Pavlovian fear learning depends on predictive error, so that fear learning occurs when the actual outcome of a conditioning trial exceeds the expected outcome. Previous research has shown that opioid receptors, including [mu]-opioid receptors in the ventrolateral quadrant of the midbrain periaqueductal gray (vlPAG), mediate such predictive fear…

The neural plasticity necessary for acquisition and retention of eyeblink conditioning has been localized to the cerebellum. However, the sources of sensory input to the cerebellum that are necessary for establishing learning-related plasticity have not been identified completely. The inferior colliculus may be a source of sensory input to the…

Purchase probability as a function of interpurchase time was examined through comparison of findings from laboratory experiments on reinforcement schedules and from marketing investigations of consumers' interpurchase time. Panel data, based on a sample of 80 consumers who purchased nine supermarket food products during 16 weeks, were used. For…

Two experiments investigated baseline reviews as a relevant variable in reorganization of equivalence classes. After formation of three 4-member classes, participants learned reversals of baseline conditional discriminations and expanded the classes to 5 members each. In Experiment 1, 4 students responded on equivalence probes without baseline…

Recent stimulus-response formulations have indicated that similarity between persons functions as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and that interpersonal attraction is a classically conditioned evaluative response. The thesis of this study is that similarity is a correlate of evaluative meaning and that the latter rather than the former is…

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that interest inventory items elicit classically conditionable attitudinal responses. A higher-order conditioning procedure was used in which items from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank were employed as unconditioned stimuli and nonsense syllables as conditioned stimuli. Items for which the…

Results obtained from 27 infants ranging in age from 10 to 12 weeks indicated that infants develop expectancies regarding how stimuli occurring in particular contexts should behave based on their prior experiences with these stimuli. (Author/RH)

Two experiments examined the effects of a change in a reinforcing stimulus's color on memory for an operant response in three- to four-month-old infants. (Author/RH)

A case is made for using hypnosis as a teaching technique. (CK)

Certain materials - crayons, paints, clay - stimulate different levels of behavior. Whenever materials are relevant to the attainment of certain behavioral objectives they seem to serve as the center of the activity in terms of establishing and maintaining the desired behaviors. (CK)