Verbal operant conditioning of hospitalized psychiatric patients.

In Exp. I, 81 male psychiatric patients were divided into 9 subgroups according to age and length of hospitalization. Plural nouns were reinforced by positive verbal feedback. Results were: (1) least chronic Ss increased their operant rates; (2) most chronic Ss did not; and (3) there was significant interaction with respect to age and chronicity. In Exp. II, 60 schizophrenics were divided into 6 subgroups with respect to length of hospitalization and mode of reinforcement, i.e., verbal, primary, or combination. Acute-type schizophrenics responded positively to all types of reinforcement. Chronics responded only to primary reinforcement and to the combination procedure. Mode of reinforcement was a significant variable affecting operant rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of prior experimenter-subject relationships on reinforced reaction time of schizophrenics and normals.

The hypothesis was tested that deficits in schizophrenics' responses to positive social reinforcers would be reduced if reinforcers were delivered by an E who had first related to the Ss in a warm and accepting manner. Reaction times of 39 chronic schizophrenics and 39 normal adults were tested without and with reinforcement after exposure to 1 of 3 conditions of contact with E: (a) no contact, (b) contact with an unresponsive and aloof E, and (c) contact with a warm and accepting E. Schizophrenics had slowest reaction times after c. Normals had slowest reaction times after c until reinforced; on reinforced trials there were no differences between conditions for normal Ss. The results indicate that chronic schizophrenics can be motivated to gain approval but that such motivation in schizophrenics is more dependent upon immediate social circumstances than it is in normal adults. (29 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive and negative reinforcement with short- and long-term hospitalized schizophrenics in a probability learning situation.

Groups of 40 long-term (LT) and 40 short-term (ST) schizophrenics were randomly assigned to positive (PR) and negative (NR) extrinsic reinforcement conditions during a probability learning task. Prior to experimental conditions, paper-and-pencil test measures of neuroticism, extroversion, paranoia, and process-reactive were administered. The results supported the major hypotheses that (a) ST schizophrenics are more responsive to PR than NR, (b) LT schizophrenics are more responsive to NR than PR, and (c) ST schizophrenics are more responsive to both PR and NR than LT schizophrenics. None of the correlations between personality variables and responsiveness to PR or NR were significant. The significant interaction between length of hospitalization and type of reinforcement was interpreted as reflecting schizophrenics' adjustment to the hospital environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal conditioning of middle and lower socioeconomic class schizophrenics.

An experiment with 140 male VA hospital patients assessed the verbal conditioning of middle and lower socioeconomic class schizophrenics and normals under conditions of social reinforcement. Ss were reinforced with a positive or negative word said in a positive, negative, or neutral tone of voice. Social class moderated diagnostic group differences in learning. Combining social classes, schizophrenics learned less than normals with reinforcement entailing incongruent word and tone but were equivalent to normals with congruent word/tone reinforcement pairs (i.e., positive word/positive tone and negative word/negative tone). Results are interpreted in terms of the double-bind theory of G. Bateson et al (1956), which views schizophrenic behavior as a response acquired after prolonged exposure to inconsistent patterns of verbal and nonverbal communication. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of diagnostic category and reinforcer on learning without awareness.

Learning without awareness was tested by asking Ss to construct sentences using pronouns (I, we, he, they) and verbs presented to them. 3 groups were employed—normals, neurotics, and schizophrenics, under 4 experimental conditions: (a) E "rewarded" (said "good" to) 2 of the pronouns (I, we); (b) the use of he or they was "punished" ("not so good"); (c) differential reinforcement as was appropriate re: "punishment" and "reward" when employing the pronouns; (d) control. Results: normals profited well from all conditions of reinforcement; neurotics, only from reward or reward and punishment; schizophrenics, from punishment alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-editing deficits in schizophrenia: A word-association analogue.

Made contrasting predictions to differentiate a 1- from a 2-stage model of word-association performance in schizophrenia. 24 schizophrenics and 24 normals provided word associations in response to (a) "free" vs. "idiosyncratic" instructions, and (b) stimulus words that typically elicit either a strong dominant or several weak associations. Results confirm the 2-stage model: under idiosyncratic instructions, schizophrenics produced more common associations than normals. Findings were consistent with 2 assumptions pertinent to the 2-stage model: schizophrenics (a) sample from an underlying repertoire of nondeviant associations; and (b) are deficient in the ability to edit out sampled but situationally inappropriate associations, whether common or unusual. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of social and nonsocial censure on stimulus generalization in neurotics and schizophrenics.

