Reinstatement of postresponse stimuli prior to reward in delayed-reward discrimination learning by pigeons

Delayed-reward learning in pigeons was examined using a simultaneous red-green visual discrimination task in which the conditions during the delay interval were varied between groups. The nondifferential group received training in which the stimulus present during the 1-min delay was the same following a peck on the correct and incorrect colors. The other three groups received 1-min delay training in which different stimuli occurred in the delay interval following correct and incorrect choices. The differential group received continuous, differential stimuli during the delay. The reinstatement group received the differential stimuli in the 10 sec immediately following the choice and during the last 10 sec of the delay. The reversedcue group was treated in the same way, except that the 10-sec delay stimulus immediately following an incorrect response was also presented for 10 sec prior to reward on correct choices, and the stimulus following a correct response also occurred 10 sec before nonreward on incorrect choices. Nondifferential birds failed to learn the discrimination, while differential and reinstatement birds learned it readily. The reversed-cue birds learned to choose the incorrect stimulus. Differential and reinstatement birds showed no decrement in performance when the delay was increased to 2 min. These findings suggest that similarity of prereward and postresponse delay stimuli controls choice responding in long-delay learning, a finding compatible with both memorial and conditioned reinforcement interpretations.     

Enhancement of pigeons’ conditional discrimination performance by expectancies of reinforcement and nonreinforcement

Prior work has shown that when the separate correct responses of a conditional discrimination are followed by different reinforcing outcomes, performance is enhanced relative to that obtained under the conventional, single-reinforcer procedure. Four experiments with pigeons yielded the analogous finding when the different outcomes were reinforcement and explicit nonreinforcement. Controls indicated that the results could not be attributed to the effects of intermittent reinforcement, to possible differences in cue duration, or to a variety of potential sources of conditioned reinforcement. An interpretation in terms of expectancy learning is proposed.     

Choice of Academic Major at a Public Research University: The Role of Gender and Self-Efficacy

Females are underrepresented in certain disciplines, which translates into their having less promising career outlooks and lower earnings. This study examines the effects of socio-economic status, academic performance, high school curriculum and involvement in extra-curricular activities, as well as self-efficacy for academic achievement on choices of academic disciplines by males and females. Disciplines are classified based on Holland’s theory of personality-based career development. Different models for categorical outcome variables are compared including: multinomial logit, nested logit, and mixed logit. Based on the findings presented here, first generation status leads to a greater likelihood of choosing engineering careers for males but not for females. Financial difficulties have a greater effect on selecting scientific fields than engineering fields by females. The opposite is true for males. Passing grades in calculus, quantitative test scores, and years of mathematics in high school as well as self-ratings of abilities to analyze quantitative problems and to use computing are positively associated with choice of engineering fields.     

Characteristics of SAT Quantitative Items Showing Improvement After Coaching Among Black Students From Low-Income Families: An Exploratory Study

The present exploratory investigation is an extension of a 1985 study that evaluated a Scholastic Aptitude Test preparation program involving black urban students. The present study was conducted to determine if there are identifiable characteristics of quantitative items associated with a susceptibility to coaching. Items showing p-value improvements of. 10 after coaching were compared with items not showing such improvements; comparisons were made in terms of the content, type. format, level of cognitive requirement, and position of the items. Items showing improvement were found across content areas, formats, and type. Findings are discussed in relation to the usefulness and improvement of well-designed supplemental instructional programs that have the potential to affect criterion performance in mathematics     

‘That's how it works here’: The place of religion in publicly managed second-level schools in Ireland

This article problematises the place of religion within publicly managed Education and Training Board (ETB) schools in the Republic of Ireland. The study draws on interview data from 43 school personnel across 18 ETB second-level schools, as well as eight interviews with ETB Education/Chief Executive Officers. Having established the legal and historical contexts, the place of religion is explored from the perspective of school life and prescribed curriculum. Across the 18 schools, the prescribed curriculum for Religious Education did not take the form of ‘faith formation’. Rather, focus was placed on exploring all world religions. However, this compares with the role of religion within the life of the school; 14 of the 18 participating schools had religious dimensions as part of school life. Half of these schools (n = 7) were Designated Community Colleges, while the remainder were Non-Designated (n = 7). The religious dimension was always Catholic in nature. Bar a few exceptions, the role of religion within the life of the school remained largely unquestioned by school personnel. The article explores the findings in light of the legislative and historical contexts.     

