[Familial choices and procreative behavior of the clientele of familial planning centers].
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Age Factors↗
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Results for “Choice Behavior”
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[Effect of probable reinforcement in a choice situation on dog behavior].
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Adaptation, Psychological↗
Motivational factors in vision therapy: comparison of computerized vs. manipulative techniques.
BACKGROUND: Vision therapy (VT) is a learning process that requires the patient to be motivated. Various modalities are used by practitioners to stimulate interest. This study compares the motivating effect of computers and manipulatives (i.e., physical objects that are handled). METHODS: Fifteen subjects were compared on three motivational standards: time on task, negative behaviors and patient choice of procedure; these standards were compared for two computerized VT procedures and two VT procedures using manipulatives. The visual abilities used for therapy were stereopsis and spatial visualization. RESULTS: Although both methods were motivating, the computerized techniques were clearly superior in all three measures for both visual abilities. CONCLUSIONS: Computerized vision therapy is an excellent modality for facilitating motivation for vision therapy.
Child↗
Characteristics of behavior associated with alternative choice in a Y maze in rats and their interpretation in terms of complex probability amplitudes.
This report demonstrates the possibility of interpreting rat behavior in situations associated with the choice between "safe" locations in a Y maze using pain reinforcement on the basis of summation rules for complex amplitude probabilities characterizing the prognostic assessment by the rat that it will achieve relative safety. Functionally incomplete actions in rat behavior were analyzed in the experimental situation. When the rat needed to avoid pain reinforcement and both pathways to avoid painful stimulation were equally suitable, interference could appear in the animal's assessment of the suitability of the two paths, this preventing decision-making. When this occurred, there was a delay in the executive action. After rats left one of the "safe" arms, they could move into the other "safe" arm, and vice versa. These transfers were completed in a quasi-periodic fashion, as predicted by a formal description of transfers between coincident (or sufficiently similar) states.
Animals↗
Leisure-time physical activity behavior: structured and unstructured choices according to sex, age, and level of physical activity.
The main goals of this cross-sectional survey were (a) to describe the associations between sex, age, and physical activity behavior and (b) to describe the age and sex-related associations with the choice of structured (formal) and unstructured (nonformal) physical activity programs. At baseline, data were selected randomly from 1,013 students, from the 7th to the 12th grades. A response rate of 73% (n = 739) was obtained. Accordingly, the sample of this study consisted of 594 adolescents (304 females and 290 males) with mean age of 15.9 years (range 13-20). Physical activity was assessed by means of a questionnaire. A questionnaire about leisure activities was applied to the sample to define the nominal variable "nature of physical activity." The data showed that significantly more girls than boys (p < or = .001) belonged to the sedentary group (80.7% girls) and low activity group (64.5% girls). Boys more frequently belonged to the more active groups (92.1%; p < or = .001). The older participants were more engaged in formal physical activities, whereas the younger mostly chose informal ones whatever their level of physical activity. There were more significant differences in girls' physical activity groups (chi 2 = 20.663, p < or = .001) than in boys' (chi 2 = 7.662, p < or = .05). Furthermore, active girls chose more structured physical activities than their sedentary counterparts (18.8% vs. 83.3%). However, boys preferred unstructured activities regardless of physical activity group (83.7% vs. 58.5%; p < or = .05). It can be concluded that as age increased, organized sports activities became a relatively more important component of total weekly activity for both male and female participants.
Adolescent↗
Behavior of young children in a two-choice guessing problem.
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Child↗
Gender typing of game choices and qualities of boys' play behavior.
Relationships between gender choices and both movement patterns and social behavior were studied in first- and second-grade boys. Three-child, structured play groups were each composed of a boy whose mother saw him as high masculine in play preference on the Games Inventory, one seen as average, and one low masculine. Behaviors rated from videotapes included gender presentation variables, (e.g., leg separation), indicators of dominance and personal comfort (e.g., range of movements), and indicators of social skill and peer response (e.g., interaction initiations). The low masculine boys were found to be the most feminine in their gender presentation, least dominant and aggressive, and the lest socially successful of the boys. The greatest difference was between the low and the high masculine boys. The average masculine boys' scores were generally intermediate, but more similar to the low masculine boys on some variables and more similar to the high masculine boys on others. These conclusions apply to a grou interaction play task, but not to an initial noninteractive play task. A secondary study in which girls played with low and average masculine boys is also reported. Here it was found that low masculine boys were generally intermediate between average boys and girls on gender presentation and dominance variables, but lowest of the groups on social interaction variables.
Child Behavior↗
[Features of rat behavior associated with alternative choice in Y-maze and their interpretation in terms of complex probability amplitudes].
The two-way alternative avoidance of a weak electric shock by male Wistar rats in Y-maze was studied. The following behavioral characteristics of a rat were determined in each test series: total time of an arm choice (going away into one of two safe maze arms), number and sequence of alternate turnings to the outlets in the process of choice, time of immobility in the Y-maze center, and "freezing" reaction. Rat behavior of choice of safe arms in Y-maze be interpreted on the basis of the rules of summation of complex probability amplitudes, which characterize a predictive estimation of achievement by a rat of its relative safety. With the need to avoid an electric shock, rat's estimations of suitabilities of two different avoidance ways can interfere. This makes it difficult for an animal to take a choice decision (if both pathways are equally acceptable for a rat). After entering a safe arm, sometimes a rat can leave it for another arm, such passages occur quasiperiodically.
