Celia Lie

The "negative" credit card effect: Credit cards as spending-limiting stimuli in New Zealand.

The “credit card effect” describes a finding where greater value is given to consumer items if credit card logos are present. One explanation for the effect is that credit cards elicit spending behavior through associative learning. If this is true, social, economic and historical contexts should alter this effect. In Experiment 1, Year 1 New Zealand university students valued consumer items less in the presence of credit card logos. Experiment 2 replicated this effect. These findings support the idea that New Zealand students” negative conditioning history with credit card stimuli results in a “negative” credit card effect, whereby credit cards limit rather than facilitate spending. This “negative” effect suggests that the presence or absence of a “positive” effect in previous studies depends on previous associations with credit card stimuli

Human performance on a two-alternative rapid-acquisition choice task

Davison and Baum [Davison, M., Baum, W. M., 2000. Choice in a variable environment: every reinforcer counts. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 74, 1-24.] developed a concurrent-schedule procedure where, within each session, different reinforcer ratios were arranged across components separated by brief black-outs. Behaviour adapted quickly to the reinforcer ratios and reinforcers also had local effects on responding. This procedure has been used with pigeons and rats. In the present experiment, we adapted the Davison and Baum procedure to study the effects of reinforcement on human choice behaviour. Eighteen participants were presented with four different reinforcer ratios within a single 50-minute session. Mean sensitivity to the reinforcer ratios increased within components, and preference was greater for the just-reinforced response alternative immediately following reinforcer delivery, similar to the results from non-human experiments. Although there were limitations to the current procedure, the local time scale analyses are a novel way of examining human operant behaviour.

Effects of Point-Loss Punishers on Human Signal-Detection Performance.

Three experiments using human participants varied the distribution of point-gain reinforcers or point-loss punishers in two-alternative signal-detection procedures. Experiment 1 varied the distribution of point-gain reinforcers for correct responses (Group A) and point-loss punishers for errors (Group B) across conditions. Response bias varied systematically as a function of the relative reinforcer or punisher frequencies. Experiment 2 arranged two conditions - one where an unequal ratio of reinforcement (5ratio1 or 1ratio5) was presented without punishment (R-only), and another where the same reinforcer ratio was presented with an equal distribution of point-loss punishers (R+P). Response bias was significantly greater in the R-only condition than the R+P condition, supporting a subtractive model of punishment. Experiment 3 varied the distribution of point-gain reinforcers for correct responses across four unequal reinforcer ratios (5ratio1, 2ratio1, 1ratio2, 1ratio5) both without (R-only) and with (R+P) an equal distribution of point-loss punishers for errors. Response bias varied systematically with changes in relative reinforcer frequency for both R-only and R+P conditions, with 5 out of 8 participants showing increases in sensitivity estimates from R-only to R+P conditions. Overall, the results indicated that punishers have similar but opposite effects to reinforcers in detection procedures and that combined reinforcer and punisher effects might be better modeled by a subtractive punishment model than an additive punishment model, consistent with research using concurrent-schedule choice procedures.

Stimulus Disparity and Punisher Control of Human Signal-Detection Performance

The present experiment examined the effects of varying stimulus disparity and relative punisher frequencies on signal detection by humans. Participants were placed into one of two groups. Group 3 participants were presented with 1:3 and 3:1 punisher frequency ratios, while Group 11 participants were presented with 1:11 and 11:1 punisher frequency ratios. For both groups, stimulus disparity was varied across three levels (low, medium, high) for each punisher ratio. In all conditions, correct responses were intermittently reinforced (1:1 reinforcer frequency ratio). Participants were mostly biased away from the more punished alternative, with more extreme response biases found for Group 11 participants compared to Group 3. For both groups, estimates of discriminability increased systematically across the three disparity levels and were unaffected by the punisher ratios. Likewise, estimates of response bias and sensitivity to the punisher ratios were unaffected by changes in discriminability, supporting the assumption of parameter invariance in the Davison and Tustin (1978) model of signal detection. Overall, the present experiment found no relation between stimulus control and punisher control, and provided further evidence for similar but opposite effects of punishers to reinforcers in signal-detection procedures.

The effect of MDMA on sensitivity to reinforcement rate.

Administration of (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) causes memory errors by increasing proactive interference. This might occur because MDMA alters sensitivity to reinforcement. The current 2 experiments investigated this directly by assessing the acute (Experiment 1) and chronic (Experiment 2) effects of MDMA on sensitivity to reinforcement. We presented 5 pairs of concurrent variable interval schedules within each session and calculated sensitivity to reinforcement for 3 acute doses of MDMA. In contrast to the related drug, d-amphetamine, and in spite of producing reductions in response rate, MDMA did not reduce sensitivity to reinforcement rate. Chronic administration of a fixed dose of MDMA following each session reduced response rate but did not affect sensitivity to reinforcement rate. In combination with previous research, these results indicate that related drugs may have different effects on sensitivity to reinforcement and that these effects should be considered when interpreting disruptions to operant task performance caused by drug administration. (PsycINFO Database Record

Can ‘pooling teaching tips’ be more than ‘pooling teaching tips’?

There is increasing interest in how academic development of various kinds influences university teaching and student learning. To date the focus has been on formal, expert-led opportunities to learn how to teach. Our institution has developed a less formal, participant-led forum for teaching staff that was initially established to share ideas on teaching techniques and skills. We report here on participant-led research that explores if and how this model of group learning works, and how it might relate to other models that have been applied to tertiary teaching development. Authors adopted a self-study research framework incorporating a collaborative autoethnography. The data emphasises how participants use this forum as a community of practice, as a means for deep engagement with learning about teaching, and as a means to rationally manage their learning against a backdrop of challenges associated with learning to teach in research-led higher education.

Sharpen Your Pencils: Preliminary Evidence that Adult Coloring Reduces Depressive Symptoms and Anxiety

Adult coloring books have flooded the market with titles alluding to therapeutic value, yet it is unclear whether they fulfil that promise. Here, we tested whether adult coloring was related to improvements in psychological outcomes. Female university students (n = 104) were randomly assigned to a coloring intervention or a logic-puzzle control group. Participants completed an inventory of psychological measures (depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, flourishing, resilience, mindfulness) and then participated in a 1-week intervention of either daily coloring or logic-puzzles. Following the intervention, participants again completed the inventory of psychological measures. Coloring participants showed significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety after the intervention, but control participants did not. We conclude that daily coloring can improve some negative psychological outcomes and that it may provide an effective, inexpensive, and highly accessible self-help tool for nonclinical samples.