Increasing reading persistence and altering attributional style of learned helpless children.

28 4th–6th grade learned-helpless children (as determined by the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire and Effort Versus Ability Failure Attribution Scale) assessed as reading below grade level were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments: (a) partial reinforcement with single failure lengths, (b) partial reinforcement with multiple failure lengths, (c) partial reinforcement with multiple failure lengths and indirect attribution retraining, and (d) partial reinforcement with multiple failure lengths and direct attribution retraining. Direct attribution retraining involved covert rehearsal of self-instructional statements. Results indicate significant increases in reading persistence for Ss who had received attribution retraining compared to single failure length controls. In addition, direct attribution retraining was significantly more effective than no attribution retraining in increasing Ss' attributions to effort on the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence and the causal perception of failure: Modifying cognitive attributions.

In a 2-phase study with a total of 159 6th graders, the relation of persistence behavior to the causal perception of failure was examined. Ss were administered a battery of tests, including the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale, a modified version of the Perceptual Reasoning Test, and a circle design task. Results of Phase 1 show that temporal persistence and resistance to extinction were positively related to the attribution of failure to insufficient effort and negatively related to attributions to ability and task difficulty by both males and females. In Phase 2, the males who least frequently attributed failure to lack of effort (42 Ss) were randomly allocated to a control group or a social reinforcement group or a token plus social reinforcement attribution retraining group. At immediate and delayed posttests, experimental Ss attributed success and failure on the training task and 2 independent transfer tasks to effort significantly more than did controls. A significant increase from pretest levels on both persistence indexes paralleled the attributional change of experimental Ss. No difference was evident in the effectiveness of the 2 experimental treatments. Despite some attenuation on the transfer tasks, there was evidence of durability of training effects, and generalization of effects to an independent tester at a further 4-mo follow-up posttest. Results provide support for the attribution model of achievement motivation and provide an empirical foundation for the rationale of attribution retraining programs. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Durability and generalizability of persistence training.

40 male and 40 female college students experienced either partial reinforcement (persistence training) or continuous reinforcement on either of 2 instrumental tasks (finger shuttle or button press) as therapy for failure-induced depression and subsequently were exposed to protracted failure (extinction). Following this initial extinction phase all Ss received continuous reinforcement on a common instrumental task (button press) as therapy and then encountered extinction (consecutive failure trials) for a 2nd time. Results show that increased persistence occasioned by partial-reinforcement therapy was able to survive interpolated periods of extinction and continuous reinforcement; that is, durable persistence training effects were shown. Furthermore, persistence training effects were shown to be generalizable (the persistence advantage associated with partial-reinforcement therapy transferred across topographically different responses), but the generalization process was not a complete one. The results are discussed within the frameworks of frustration theory and alternative cognitive theories. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resistance to extinction in the goldfish (Carassius auratus).

Examined resistance to extinction of 180 goldfish in a trials-equated alley situation. A reverse partial reinforcement effect (100% vs. 57% reinforcement) was found following brief acquisition training, while a conventional partial reinforcement effect was obtained after extended acquisition training. Extended acquisition training with a partial reinforcement sequence that had N lengths of 3 (an N length is the number of consecutive nonreinforcements before at least 1 reinforced trial) produced greater resistance to extinction than training with a sequence that had N lengths of 1. After brief acquisition training Ss with the shorter N length produced greater resistance to extinction. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributional retraining on strategy-based reading comprehension in learning-disabled students.

Learning-disabled students received instructions about both summarization strategies and their personal beliefs about causality that were designed to improve reading comprehension. 75 upper elementary school students were assigned to 4 treatment groups. The main experimental condition received attributional retraining on paired-associate and sort-recall tasks (which were unrelated to the target comprehension tests), instructions on the use of a summarization strategy, attributional statements about the efficacy of the instructed strategy, and posttests by which we assessed reading skills and general attributional beliefs. Students in another experimental condition received an identical treatment package without prior attributional retraining on unrelated paired-associate and sort-recall tasks but with attributional statements embedded in the summarization strategy. Ss in one control condition received strategy training (without attributional retraining), whereas those in the other received neither strategy nor attribution instructions. Results suggested that attributional training enhanced the maintenance of the summarization strategy and selectivity facilitated generalization. Domain-specific attributional beliefs seemed to provide important orientating and perseverating characteristics that enhanced goal-directed, strategic processing in learning-impaired students. In spite of performance improvements, however, long-standing, antecedent attributional beliefs were unaltered by program-specific attributional training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribution, reinforcement, and altruism: A developmental analysis.

