Concurrent Schedule Performance with Young Infants

35 leaves. Advisor: Larry A. Alferink.The problem: In operant research on infant conditioning, extinction sessions often are conducted in demonstrating schedule control over the response. However, extinction sessions are often accompanied by disruptive behaviors which terminate experimental sessions. Concurrent reinforcement schedules provide a methodology for demonstrating schedule control over the response without relying on extinction sessions. The purpose of this study is to determine whether infant responding can be acquired, maintained, and systematically controlled by concurrent reinforcement schedule contingencies. Procedure. During daily sessions, three young infants were exposed to several concurrent variable-interval schedules. A mobile rotation, contingent on a foot kick, was occasionally available on each schedule component. Head turns served as the changeover response. Relative time allocation was assessed as was matching between the logarithm of time (and response) ratios and log-reinforcement ratios. Findings. Without relying on extinction sessions, schedule control was demonstrated for all infants. The proportion of time spent in a given schedule component systematically varied as the programmed availability of contingent mobile movement was varied. By tending to allocate responses and time equally between the two schedule components, irrespective of programmed reinforcement, all infants undermatched and showed a positive bias for the richer schedule component. Conclusion. Concurrent reinforcement schedules provide a methodology for demonstrating systematic control over infant responding. Although the matching relationship seems to generalize to young infants, the variables which are the source of undermatching and bias have not been identified. Recommendations. To gain better experimental control over infant responding, the sources of bias and undermatching must be identified. For example, future research could determine whether bias results from using qualitatively different reinforcers, or whether better matching results from incorporating a changeover delay

The Highest Local Density of Reinforcement Controls Overall Post-Reinforcement Pause Duration on Ratio Schedules

A series of experiments were conducted with pigeons to investigate the variables responsible for differential postreinforcement pause (PRP) durations found on ratio schedules. In Experiment I, behavior on fixed-ratio (FR) and variable-ratio (VR) schedules were compared to behavior evoked by two interpolated schedules. The addition of a single FR 1 component to the FR 50 baseline schedule reduced the overall PRP to a duration comparable to that found on the VR 50 schedule. The addition of both an FR 1 and an FR 215 component to an FR 50 baseline reduced PRP and IRT durations below those on a VR 50 schedule. Experiments II and III were designed to isolate the conditions under which the smallest ratio component exerts predominant control over PRP duration. The results of Experiment II demonstrated that a local increase in reinforcement density was a necessary, but not sufficient condition for reducing median PRP duration. That is, exposure to a response-independnt increase in reinforcement density attenuated, but did not eliminate the reduction in median PRP duration associated with the interpolated FR 1 component. The results of Experiment III demonstrated that neither random session location of the FR 1 component nor unsignaled presentation of the FR 1 component were necessary conditions for reducing the duration of the PRP. That is, a brief, response-dependent increase in reinforcement density was a sufficient condition for reducing PRP duration given a subject free from historical exposure to response-independent reinforcement. It was concluded that the difference in PRP duration produced by two, comparably-sized, fixed- and variable-ratio schedules is a function of the size of the smallest ratio component present in the reinforcement schedule. More generally, the highest local density of reinforcement controls the overall duration of the PRP on a response-dependent, ratio schedule

The Effects of Reinforcement Magnitude and Temporal Contingencies on Pre-Ratio Pause Duration

The present study was conducted to determine whether conjugate magnitude and temporal contingencies were effective in increasing the pre-ratio pause (PRP) duration and to determine the controlling variables that govern such contingencies. It has been reported in the literature that magnitude of reinforcement, if presented contingently, is effective in controlling performance and that inserting intervals of blackout (BO), during which responding does not lead to reinforcement, virtually always leads to control of responding, even though it has not been presented contingently. The conjugate schedules experimentally arranged reinforcement such that the longer the PRP, the longer was the duration of access to reinforcement and/or the shorter was the BO, located either after reinforcement or after the response. The results of this study demonstrated that the major independent variable which controlled mean PRP duration on the various conjugate reinforcement schedules studied was the delay between the response and reinforcement. The duration of the PRP was not reliably controlled by a contingency which equated PRP duration with reinforcement duration, nor by a contingency which, through imposition of a delay to trial onset, held the local delay to reinforcement constant. Additionally, cycle-to-cycle variation in reinforcement magnitude, whether presented contingently or noncontingently on PRP duration, had no reliable effect on PRP duration when compared to FR 1. The primary effect of variation in the duration of reinforcement was to reduce the variability, not the duration, of the PRP. The results of the study are briefly discussed in terms of a number of theories. These include: the maximization account (Logan, 1960); the matching law (Herrnstein, 1970); Harzem and Harzem\u27s (1981) theory describing the unconditioned inhibitory stimulus function of reinforcement; behavioral contrast (Reynolds, 1961); and Dews\u27 (1981) account of the importance of a response-reinforcer contiguity relation

