Primarily a feasibility study, the research reported is based on Eysenck's hypothesis that conditionability is a unitary factor related to introversion-extroversion and attention span. Thirty infants, representing a random sampling of race, sex, and socioeconomic background, were tested on three consecutive days at ages 3 months, 5 months, 9…

Human recognition behavior is influenced by the phenomenon of shape constancy, which occurs when the shape of an object is correctly perceived regardless of the orientation of the object in space. The research reported here tests the validity of the shape-slant invariance hypothesis, a theoretical formulation of the phenomenon of shape constancy.…

This investigation attempted to clarify the effects of different classes of reinforcement on the size discrimination learning of normal and low achieving third grade middle class boys. The classes of reinforcement consisted of tangible reinforcement, person reinforcement (praise), and performance reinforcement (correctness of response). Each of…

This study investigated the effects of between-trials variability on the alternation discrimination of retardates. Brightness and size were variable between trials and irrelevant. Initial response outcome and mental age were also independent variables. Neither between-trials variability nor mental age produced a significant main effect, while the…

Naval Postgraduate School students participated in a verbal discrimination experiment using three-word items of different frequency ratios. Half of the three-word items were composed of similar words and half, dissimilar words. Based on information theory, the words were grouped into two lists, both of equal lengths and approximately equal…

Each of two experimenters taught one set of 32 prekindergarteners to discriminate four different letter combinations (R-P, Y-V, C-G, and K-X). Each set of children was randomly selected and assigned to two treatment conditions. The treatment consisted of three warm-up trials, 10 actual training trials, and four post-test trials on a…

In this study, the effects of rewards on same-different judgments of size, color, and weight were investigated. Subjects were 45 children at the kindergarten and first-grade level. The children were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) rewarded for reporting black in the identification of the colors of balls contained inside gray jars, (2)…

The information processing terms "content" and "address" are used to describe structural differences between the constructs of individual identity and identity in the equivalence sense. In both cases a sameness relation is established in spite of specific differences. The resulting constructs of identity are known to be…

This experiment examines extended learning over a 4-day period in infants exposed to responsive and unresponsive wooden mobiles. Frequency of kicks and attention to the mobile increased over the first three days and was found to vary with the introduction of a novel mobile on day four. (GO)

To clarify the roles of IQ and mental age (MA) in hypotheses behavior, MA-matched subjects at three levels of IQ and three levels of MA received blank trial discrimination learning problems using procedures designed to discourage position-oriented responding. (Author/BD)

Five preschool children at risk for mental retardation were taught to choose an odd stimulus which varied in one important dimension (e.g., form, color, or size) from other stimuli in a set. Oddity responding was shown to transfer across stimulus types, and learning was maintained for a minimum of six weeks. (Author/JW)

Because disabled learners may profit from procedures using gradual stimulus change, this study utilized a microcomputer to investigate the effectiveness of stimulus equalization, an error reduction procedure involving an abrupt but temporary reduction of dimensional complexity. The procedure was found to be generally effective and implications for…

Efficiency of three discrimination training procedures was compared for 21 mentally handicapped children. Results showed that two programmed techniques (graded stimulus and prompt fading) did not differ significantly, but both were significantly superior to trial-and-error learning. (Author/CL)

Examines whether age-related differences would be observed between young children and adults for discrimination of synthesized, five-format consonant-vowel syllables that differed in voicing onset time of the initial consonants. (HOD)