior in persons with severe disabilities. Operant conditioning and pragmatics are discussed in terms of their joint application to excess behavior, and a list of possible pragmatic intents of excess behavior is…

Four young adults with moderate mental retardation were taught to include "please" as part of requests, and four environmental stimuli present during training were assessed. Results indicated that presence of a single stimulus or pair of stimuli increased the probability of the "please" response, whereas presence of other…

This study evaluated use of the interpolation of reinforcement effect, which combines intermittent (INT) and continuous reinforcement (CRF) schedules, with four young children with autism using a free-operant preparation. Results suggest that responding may be less resistant to extinction following interpolated CRF reinforcement than following INT…

Sensitivity to reinforcement contingencies was examined in six individuals with mental retardation using a concurrent operants procedure in the context of a computer game. Results included individual differences in sensitivity and differential sensitivity to rate and magnitude variation. Results suggest that comprehensive assessments of potential…

The origins of many of the basic concepts used in the experimental analysis of behavior can be traced to Pavlov's (1927/1960) discussion of unconditional and conditional reflexes in the dog, but often with substantial changes in meaning (e.g., stimulus, response, and reinforcement). Other terms were added by Skinner (1938/1991) to describe his…

Effects of prior exposure to the experimental chamber with levers present or absent and variable-time (VT) 60-s water deliveries arranged during one, five, or no 1-hr sessions were examined in rats during a 6-hr response-acquisition session in which presses on one lever produced water delivery immediately or after a 15-s resetting delay, and…

Mand functions for two stimuli (A1 and A2) were trained for 3 children with autism and were then incorporated into two related conditional discriminations (A1-B1/A2 -B2 and B1-C1/B2-C2). Tests were conducted to probe for a derived transfer of mand response functions from Al and A2 to C1 and C2, respectively. When 1 participant failed to…

This project examined whether a history of reinforced relational responding would result in derived requesting skills in 3 adults with disabilities. Participants were first taught to request preferred items using pictures; they were then taught conditional discriminations between pictures and their dictated names and between dictated names and…

Joint attention, a synchronizing of the attention of two or more persons, has been an increasing focus of research in cognitive developmental psychology. Research in this area has progressed mainly outside of behavior analysis, and behavior-analytic research and theory has tended to ignore the work on joint attention. It is argued here, on the one…

Operant and classical conditioning are major processes shaping behavioral responses in all animals. Although the understanding of the mechanisms of classical conditioning has expanded significantly, the understanding of the mechanisms of operant conditioning is more limited. Recent developments in "Aplysia" are helping to narrow the gap in the…

A series of experiments introduced interruptions to the execution phase of simple Tower of London problems and found that the opportunity for preparation before the break in task reduced the time cost at resumption. Retrieval of the suspended goal was facilitated when participants were given the opportunity to encode retrieval cues during an…

AN ELECTRONIC SYSTEM OF SMALL TRANSCEIVER UNITS, PACKAGED IN A BELT WORN BY STUDENTS IN CLASS, WAS DESIGNED TO TRANSMIT LIGHT SIGNALS AND VIBRA-TACTILE CODED MESSAGES BETWEEN STUDENTS AND A COUNSELOR AT A CLINIC SCHOOL. FOUR MALE ADOLESCENTS SELECTED FOR LOW MOTIVATION, AGGRESSIVE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR, AND HIGH PEER-GROUP RATING REPORTED THEIR TIME…