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Biomedical subjects

B O McGonigle

Publications and source records attributed to B O McGonigle.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

A model of transitive choice.

We report a formal model of transitive inference based on protocols from experiments on squirrel monkeys solving the 5-term series problem (McGonigle & Chalmers, 1977, 1992). These studies generate databases featuring transitive choice, task transfer (where at first a significant decrement is observed, and later substantial improvement without explicit training), and, finally, a Symbolic Distance Effect (SDE) based on decision-time data. Using a rule-based (production) system, we first established rule stacks at the group, then at the individual level, on the basis of triadic transfer performance first recorded in the McGonigle and Chalmers (1977) study. The models for each subject then accommodated data from the more intensive, later study with the same subjects (McGonigle & Chalmers, 1992). We found the initial model capable of dealing with all choice and reaction-time phenomena reported thus far, with only small changes in a rule search procedure. In common with an independent assay by McGonigle and Chalmers (1992), our model-based reassessment of decision times indicates that a major source of reaction time variation is item prominence in the rule stack rather than interitem (ordinal) distance per se.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

The selective impact of verbally communicated criteria in orientation judgements by young children.

In a series of tests requiring judgements of orientation, the impact of a verbally transmitted equivalence criterion (e.g. "Pick me out the one exactly the same as this one") was compared with one which specified the 'identity' of the target as a 'standing up' or 'lying down' pattern. When a subset of four-year-olds was given the latter instruction, their performance improved dramatically (although all stimuli were lying flat on a horizontal surface) but reverted to a previous (low) level when equivalence instructions were reintroduced. The results suggest that findings from equivalence tests cannot be used to make unambiguous inferences concerning the competence of young children to make identification judgements.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1980

The role of context in the perception of orientation by the rat.

Two experiments are reported which demonstrate the role of contextual factors in the rat's perception of orientation. Designed to eschew criticisms of an earlier study by McGonigle and Jones, the first experiment shows that the rat's perception of linear Gestalten is conditional upon the set of alternative patterns within which the (linear) pattern is embedded. The second experiment shows that the ecological framework of an orientational cue (rather than its position relative to retinocortical coordinates) determines the rat's perception of vertical and horizontal stimuli.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Levels of stimulus processing by the squirrel monkey: relative and absolute judgements compared.

Nine squirrel monkeys were required to select from various sets of stimuli-differing in size or brightness-either in terms of relational criteria or on an absolute stimulus basis. The level of information processing required by each task was assessed by means of stimulus transformation techniques, variations in set size, and by the elimination of the visible context. It was found that some relational judgements make fewer processing demands on the subject than do absolute stimulus judgements; the 'middle' relation, however, appears much more difficult to use than selection of a stimulus on an absolute basis and may be beyond the competence of the squirrel monkey. The results are seen as support for the thesis as advanced by McGonigle and Jones that the criteria of judgement, when varied, change the depth of stimulus processing by monkey as well as man.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Serial adaptation to conflicting prismatic rearrangement effects in monkey and man.

Seven adult male squirrel monkeys adapted successfully to prisms displacing in equal and opposite directions. After protracted training under certain conditions, they succeeded in conserving adaptation to both prisms without benefit of readaptation trials. Results obtained with thirty-six undergraduates under similar conditions of test (although for a much shorter period) are also reported.

Adaptation, Ocular↗
PubMed1977

Judgemental criteria and the perception of structure.

We repudiate Dodwell's claim that his relational model is predictively more accurate than our Garner-based treatment of AT. We claim instead, that his case is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the essentials of Garner's complex thesis, together with a misreading of our own report. Rather than accept his notion of a single continuum of salience as providing for the genesis of structure, we argue instead that his 'single' continuum' compounds and confounds at least two continua which may be understood only where the criteria of judgement are made explicit.

Discrimination, Psychological↗