Conducted 3 experiments with 256 7–10 yr olds in which Ss were induced to donate some of their winnings from a game to poor children. They were then praised for their behavior (reinforcement), told they must have donated because they were helpful people (attribution), or told nothing (control). Subsequent donation, and behavior on a variety of tests of generalized altruism, was assessed. The donation of all Ss was increased both by reinforcement and attributions of prosocial behavior. Neither reinforcement nor attribution affected the generalized altruism of 5-yr-olds, only attribution affected the generalized altruism of 8-yr-olds, and both reinforcement and attribution affected the generalized altruism of 10-yr-olds. Findings are discussed in terms of the effects of reinforcement and attribution on the child's developing self-concept. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of acute trimethyltin exposure on appetitive acquisition and extinction performance in the adult rat.

16 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given an intragastric infusion of 7 mg/kg of trimethyltin chloride (TMT), and 16 additional Ss (controls) received saline, to investigate TMT's effect on Ss' appetitive acquisition and extinction performance. Ss from each condition were divided into 2 equal groups and trained with either partial or continuous reinforcement (PRF or CRF) in a straight-alley maze 21 days after dosing. The acquisition training phase contained 40 trials (4 trials/day) and was followed by 20 trials of extinction training (4 trials/day). Analyses performed on total speed revealed that TMT Ss performed at lower levels during acquisition than controls, regardless of schedule condition. Also, the rate of resistance to extinction was significantly reduced for TMT Ss compared with that of controls, regardless of the training schedules used during acquisition. A PRF extinction effect was observed for both control and TMT Ss, independent of dose regimen. PRF training occasioned greater persistence during extinction than did CRF training. Findings are discussed in terms of issues relating to TMT-induced hippocampal lesions. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extinction of persistence in a within-subject partial reinforcement experiment.

Male albino Wistar rats (N = 96) served as Ss in 2 within-S partial reinforcement experiments, designed to lessen generalization in acquisition as a means of eliminating the generalized partial reinforcement effect in extinction. When the use of a separate-phase mode of training alone proved to be unsuccessful for this purpose, a phase of extinction was interpolated between the continuously and partially reinforced acquisition phases. This manipulation was successful and Ss receiving the training sequence of partial reinforcement-extinction followed by continuous reinforcement-extinction did not show the generalized partial reinforcement effect in the final extinction phase. It is suggested that during the phase of interpolated extinction avoidance responses were counterconditioned to the stimulus complex which included nonreward. (French summary) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freedom of choice and behavioral change.

Used a 3?×?2 (Treatment?×?Population) factorial design with repeated measures (pretest/posttest) to evaluate the effects of perceived freedom of choice on behavior change in a therapy analog study. 90 Ss were assigned to 3 groups that varied in the amount of perceived choice given to Ss in determining the type of training procedure used for speed-reading enhancement. Experimental conditions were crossed with 2 populations of Ss to examine 2 levels of perceived freedom. Half of the Ss were psychology undergraduates required to participate in psychology experiments, and the remaining half were volunteers. The main dependent variable was the amount of change in reading rate. A marginally significant increase in reading speed was obtained by volunteers in comparison to psychology student participants. Ss who perceived that they were given a choice in training procedures improved significantly more in reading speed than Ss who lost the freedom of choice. No changes in reading comprehension were noted. Findings are discussed in terms of the relationship between freedom of choice and performance in a behavior change program. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metacognitive differences between skilled and less skilled readers: Remediating deficits through story grammar and attribution training.

Designed a metacognitive intervention program to remediate the failures of 42 4th-grade boys in using metacognitive skills to aid their reading comprehension. The program consisted of 2 components: story grammar training, designed to increase comprehension monitoring; and attribution training, designed to increase awareness of effort in efficient reading. Ss were assigned to 3 groups: 1 group received both components and the other 2 groups each received one component alone. 14 skilled 4th-grade male readers served as a contrast group. Maintenance was assessed through free and probed recall; generalization was assessed through a metareading test and an error detection and correction task. Results indicate that strategy training produced dramatic gains in comprehension. Only Ss receiving attribution training alone showed poorer performance than skilled readers. Partial support was obtained for generalization on the metareading assessment. It is concluded that strategy training improved poor readers' comprehension by providing them with metacognitive skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence in the absence of primary motivation in the albino rat.