36 schizophrenic and 36 neurotic depressive Ss were given a visual-spatial generalization task under either social or nonsocial (impersonal) censure conditions. The following hypotheses derived from previous investigations were tested: (1) schizophrenics would show higher gradients of generalization than neurotic depressives, and (2) generalization gradients would be higher under conditions of social as opposed to nonsocial censure, especially in schizophrenics. The data supported Hypothesis 1 but not Hypothesis 2. There was no evidence for differential responding between these 2 groups with respect to either stimulus generalization or response to censure. It was suggested that hypotheses concerning the schizophrenic's performance in these 2 situations have been biased and oversimplified by use of normal, rather than patient, control groups in previous investigations. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental manipulation of continuous speech in schizophrenic patients.

A method was developed for obtaining extended continuous speech samples from hospitalized schizophrenics. 1 group was reinforced for self-referred affect statements, 1 group for speech in general, and 1 group served as a no-reinforcement control. The effect of reinforcement proved specific to the response class reinforced, whether narrow (self-referred affect statements) or more general (total speech output). The conditioning process progresses from broad classes to the particular one on which reinforcement is contingent. The problem of respons-class identification and other implications of the findings are discussed. (36 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic functioning in process and reactive schizophrenia.

Compared the autonomic functioning of male process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, and normal ss (n = 30) under rest and arousal conditions. Ss were exposed to 6 arousal conditions: (a) white noise, (b) electric shock, (c) paired associate learning, (d) word activity test, (e) finger dexterity task, and (f) pursuit rotor task. Rest periods preceded each arousal condition. Heart rate, skin resistance, respiration rate, diastolic and systolic blood pressures were recorded under all 6 conditions. Results show that under stress the levels of physiological functioning for normal ss and reactive schizophrenics were similar on skin resistance and blood pressure, with process schizophrenics showing a higher level of arousal on skin resistance and a lower level on blood pressure. Reactive schizophrenics had the fastest heart rate, with process schizophrenics next, and normals the lowest. Respiration did not reliably differentiate among the groups. Reactive schizophrenics and normals generally showed greater increments to the arousal conditions (compared with prestress base lines) than the process schizophrenics in all measures except heart rate and skin resistance. In those 2 measures, reactive and process schizophrenics were similar in their reactions to the stress conditons, and both groups showed less reactivity in general than normals. (french summary) (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Praise and censure as motivating variables in the motor behavior and learning of schizophrenics.

Hullian assumptions regarding drive level were utilized to predict the performance of acute and chronic schizophrenics on learning tasks of varying complexity. Ss were exposed to 3 conditions of reinforcement: censure, praise, and neutral (neither censure nor praise), and faced with simple and complex learning tasks. Acute schizophrenics responded differently from the chronic Ss to the conditions of reinforcement. The performance of the acute group was facilitated on the 2nd task by the experience of being told they were wrong on the 1st; this was not so with the chronic schizophrenics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paired-associate learning by schizophrenic and normal subjects under conditions of personal and impersonal reward and punishment.

This is a report of 2 dissertations done to cross-validate the findings that, contrary to normals, the performance of schizophrenics on various tasks improves under conditions of punishment rather than reward. In addition, these studies tested the effect of personal vs. impersonal conditions of reinforcement. Ss were patients with acute as well as more chronic periods of illness. The results indicate that regardless of whether the reinforcement was administered mechanically (impersonally) or by another individual (personally), the performance of the schizophrenic group again showed improvement under conditions of punishment rather than rewards. The results are related to a theory of the etiology of schizophrenia and to the treatment of schizophrenics. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4JQ22A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal conditioning of common associations in long-term schizophrenics: A failure.

L. Ullmann, L. Krasner, and R. Edinger have stated that "common associations by schizophrenics to word association stimuli may be brought under control by selective reinforcement." An attempt was made to replicate and extend this study using 60 male schizophrenics. The results suggest that social reinforcement of common associations by chronic schizophrenics fails to produce any evidence of a generalized increase in the tendency to given common associations. The results of the L. Ullmann study may be seen as the result of a statistical artifact regression to a common mean. Inappropriate use of the analysis of covariance to treat data of this type is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social reinforcement on the level of abstraction in schizophrenics.

This study was designed to investigate (1) the effects of the nature of contingent vs. noncontingent social reinforcement upon the level of abstraction in schizophrenics as measured on a proverbs task, (2) the generalization of this behavior to another verbal conceptual task administered under neutral conditions, and (3) the predictive and construct validity of the Ullmann-Giovannoni Process-Reactive Self-Report Scale. 64 male schizophrenics were assigned to 4 treatment groups: contingent positive, noncontingent positive, contingent negative, and control. The results indicated that only the contingent positive Ss significantly increased their level of performance on the proverbs task and showed generalization. The other 3 groups showed no significant differences. Validity evidence for the Process-Reactive Scale and marital status was obtained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in rats of suppressive effects of extinction as a function of extinction sessions.