Motorische Leistungsfähigkeit von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland

Motor performance is an important health resource. Review articles revealed a decline of motor performance of approximately 10?% between 1975 and 2006. In the past most of the data available for such comparisons came from ad hoc studies with non-standardized methods. Within the framework of the ”Motorik-Modul“ (MoMo) study as part of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), it is possible for the first time to directly compare two cohorts in the ages of 4–17 years in a nationally representative database for Germany. The aim of this article is to report changes in motor performance of children and adolescents in the time period 2003–2006 (cohort baseline n = 4528) compared to 2009–2012 (cohort wave 1, n = 2820). Overall, it is clearly shown that the motor performance of children and adolescents in Germany did not decrease within the observational period of 6 years. The comparison of mean values of the baseline cohort compared to those of wave 1 showed that 28 out of 52 mean values of the two cohorts with a high probability did not differ based on 95?% confidence intervals (CI). In 24 out of the 52 mean values positive changes could be noted based on the individual 95?% CI values. There were more positive changes in primary school aged children than in other age groups. Within these positive changes, most effect sizes were small to medium. The results indicate that recent activities aiming at elevating motor performance levels may have started to make an impact and should be expanded, also in secondary schools. The comparative cohort study presented in this article is currently being checked by the ongoing MoMo wave 2 survey of 2014–2017.     

Readers' tellings: Narrators,settings, flashbacks and comprehension

This research explores the impact of flashbacks and changes in settings and narrators on reader comprehension. Individually, 34 fourth graders (9 and 10 years of age), mostly with above average reading abilities (5.0), orally read the first chapter of a novel. Both publisher and readability formulae estimated the text to be at a fourth‐ grade level. A content analysis of the text indicated no ideas that would have been new or difficult for the students to comprehend. However, across the five story episodes, there was a change in time, place and narrator in the beginning of each new episode. Following the oral reading, retellings were elicited from the students, followed by researcher probes. All readings and retellings were audiotaped. Oral readings were analysed using miscue analysis and retelling ideas were matched, when possible, with ideas in the text. An examination of the miscues indicated that the vast majority of miscues did not change the meanings intended by the author. That is, processing behaviours reflected an understanding of the text. However, there were considerable gaps within the retellings, whether measured on the clause, event or story grammar element level. The constant change in time, place and narrator appeared significantly to impact the reading comprehension abilities of the students. The use of retellings for instructional and future research purposes is recommended.     

Mathematical thinking in second-grade children with different forms of LD

Based on their performance on a standardized achievement test, second-grade children (N = 49) were classified as having mathematics difficulties with normal reading achievement (MD only), both mathematics and reading difficulties (MD/RD), reading difficulties with normal mathematics achievement (RD only) and normal mathematics and reading achievement (NA). Each child was given a series of tasks so that we might assess their thinking across four areas of mathematics: number facts, story problems, place value, and written calculation. Children with MD/RD performed significantly worse than NA children in most areas of mathematical thinking, whereas children with MD only performed worse than NA children only on complex story problems. The MD-only group outperformed the MD/RD group on story problems and written calculation. No significant differences were found between the RD-only and NA groups on any of the tasks. The results suggested that among children with mathematics difficulties, the MD/RD subgroup is distinct from the MD-only subgroup, with the former being characterized by pervasive deficiencies in mathematical thinking and the latter by more specific deficits in problem solving.     

An integrated and open-ended experiment

In this article we discuss an exciting experiment in non-linear dynamics. This provides an imaginative platform for bringing in chemical, physical, biological, mathematical and computational sciences together. There are implications for earth sciences as well. B M Deb is a theoretical chemist who has been designing experiments for chemistry teaching laboratories for more than thirty years. Mainak Sadhukhan, Sudarson Sekhar Sinha and Sucheta Sengupta were students of PBIR-Chemical Sciences. Ranjit Biswas is a physical chemist working on both theory and experiment in chemical dynamics.