Beneficial Assessment Outcomes from Frequent Testing

When faced with deadlines, people tend to procrastinate. Students do this by delaying study time until examinations are so close the only option left is cramming. This procrastination scallop is a well-established behavioral phenomenon in both human and infrahuman species. Distributed practice also has been demonstrated to be superior to massed practice in the cognitive literature. Frequent testing provides opportunities for distributed practice and rehearsals that fill the gap between acquisition and the big test, creating its own mini-scallops. In sections of Introductory Psychology, Research Design, and Learning and Behavior courses, standard pre-post testing was conducted at the start and end of the semester over many years. No weekly quizzes were required in one course for a few semesters,in contrast to the remaining courses. Mean assessment gains were substantially bigger with than without weekly quizzes and the difference was statistically significant. The results indicate beneficial assessment gains in learning from frequent quizzes and suggest potential alternative strategies for faculty to implement low-cost effective instructional practices that students may benefit from

Place of behavior analysis in the changing culture of replication and statistical reporting in psychological science

The “new” psychological science seeks to promote a culture of replication in response to rampant publication bias and some controversial failures to replicate. Two of the solutions adopted are the emphases on the New Statistics by Psychological Science and the growing use of replication repositories. Where does behavior analytic research fit in this effort? Although experimental and applied research methods in behavior analysis naturally are replication focused and replication friendly, trending growth in group designs in different areas of behavior analytic research suggests that we should be sharing the concerns in the broader psychological science community. What measures, if any, are behavior analytic journals taking or should be taking to address these concerns? Not all of the solutions under consideration in the “new” psychological science are amenable to behavior analytic research. How do we proceed? Recommendations include formulating editorial policies in behavior analytic journals and organizational programming collaborations, for example, between Association for Behavior Analysis International and the Association for Psychological Science

The shaping of a saint-president: Latent clues from Nelson Mandela\u27s autobiography

Nelson Mandela\u27s Long Walk to Freedom provides evidence organized in the form of antecedent-behavior-consequence units, which suggest that a shaping process effected during his many years of incarceration best describes the origins of the outcome represented by the political order in South Africa following his release. The analysis shows that Mandela\u27s radicalism at the start of his imprisonment on Robben Island changed into a saintly presidential aura in the end, through a systematic selection process that actively involved Mandela himself and his political aspirations. The saintly qualities ascribed to Mandela after his release by many around the world are consistent with Skinner\u27s (1971) views on autonomous man

A snapshot look at replication and statistical reporting practices in psychology journals

Current efforts started in 2012 by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) appear to be different from previous arguments against null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST), which remained largely rhetorical without specific actions for compliance by researchers in psychology. The APS advocacy involves specific promising implementation tactics. The present study examined the impact of those efforts on replication and statistical reporting practices in four psychology journals from 2011 and 2015. The results showed that amidst increased reporting of NHST statistics in 2015 compared to 2011 and an absence of power reporting in the behavioral journals, there was increased reporting of actual replications in Psychological Science, paradoxically surpassing Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, of CIs in all four journals, and of error bars on graphs in Cognition and Behavioural Processes. These trends suggest need for additional efforts at propagating the APS initiatives to ensure greater impact in the broader psychological community. Additionally, psychologists from all domains need to become advocates of best practices for sustainable impact

Effects of CARO on Stimulus Equivalence: A Systematic Replication

n two experiments, we examined the disruptive effects of a can\u27t answer response option (CARO) on equivalence formation. The first experiment was a systematic replication of Duarte, Eikeseth, Rosales- Ruiz, and Baer (1998), in which participants in a CARO group and a No- CARO group performed conditional discrimination tasks with stimuli using a paper- and- pencil format for training and testing of equivalence relations. The presence of the CARO led to the nonemergence of equivalence classes. In the second experiment, participants performed conditional discrimination tasks using standard matching- to- sample training and testing procedures on a computer with CARO available only during testing. Equivalence yields were also low, with participants using CARO more on transitive and equivalence trials than on symmetry trials. The results support previous reports of equivalence disruption by nonresponse options such as CARO and suggest directions for further research

Test order effects in simultaneous protocols

Simultaneous protocols typically yield poorer stimulus equivalence outcomes than do other protocols commonly used in equivalence research. Two independent groups of three 3-member equivalence sets of stimuli were used in conditional discrimination procedures in two conditions, one using the standard simultaneous protocol and the other using a hybrid simultaneous training and simple-to-complex testing. Participants completed the two conditions in one long session in Experiment 1, but in separate sessions in Experiment 2. The same stimulus sets used in Experiment 1 were randomized for the two conditions in Experiment 2. Overall, accuracy was better with the hybrid than with the standard protocol in both experiments. The equivalence yield was also better under the hybrid than under the standard protocol in each experiment. The results suggest that the order of testing for emergent relations may account for the difficulty often encountered with the standard simultaneous protocol

Acute Effects of Cocaine on Spontaneous and Discriminative Motor Functions: Relation to Route of Administration and Pharmacokinetics

Rats administered cocaine i.p. and p.o. (7.5-30 mg/kg) showed dose-related increases in locomotor (LM) and small-movement activities, with LM rates decreasing over the 2-hr session, except at the largest i.p. dose, for which rates were greater in the 2nd hr. Lidocaine p.o. (15-30 mg/kg) did not increase activity. Relating the area under the curve measures for serum cocaine (concentration-time) and LM activity (LM activity-time) for 2 hr postadministration indicated that cocaine was about twice as potent i.p., compared to p.o., in increasing LM activity. Cocaine (i.p. and p.o.) produced dose-related decrements in both discriminative motor control performance and in task work rate, whereas lidocaine p.o. did not. The motor control decrements produced by cocaine were approximately comparable by i.p. and p.o. routes, whereas effects on LM rates were much greater by i.p. than by p.o. administration. The effects of cocaine by both routes on LM rates were proportionally much greater than its effect on motor control performance. Changes in LM rates and motor control performance over the postadministration period were related to the pharmacokinetic features (maximum serum concentration, time to maximum serum concentration and elimination half-life) of cocaine observed for the routes explored (i.p., p.o. and s.c.). Tail-tip serum samples, although yielding conservative estimates of cocaine concentration, correlated well with trunk serum and brain cocaine levels

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Alternative food in economic context: An analysis of the open to closed economy continuum.

Three pigeons served respectively in three experiments in which the effects of within-session alternative food combined conjointly or concurrently with variable-interval or fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement in defining the economic continuum were examined. In Experiment 1, the frequency of alternative food was varied in an otherwise closed economy. As the frequency of the alternative food decreased, the rate of responding declined. In Experiments 2 and 3 alternative foods were combined, respectively, with variable-interval and fixed-ratio schedules, in open and closed economies. Generally, response rates were higher in the open than in the closed economies (an economic effect), although the alternative food delivery reduced the rates of responding (a schedule effect). Response patterning was unique under the different economic contexts in each experiment, showing bouts of responding and pausing in closed economies with variable-interval alternatives, low, consistent responding in open and closed economies with variable-time alternatives, and single periods of responding in open economies with variable-interval alternatives. The results illustrate the complexity of the interaction of economic and schedule variables in defining the economic continuum, and suggest an important role for within-session alternative food