Trained 24 male Holtzman rats under either partial reinforcement (PRF) or continuous reinforcement (CRF). Ss were subsequently pre-fed their daily ration in the form of reward pellets and immediately run in the same task under a CRF schedule. Results reveal that PRF-trained Ss persisted in the satiated state relative to CRF controls. These results, termed the satiation effect, present difficulties to theories of persistence which address only extinction tests. An interpretation utilizing a modification of A. Amsel's (1962) frustration hypothesis is advanced. Implications of this proposal for a general theory of persistence and the methodological advantages of the satiation technique are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of varied reward schedules on generalized persistence of rats.

Gave concurrent acquisition training to 4 groups of male albino rats (N = 70) in 2 parallel runways, such that continuous reward (CR) occurred in 1 alley and varied reward (VR) occurred in the other. The varied reward conditions were partial reward (PR), partial delay (PD), variable magnitude (VM), and constant delay (CD). A CR control group received CR in both alleys. All Ss were extinguished in the alley which had previously been associated with CR. Using resistance to extinction in the CR runway as the index of generalized persistence, the groups were ordered from greatest to least persistence as follows: PR, PD, VM, CD, and CR. This specific ordering is most easily accommodated by an elaboration of stimulus-aftereffects theory. (27 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Component analysis of cognitive skill training for the enhancement of hypnotic susceptibility.

Compared 4 treatments to enhance the hypnotic responsiveness of 60 undergraduates (aged 18–34 yrs) who pretested as low in hypnotic suceptibility on the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale. Complete skill training included information aimed at encouraging (1) positive attitudes, (2) the use of imagery strategies, and (3) an interpretation of hypnotic behavior as active responding. Partial training included only Components 1 and 2. Both training packages enhanced attitudes toward hypnosis to an equivalent degree. However, complete training was much more effective than either partial training or no treatment at enhancing behavioral and subjective responding on 2 different posttest scales of hypnotic susceptibility. More than half of the Ss who received complete training, but none of the partial training or control Ss, scored in the high-susceptibility range on both posttests. Ss explicitly instructed to fake hypnosis and those in the complete skill-training treatment exhibited significantly different patterns of posttest responding. Findings support social-psychological perspectives that emphasize the importance of contextual factors in hypnotic responding. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retention and durability of persistence acquired by young and infant rats.

Conducted 2 experiments in a runway apparatus with 72 young Holtzman rats. A classic partial reinforcement acquisition effect was obtained in Ss trained from 30 to 45 days of age but not in those trained from 18 to 25 days of age. In an immediate extinction test for half of the Ss, a partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) was found in both age groups, but there were differences in the extinction patterns. Following a 45-day retention interval and a continuous reinforcement reacquisition treatment for all groups, the PREE emerged clearly in adult Ss which had not undergone previous extinction. In those Ss which had previously been extinguished the PREE emerged again but was somewhat reduced. Results from the younger Ss suggest that relatively permanent persistence in approach to food can be formed in the days that normally immediately precede and follow weaning in laboratory rats. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response prevention and extinction of escape behavior: Duration, frequency, similarity, and retraining variables in rats.

Describes 3 experiments in which a total of 158 female hooded rats received escape training, response prevention, and then regular extinction. Following training, Ss in Exp I received 1 response-prevention trial lasting 0, 120, 240, or 400 sec, or multiple trials (6, 12, or 20) lasting 20 sec each. Extinction was faster as prevention duration or frequency increased. At each duration, extinction was faster following multiple- than following single-prevention trials. In Exp II Ss received "prevention" in the original escape situation or in similar or dissimilar situations. Extinction was faster as prevention and training situations increased in similarity. To evaluate the persistence of prevention effects, in Exp III Ss received shock retraining between prevention and regular extinction. Retraining attenuated but did not eradicate the effects of prevention. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Length conservation and speed concepts: Organizational disequilibrium training between concepts.