Course Transformation: Measuring Improvements in Student Learning

Presentation on the outcomes and assessment measures for Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) program on student academic performance at the International Society of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSoTL) Conference. Proves a agriculture economics example for the course transformation decisions

Instructor Perceptions of Teaching in a New Active Learning Building

This study analyzes instructor attitudes toward 26 collaborative spaces at a large, R1 university in the United States. The authors conducted 151 interviews with instructors, identifying elements of classroom spaces that helped or hindered teaching and student learning. Approximately 44% of the instructors (n=67) had participated in a professional development program designed to encourage and enhance student collaboration and active learning in courses. A comparison between that group and all other instructors (n=84) showed instructors who had participated in the development program stated fewer hindrances to their teaching

Information Literacy Supporting Student Motivation and Performance: Course-level Analyses

This study examines the effects of information literacy (IL) on student learning and motivation in university courses. We investigated student course-level learning gains and student perceptions of their learning environments by examining data from over 3,000 students in 102 course sections across seven colleges. Results provide evidence of the following: 1) students who synthesize information and communicate the results tend to perceive higher levels of motivation than students who do so less often; 2) there is a significant positive relationship between synthesizing information and communicating the results and course level learning gains. Our results point to the efficacy of IL being integrated into learning disciplinary course content, as well as the benefit of prioritizing high-order IL activities, such as synthesizing information, over other the aspects of IL, such as searching or formatting citations

Instructor Perception of Incorporating Active Learning in College of Agriculture Classrooms

Significant numbers of studies declare the effectiveness of “active learning” and numerous universities develop programs to support the incorporation of active learning methods, yet despite various incentives, adoption is met with resistance. This work shares the results of a study of instructor perceptions about active learning at a large research university in the United States. Instructor motivation, perceptions of competence and autonomy (related to colleagues and administrators), experience in training programs, as well as actual practices were explored with regard to active learning. Drawing on self-determination theory, this exploratory study will help universities in developing strategies for increasing the adoption of evidence-based teaching practices. Our results suggest that the work climate related to colleagues, gender, and participation in a Faculty Learning Community influenced both the implementation and motivation to implement active learning in the classroom.

Cultivating Motivation: The importance of autonomy, competence & relatedness for instruction involving digital archives and objects

What motivates students to learn? More specifically, how can instruction involving primary sources, digital archives, or museum collections become more engaging and meaningful for students? Purdue librarians and instructional developers have found success in addressing issues of motivation by focusing on three aspects of Self-Determination Theory (SDT): autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Autonomy is defined as feelings of volition and choice, students’ ownership of their own learning processes, and endorsement of behaviors requested by an instructor. Competence refers to the degree to which students believe they can perform academically, and relatedness is concerned with student perceptions of feeling connected to other students, the instructor, and the course content. Student perceptions of these three interdependent psychological needs play an important role in fostering or impeding motivation, engagement, and knowledge-transfer. Incorporating principles of SDT in instruction provides specific and measurable goals for fostering student motivation across a variety of instructional contexts. Purdue Librarians gained exposure to the concepts of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the IMPACT (Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation) program. IMPACT is a program through which faculty redesign foundational courses with the goal of creating learning-centered environments. Librarians, instructional developers, and educational technologists form teams with faculty through a 13-week instructional design process. This panel will apply lessons learned about student motivation to examine how learning experiences which involve digital objects and archives can be structured in ways that motivate students and allow instructors to assess student motivation to influence learning