To test the theory that retardates are particularly slow in forming some visual habits, especially attention, a series of experiments were performed using a laboratory device which forced subjects to discriminate between color and form in exchange for an incentive reward. Stochastic models were applied to tests of lower level retardates which…

A delayed judgment test of speech-sound discrimination was correlated with measures of articulation status and articulation improvement with training in two groups of subjects (8 and 9-years-old), an /r/ group and an /s/ group. (Author/IM)

In this study, hypothesis probe techniques were used to provide trial-to-trial monitoring of second and third grade children's use of feedback. (SB)

Videotapes were made of the prehensile activity and looking behavior of 2- and 5-month-old infants in the presence of objects placed within and beyond possible contact distance. (BRT)

Kindergarten children were given simultaneous discrimination tasks with two irrelevant dimensions varying within settings. Prior to each block of feedback trials, the children were asked to provide a statement of the solution. The trial block on which the correct relevant dimension was first verbalized was found to be predictive of discrimination…

Response and reinforcement features of operant discrimination paradigms used in audiometric assessment were investigated with normal 17-month-old children. Findings indicated more responses prior to onset of habituation when response tasks involved complex central processing skills and a twofold increase in number of subject responses when…

Introduces teachers to potential benefits of using conceptual analysis as an alternative didactic strategy. Outlines the framework and techniques, reviews relevant literature, and demonstrates several methods for developing cases. Concludes that conceptual analysis is a valuable technique for improving students' empirical thinking and work.…

Three autistic boys (ages 9-13) were trained to select a card containing a stimulus array comprised of three visual cues. Decreased distance between cues resulted in responses to more cues, increased distance to fewer cues. Distances did not affect the responding of children matched for mental and chronological age. (Author/JW)

The effect of level of stereotypy on learning a discrimination was examined using a factorial design with high and low levels of stereotypy and three levels of IQ with 30 institutionalized retarded persons. Results indicated the effects of stereotypy were different across the IQ levels. (Author/DB)

Describes a study which used a discrimination-learning procedure to compare the ability of language-disordered and normal children to modify hypotheses. In a series of two-dimensional learning set and orthogonal problems, all children reached learning set criteria quickly; on orthogonal problems, language-disordered children performed…

Four experiments assessed converging aspects of four-month-old infants' perceptions of visual patterns. Results together corroborate and extend previous findings that vertical symmetry has a special status in early perceptual development and that infants can perceive pattern wholes. (Author/AS)

Twelve moderately retarded adults served as subjects in testing the hypothesis that colored drawings would be more effective in teaching the identification of common kitchen utensils. The study demonstrated that such adults performed better in discrimination tasks with color coding as an aid to developing such living skills as food preparation.…

Compared two teaching strategies, delayed-prompting and fading, for teaching the most easily confused letters and numbers to preschoolers (N=39). The results indicated that children who received discrimination training using delayed prompting made fewer errors on the posttests for the letters and numbers mastered than did children taught via…

An institutionalized, retarded, adult male's response to verbal commands was increased through the use of positive control of a discriminative stimulus. Operant conditioning was noted as a possible means of enabling retarded individuals to acquire behaviors fundamental to a self-help repetoire. (Editor)