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Biomedical subjects

M Sidman

Publications and source records attributed to M Sidman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1974

Timeout as a reinforcer for errors in a serial position task.

After learning to press keys in a predetermined serial position sequence, with timeouts scheduled as a consequence of errors, monkeys developed stereotyped errors. As soon as a new trial started, the animals would make an error. On trial after trial, they pressed the same incorrect key at the first member of the sequence, even though they had previously learned the sequence. First-member errors occurred even when sequences of fully bright keys marking correct choices were presented. When timeout was eliminated as a consequence of one first-member error, subjects switched to an error that did produce the timeout. When all first-member errors failed to produce timeout the monkeys ceased responding. Both prefeeding and reduction in reinforcement density resulted in stereotyped errors occurring earlier in the session.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1974

Acquisition of matching to sample via mediated transfer.

Two severely retarded Down's-syndrome boys learned a matching-to-sample performance through mediated transfer. The transfer paradigm involved three sets of stimuli, one auditory set (A) and two visual sets (B and C). The subjects were taught directly to do B-A and C-B matching, but experienced no direct association between C and A. They acquired the ability to do C-A matching without having been taught that performance directly. They also learned indirectly to name some of the visual stimuli, but naming was apparently not the mediator in the emergent C-A matching. The use of words and letters as stimuli highlighted the possible relevance of mediated associations in the indirect acquisition of elementary reading comprehension and oral reading. The acquisition of matching via mediated transfer also raised some new considerations concerning the role of coding responses in arbitrary matching to sample.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1971

The removal and restoration of stimulus control.

When a well-learned circle versus ellipse discrimination was made impossibly difficult for the subjects (rhesus monkeys), the controlling stimulus-response topographies were replaced by competing topographies. The identification of two training conditions sufficient to reinstate the original discrimination permitted the following inferences: the original controlling topography had merely decreased in probability of occurrence, whereas the "strength" of the stimulus-response relation remained unchanged; discriminations along the apparently continuous circle-ellipse dimension actually involved several distinct stimulus-control topographies.

Animals↗
PubMed1969

Generalization gradients and stimulus control in delayed matching-to-sample.

Neurological patients were subjects in delayed visual matching-to-sample. The sample and choice stimuli were ellipses of varying size. By measuring the difference in size between the sample on a given trial and the ellipse the subject chose on that trial, gradients of differences between samples and choice stimuli could be plotted. These difference gradients broadened with increasing delays. Sharp gradients were controlled by the samples. Flat gradients were controlled by features of the choice display, independently of the samples. Intermediate gradients reflected combined control by the samples and by the choice displays.

Adult↗