Used 1 or 2 extinction sessions, 2 extinction procedures, and 2 ages of rats (23 and 95-120 days old) in a developmental analysis of the effects of extinction. Ss were 96 male Long-Evans hooded rats. The apparatus was a Y maze with 3 discriminably different arms. After 10 sessions of positive reinforcement, Ss received either 1 or 2 extinction sessions in which responding in 1 arm was no longer reinforced. Following extinction, responding in all 3 arms was again reinforced. Recovery data show that (a) the suppressive effects of extinction were greater for adults than infants and (b) the 2nd extinction session had a greater impact on the adults. Results support the hypothesis that younger rats have greater difficulty than older ones in inhibiting a response. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodermal lability in delusional schizophrenics following personalized stimuli.

Presented a series of phrases to 10 male hospitalized paranoid schizophrenics and 10 male alcoholic controls while their electrodermal responses were recorded. The topics of the phrases were delusion-related, alcohol-related, or neutral. No main effect difference between the groups was found. However, the topic of the phrases affected the groups differently: Delusion-related and neutral stimuli produced greater lability in schizophrenics than in alcoholics. Results suggest that these schizophrenics responded to significant stimuli much like nonschizophrenics but differed from nonschizophrenics as to which stimuli they found significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reversal and extradimensional shifts in abstract and concrete schizophrenics.

72 concrete schizophrenics, defined in terms of conceptual sorting difficulties, were trained under 1 of 3 discrimination-learning conditions: reversal (R) shift, extradimensional (ED) shift, or control. 72 abstract schizophrenics were similarly divided, 1/2 of the Ss in each condition received verbal reinforcement, and 1/2 received candy reinforcement. Results indicated that concrete Ss required significantly more trials to learn the shift concepts than abstract Ss. Both R and ED shifts produced negative transfer relative to control conditions, but there was no significant difference between the 2 shift conditions. No differential effect was attributable to the different reinforcers. Results were discussed in terms of 2-stage discrimination-learning models and Goldstein's theory of schizophrenic concreteness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of partial reinforcement on tolerance to morphine-induced analgesia and weight loss in the rat.

Groups of 60 male Sprague-Dawley rats were presented a distinctive set of environmental cues on several occasions. For 1 group, morphine (40 mg/kg) was injected each time the cues were presented (morphine/continuous reinforcement). For a 2nd group, morphine was injected only following 1 of 4 cue presentations (morphine/partial reinforcement). Two additional groups were injected with only saline, one on the continuous reinforcement schedule and the other on the partial reinforcement schedule. Results demonstrate less tolerance to morphine in the partially reinforced morphine-injected Ss than in continuously reinforced morphine-injected Ss. Unlike other demonstrations of a tolerance-retarding effect of partial reinforcement, findings did not result from nonassociative factors related to differential novelty, stress, or practice. Clinical implications for the tolerance-retarding effect of partial reinforcement are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles of impression management in the interview, self-report, and cognitive behavior of schizophrenics.

Attempted to determine which types of behavior serve as manipulative impression-management tools among schizophrenics. 3 groups of male open-ward inpatient schizophrenics were either (a) implicitly threatened with a return to the closed ward, (b) threatened with discharge, or (c) given neutral instructions. Differential instructions did not affect interview or cognitive behavior indexes, but apparently did lead to manipulation on the MMPI Hypochondriasis and Psychasthenia scales. An attempt to determine which subgroups of schizophrenics tend to engage in such manipulatory behavior was unproductive. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinforcement of verbal affect responses of normal subjects during the interview.

"Twenty-six normal individuals, hospitalized for a variety of physical complaints, were interviewed for a period of 30 minutes. Each interview consisted of a 10-minute operant level period, during which E asked questions necessary to maintain S's talk but did not otherwise respond to S's speech; 10 minutes of conditioning, during which E reinforced by agreement all self-referred affect statements; and 10 minutes of extinction, during which E withheld all reinforcement. Conditioning of the verbal response class of self-referred affect statements occurred, and normal Ss showed greater resistance to extinction than did schizophrenics." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of vicarious reinforcement in normal and severely disturbed children.

In the 1st study, 40 5–7 yr old children (Stanford-Binet IQ 107–236) were engaged in pairs in a laboratory task during which the experimenter delivered social reinforcement to one child; the other child in the dyad received no direct reinforcement. In the 2nd study, 14 severely disturbed 5–7 yr old hospitalized children (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale or Bayley Scales of Infant Development MA 23–38 mo) were engaged in a naturalistic setting in which one was reinforced and the other was not. Results of both studies were similar. Although observation of another S being reinforced initially improved the performance of the nonreinforced Ss, their performance levels decreased over time and resembled those observed when extinction procedures are used. Findings are discussed in terms of modeling, discriminative cue, and extinction hypotheses as they relate to the effects of vicarious reinforcement. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)