One-hundred and sixty families of retarded children were randomly assigned to four training conditions in behavior modification (telephone consultations, training groups, training groups plus home visits, and instructional manuals). (Author/CL)

Three children with reading difficulties increased their reading skill through a contingency program involving "happy face" charts and the opportunity to contribute to a class mural. (CL)

Seven techniques for measuring information processing in infants are proposed to aid in the early identification of mental retardation. The techniques are based on conditioning, attentional, and manual exploration paradigms and could be combined into an assessment battery more valid than current infant IQ tests in predicting later disability.…

Discusses how operant conditioning has not brought instructional designers any closer to using feedback effectively in computer assisted instruction they design, defines and describes types of feedback, presents guidelines for effective feedback use, and suggests use of templates to bring instructional design to a sophisticated level of…

Four developmentally disabled children (ages 3-5) identified as noncompliant received a standard set of adult requests under three conditions: no reinforcement, noncontingent reinforcement, and reinforcement contingent on compliance. Among results was that the contingent reinforcement procedure produced covariation in all subjects' compliance and…

Describes an inexpensive program using invertebrates as subjects in conditioning demonstrations and experiments. Provides a bibliography of reviews about invertebrate learning in addition to information on obtaining required apparatus and invertebrates.

Two adolescents with severe disabilities were successfully taught pictorial communication skills using an interrupted behavior sequence strategy. The independent variable involved insertion of a typical operant instructional trial for teaching communication skills into the midst of ongoing predictable sequences of behaviors, rather than at the…

An easy-to-implement method for demonstrating classical conditioning in an introductory psychology course is described. (RM)

Results indicate that subjects first observing apparatus operation by electromechanical means performed task better than those who had not, and that there is no significant difference between performance of subjects who had observed demonstration by electromechanical device and those who had observed a human model. Applicability of findings…

Four experiments examined the possibility that the outcome of simultaneous and backward fear conditioning procedures might depend upon the number of conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairings. (Editor/RK)

The basis of modern learning theory is questioned in view of Popper's philosophy and the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. (Editor)

A laboratory study analyzed differences in media violence when consequences of that violence to the victim are shown and not shown. (Author)

Reading comprehension, indicated by motor behavior and multiple-choice picture selection called for in written instructions, was taught to an autistic child (12 years old). (Author/PT)