The effect of mindfulness on extinction and behavioral resurgence

In the present experiments, we investigated the effects of mindfulness on behavioral extinction and resurgence. Participants received instrumental training; either they received FI training (Experiment 1), or they were trained to emit high rates and low rates of response via exposure to a multiple VR yoked-VI schedule prior to exposure to a multiple FI FI schedule in order to alter their rates of responding learned during Experiment 2. Participants were then exposed to either a focused- (mindfulness) or an unfocused-attention induction task. All participants were finally exposed to an extinction schedule in order to determine whether a mindfulness induction task presented immediately prior to extinction training affected extinction (Experiment 1) and behavioral resurgence (Experiment 2). During the extinction phase, the rates of responding were higher in the control group than in the mindfulness group, indicating that the mindfulness group was more sensitive to the contingencies and, thus, their prior performance extinguished more readily (Experiment 1). Moreover, rates of response in the extinction components less precisely reflected previous training in the mindfulness group, suggesting less resurgence of past behaviors after the mindfulness induction (Experiment 2).     

A study of urban middle school students with high and low attitudes toward science

Scientific literacy is essential to survive in this technological world, but it appears that scientific literacy is not of high priority for many students. This research project was undertaken to gather demographic data, intentions to engage in science, and attitudes of urban, middle school students. Scores on the Simpson-Troost Attitude Instrument were analyzed using the Statistical Analysis System. Results indicate less than 50% of the students come from high-school-graduated parents who work full-time to support the family. Less than 50% of these students indicate any interest to engage in science at the high school level, yet many plan to enter a science-related career. A majority of the students possess an uncertain attitude toward their science teachers and science curricula. However, all possessed high achievement motivations, strong positive attitudes toward their families, and high self-concepts.     

Schoolmaster's Empire: Race,Conquest, and the Centralization of Common Schooling in California, 1848–1879

This article explores how education reformers in California pioneered forms of centralized educational governance between 1850 and 1879. Challenging previous scholarship that has attributed the success of this early educational state to reformer John Swett and New England migrants, this article situates the creation of common schools in California within the larger context of American state‐building in the nineteenth‐century West. While increased state authority over education was a goal for reformers across the nation, this article contends that California's early innovations in centralization reflected a regionally specific response to the dilemmas of governing a recently acquired territory distant from eastern centers of power. The precarious nature of elite attempts to convert California into an American place, reflected in perceived lawlessness, weak governmental authority, and racial anxiety, inspired forms of educational organization commonly associated with Progressive Era responses to industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. The desire to promote nineteenth‐century American racial and governmental order in California, this article concludes, powerfully shaped the growth of public education in the state, influencing the organization of schooling in ways that suggest the importance of looking beyond the Northeast to understand the development of public education in the United States.     

The influence of brief stimuli uncorrelated with reinforcement on choice between variable-ratio schedules

Experiment 1 investigated the behavior of rats trained to leverpress on a concurrent variable ratio (VR) 30 VR-30 schedule with a brief, 500-msec, light occurring at the midpoint of the ratio on one of the levers. Higher response rates were recorded on the lever associated with this stimulus, a finding that paralleled the effect produced by inserting primary reinforcement at the midpoint (i.e., by training on a concurrent VR-30 VR-15 schedule). Similar results were found in Experiment 2 using a concurrent VR-20 VR-20 schedule with a 2-sec visual stimulus presented midway through one of the components. In addition, a brief stimulus inserted midway through the VR-20 component of a concurrent VR-20 VR-10 schedule retarded the development of a difference in response rates between the components relative to a VR-20 VR-10 group lacking the signal. In Experiment 3, multiple VR VR schedules were used. Again, the response rate was higher in the component that had the added stimulus or, for a second group of subjects, on the component with the smaller response requirement. Probe-choice trials revealed a preference for the component that generated the higher rate in both groups. Presenting a stimulus partway through a ratio appears to reduce the effect on response rate and choice of a large ratio value.     

Different Tales: The Role of Gender in the Oral Narrative–Reading Link Among African American Children

Evidence suggests that oral narrative skills are a linguistic strength for African American children, yet few studies have examined how these skills are associated with reading for African American boys and girls. The current study uses longitudinal data of a sample of 72 African American 4‐year‐olds to examine how preschool oral narrative skills predict reading from first through sixth grades and explores differences by gender. Findings indicate that although girls demonstrated stronger narrative skills, their narrative skills did not moderate change in reading. For boys, narrative skills moderated change in reading over time such that as preschool narrative skills increased, their reading scores showed greater change over time. Educational implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The influence of` preseason training phase and training load on body composition and its relationship with physical qualities in professional junior rugby league players

ABSTRACT

This study investigated changes in body composition in relation to training load determined using RPE and duration (sRPE), and its relationship with physical qualities over a preseason period. Sixteen professional academy players (age = 17.2 ± 0.7 years; stature = 179.9 ± 4.9 cm; body mass = 88.5 ± 10.1 kg) participated in the study. Body composition was assessed before and after each training phase and physical qualities assessed at the start and end of preseason. Across the whole preseason period, skinfold thickness, body fat percentage and fat mass were most likely lower (ES = ?0.73 to ?1.00), and fat free mass and lean mass were likely to most likely higher (ES = 0.31 to 0.40). Results indicated that the magnitude of change appeared phase-dependent (ES = ?0.05 to ?0.85) and demonstrated large individual variability. Changes in physical qualities ranged from unclear to most likely (ES = ?0.50 to 0.64). Small to moderate correlations were observed between changes in body composition, and TL with changes in physical qualities. This study suggests training phase and TL can influence a player’s body composition; that large inter-participant variability exists; and that body composition and TL are related to the change in physical qualities.