John J. Winters

Development of Lateral and Choice-Sequence Preferences

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the development of lateral and choice–sequence preferences. A response preference is demonstrated when a S or group of Ss responds to a stimulus on the basis of its location within a stimulus array or when the response is chosen without regard for the differential characteristics of the stimuli. A stimulus preference is inferred when S or group of Ss responds more frequently to one stimulus of a stimulus array than to any other(s). This chapter discusses the findings of a number of studies where some of the factors that evoke nonrandom response in binary-choice decisions were investigated. Much of the nonrandom behavior referred to in this chapter was elicited within the context of nonreinforcement or lack of knowledge of the results. It is intended to indicate the relationships among these nonrandom components of binary-choice decisions and mental age (MA), chronological age (CA), and intelligence quotient (IQ). The data that was obtained from normal children, retarded children, adolescents, college students, and retarded adults is discussed in the chapter.

The effects of spatial, temporal, and control variables on the free-recall serial position curve of retardates and equal-MA normals

In Experiment I seven pictures were sequentially illuminated at a 3-see rate through seven translucent windows. A different window provided the starting point for each of seven tests. Retarded and normal Ss of equal MA produced equivalent free recall and reliable recency effects. Although groups did not differ significantly at any portion of the curve, only the normals produced a significant primacy effect. The spatial end anchors produced no significant primacy or recency effects. In Experiment II total presentation time remained the same but the pictures were presented at a 1-sec rate. Variations in elapsed time and number of Presentations produced a negative primacy effect, a result attributed to the prevention of selective rehearsal and the resultant interaction of trace decay and order of recall. Superior recall by the normals, particularly in the recency portion of the curve, was attributed to group differences in order of recall strategies.

Lateral preference for identical geometric forms: II. Retardates.

Adolescent educable retardates made size discriminations between pairs of equal-sized geometric forms presented tachistoscopically (Experiment I) or manually with unlimited exposure (Experiment II). There was no side preference under tachistoscopic presentation. Under unlimited exposure Ss showed a strong preference to choose the right-side stimulus as the larger (59.1%). Normals, from previous studies, had a preference to perceive the right-hand stimulus as larger under both conditions.

Response preference and choice-sequence preferences: I. Regression to alternation

Five numerical binary-choice tasks, of varying difficulty, were administered to normal fourth- through eighth-grade children and adolescent educable retardates. Retardates alternated more than normals in all tasks. Alternation was greatest for the most difficult task. This nonadaptive behavior that is lower in the developmental hierarchy may be called “regression to alternation.”

Lateral preference for identical geometric forms: I. Normals

Ss made size discriminations between two identical and equal-sized geometric forms presented tachistoscopically. Under “larger” instructions the right side stimulus was chosen more often. Under “smaller” instructions and 30 sec. intertrial interval, the left side was chosen more often; with 10 sec. intertrial interval and “smaller” instructions perceptual and motor preferences canceled one another.

Gamma movement: Field brightness, series, and side of the standard

Gamma movement was investigated under six brightness levels. Comparison circles equal to, and slightly smaller than, the standard were judged “larger” significantly more often than chance. Brightness level did not affect this phenomenon; the effect was more pronounced during the first series and when comparison figures were on the right.

Recognition of tachistoscopically exposed letters by normals and retardates

Thirty adolescent educable retardates,30 equal-MA normals, and 30 equal-CA normals were tachistoscopically presented a square array of four letters at two exposures (.01 sec and .3 sec). The groups did not differ significantly in correct recognitions at the shorter exposure and the two older groups had significantly better recognitions in the right visual field than the left. Under the longer exposure the groups ordered from poorest to best performance: retardates, equal-MA normals, and equal-CA normals; and no group recognized significantly more letters on one side than the other. Results were discussed in terms of consistency of reporting patterns which aided recognition.

Alternation in a spatial orientation task

Normal first through fifth graders and adolescent retardates were given a difficult binary-choice spatial orientation task. Mean errors decreased with age. Retardates performed somewhat poorer than their MA normal equivalents. Alternation behavior generally decreased with age with the important exception that the retardates alternated significantly more than any other group. Many retardates exhibited invariant alternation. Both normal children and retardates alternated above chance.

Proactive Inhibition in Retarded Persons: Some Clues to Short-Term Memory Processing

Publisher Summary One of the most investigated aspects of learning in mentally retarded persons has been the question of how information is processed in short-term memory (STM), that aspect of memory in which information is stored for about 30 seconds. One experimental method that adequately examines the loss, the cues needed to access the information, and the structure of the organization in STM is the Brown-Peterson paradigm. The technique consists of presenting short lists of items (e.g., three words) for later recall, a distractor task between lists to prevent rehearsal of those items, and recall after each list. Over lists, or trials, the efficiency of the recall of each list diminishes, and this decrease in recall is referred to as a buildup of proactive inhibition (PI). In every study in which mentally retarded persons is tested using the Brown-Peterson paradigm, the buildup of PI did not vary as a function of the different types of classes of stimuli used. Seemingly, what is being encoded during PI buildup are item characteristics with little regard for the category or class the items belong to. The observation concludes that mentally retarded persons fail to use categorical information that is available to them; otherwise, the amount of recall would be greater for some categories than others because some categories are more available to the group than are others.

On the development of the isolation effect in free recall: Isolation by color

In Experiment 1, three groups of subjects (ages 8,11, and 14 years) read nine lists of nine words and immediately recalled each list. The middle item in each list was presented either in red (isolated) or in the same color as the other items (nonisolated). As age increased, the difference in recall between items isolated or nonisolated decreased, suggesting that the isolation effect and age are inversely related in free recall. Experiment 2 was conducted to determine whether this relationship was purely a function of responsiveness to the perceptual aspects of the stimuli, or was influenced also by memory capacity. Two more groups (ages 11 and 13) read lists 11 or 13 words long, respectively, with the middle item either isolated or not. The isolation effect was invariant over age. The proportion of yoked nonisolated items that were recalled varied with task difficulty, whereas the proportion of isolated items did not, thereby influencing the extent of the isolation effect. We concluded that, in this context, maturational changes in memory capacity influence the isolation effect.