Administered training to Ss at varying levels of cognitive organization. Ss were 60 middle-class Israeli 6-7 yr olds. The training condition exploited structural mix between operational length and intuitive speed concepts, such that Ss successively alternated partial structures underlying these concepts. Findings were that (a) training was effective for operational speed concept acquisition among Ss with structural mix; (b) training was not effective for Ss without structural mix; (c) those who acquired the operational speed concept also acquired operational reasoning for the concept of movement; and (d) all Ss who employed an integration strategy during training became operational for speed on the posttest, while none who used other strategies acquired operational reasoning for the speed concept. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of concept identification performance in older adults.

A sequential training procedure combining operant and cumulative learning hierarchy principles was found effective in reducing the decrement in concept identification performance typically observed in older adults. 20 male and 20 female Ss aged 63-83 yrs were given a pretest and posttest, each involving a 3-category unidimensional concept identification problem. The training and reinforced-training Ss were given 3 training sessions between pretest and posttest. Training involved a programmed learning sequence designed to facilitate the development of an effective solution strategy. Control Ss were given only the pretest and posttest, while practice Ss were given 3 additional practice sessions. Substantial improvement was found in both the training and reinforced training groups, but only slight improvement obtained in the practice and control groups. Results are consistent with recent conceptions of cognitive and intellectual development in the older adults in which performance deficits are largely attributed to experiential factors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence of runway performance after septal lesions in rats.

Assigned 32 male Wistar albino rats to groups receiving bilateral septal lesions or control operations. Septal lesions prevented the partial reinforcement extinction effect after 48 acquisition trials. Septal Ss showed increased resistance to extinction following continuous reinforcement but decreased resistance to extinction following partial reinforcement. Analysis of the acquisition data indicated that the lesions retarded the development of approach-avoidance conflicts associated with reward and nonreward. In a 2nd study, 16 septal and 16 control Ss received 96 acquisition trials. Extended training allowed the development of conflict responses under partial reinforcement, and the Ss with lesions were indistinguishable from controls during extinction. Following continuous reinforcement, septal lesions produced slower extinction of response. It is concluded that the lesions interfered with the development of feedback from frustration, approach-avoidance conflicts, and frustration tolerance. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalization from categorical memory tasks to prose by learning disabled adolescents.

Investigated how 60 learning disabled ([LD] aged 12 yrs to 14 yrs 5 mo) and 20 age-matched nondisabled (NLD) Ss would transfer the use of 4 study rules from instructed materials (pictures) to a prose recall task. Four phases spread over a 3-wk period were involved: pretest, informational phase (2 lessons), individualized training (3 lessons), and posttest. Results show that LDs performed poorly relative to NLD peers at pretest on categorical picture and prose recall tasks. 20 LD Ss who received rule-only instruction and 20 LD Ss who received rule-plus-prose examples instruction surpassed 20 LD Ss in the control condition at posttest on the picture task in rule use and in recall. On the prose task, a majority of the instructed LD Ss demonstrated transfer of the instructed rules. As a group, the instructed LD Ss no longer differed observably from NLD Ss in recall or in the strategies they employed to study and to retrieve. The clinical view that LD Ss are characterized by a failure to generalize was not supported by these findings. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retention of response persistence in weanling and adolescent rats.

Two experiments (192 Sprague-Dawley rats) examined parameters affecting retention of continuously reinforced (CRF) and partially reinforced (PRF) runway training in weanling and adolescent Ss. In Exp I, weanling Ss were given CRF or PRF training and 12 hrs, 3 days, or 10 days later were given 8 CRF reacquisition trials followed by extinction. In Exp II, weanling and adolescent Ss were given CRF or PRF runway training and extinguished 10 days later following 0, 8, or 24 CRF reacquisition trials. Results suggest that (a) weanlings characteristically display a partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) of unusually large magnitude if extinguished within 12 hrs of training, (b) this large-magnitude PREE dissipates within 3 days of training regardless of the number of CRF reacquisition trials preceding extinction, (c) no PREE of any magnitude is seen in weanlings or adolescents following a 10-day interval unless CRF reacquisition trials precede extinction, and (d) retention of the PREE is poor or nonexistent in Ss trained as adolescents and extinguished 10 days later, even with CRF reacquisition preceding extinction. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)