Animals↗
Quantitative analyses of methamphetamine's effects on self-control choices: implications for elucidating behavioral mechanisms of drug action.
The purpose of the present research was to utilize quantitative methods to identify behavioral mechanisms involved in the effects of stimulant drugs on choice in a self-control procedure. A logarithmic equation based upon a combination of the matching law and hyperbolic discounting was used to separate drug-induced changes in sensitivity to reinforcement delay from drug-induced changes in sensitivity to reinforcement amount. Pigeons responded under a concurrent-chains schedule. In the initial link, two keys were illuminated simultaneously and access to the terminal link was controlled by a single random-interval (RI) schedule; pecks on one or the other key lead to its terminal link with a 0.5 probability. In the terminal links, one alternative provided 1-s access to food (the smaller reinforcer) and the other alternative provided 4-s access to food (the larger reinforcer). The signaled delay to the smaller reinforcer always was 2s, whereas the signaled delay to the larger reinforcer increased from 2 to 40s within each session, across 10-min blocks. In general, intermediate doses of methamphetamine increased preference for the larger more delayed reinforcer. Quantitative analyses indicated that, in most cases, methamphetamine decreased sensitivity to reinforcement delay. In a few instances, concomitant decreases in sensitivity to reinforcement amount also occurred. These results suggest that a reduced sensitivity to reinforcement delay may be important behavioral mechanism of the effects of stimulants on self-control choices, and that this effect sometimes can be accompanied by a decreased sensitivity to reinforcement amount.
Animals↗
Dissociation of the role of nucleus accumbens dopamine in responding to reward-predictive cues and waiting for reward.
The choice among behavioral options is influenced by the anticipated cost of working for the reward relative to the anticipated reward magnitude. Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has been suggested to play an important role in cost/benefit computation. From a behavioral perspective, work involves two elements: the caloric expenditure of energy and the time required to complete the task. In many studies of the contribution of NAc dopamine to cost/benefit decisions, measures of work have conflated these separate elements. Here we describe a novel cued progressive delay task, an analog of the progressive ratio task that minimizes energy expenditure. In this task, rats obtain sucrose reward by entering a reward receptacle in response to a cue and remaining in the receptacle for a required wait that is increased after each successful trial. In an experiment in which the magnitude of reward was varied across sessions, the animals' fail point (maximum wait achieved) was correlated with the amount of reward delivered. Microinjection of D1 or D2 dopamine receptor antagonists into the NAc did not affect the length of time animals were willing to wait for reward (fail point), but did reduce the proportion of cues to which the animal responded. These results suggest that waiting for reward without increased caloric energy expenditure does not require NAc dopamine.
Animals↗
On the falsifiability of matching theory.
Herrnstein's matching theory requires the parameter, k, which appears in the single-alternative form of the matching equation, to remain invariant with respect to changes in reinforcement parameters like magnitude or immediacy. Recent experiments have disconfirmed matching theory by showing that the invariant-k requirement does not hold. However, the theory can be asserted in a purely algebraic form that does not require an invariant k and that is not disconfirmed by the recent findings. In addition, both the original and the purely algebraic versions of matching theory can be asserted in forms that allow for commonly observed deviations from matching (bias, undermatching, and overmatching). The recent finding of a variable k does not disconfirm these versions of matching theory either. As a consequence, matching remains a viable theory of behavior, the strength of which lies in its general conceptualization of all behavior as choice, and in its unified mathematical treatment of single- and multialternative environments.
Animals↗
The stability and consequences of young children's same-sex peer interactions.
This article addresses whether young children's play-partner choices are stable over time and how these choices influence behavior. Sixty-one children (28 boys and 33 girls; mean age = 53 months) were observed over 6 months, and type of play behavior and sex of play partners were recorded. Children's partner preferences were highly sex differentiated and stable over time, especially when larger aggregates of data were used. Two types of consequences were identified: a binary effect that influenced differences between the sexes and a social dosage effect that influenced variations within the sexes. The binary effect reflected a pattern in which the more both girls and boys played with same-sex partners, the more their behavior became sex differentiated. The social dosage effect reflected a pattern in which variations in levels of same-sex play in the fall contributed significantly to variations in the spring above initial levels of the target behaviors.
Child↗
Mesantoin (methyl-phenylethyl-hydantoin) as the anticonvulsant of choice.
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Anticonvulsants↗
[Behavioral characteristics of rhesus monkeys in a multiple-choice environment].
The present work deals with dynamics of formation of complex alimentary behaviour of rhesus monkeys in multialternative environment. A detailed informational analysis of the obtained results allowed to reveal the properties of processing of proprioceptive information in the course of learning and to understand the characteristics of behaviour of the examined monkeys.
Animals↗
[Behavior of dogs in a situation of simplified conditioned choice].
Dynamics of elaboration and stabilization of conditioned motor alimentary reactions was studied in dogs, in conditions of choice of one of two feeders. The whole process is divided into four stages, differing by the degree of stabilization of conditioned behaviour. Three groups of animals are singled out, characterized by different rate and features of elaboration of conditioned motor reactions. The possibility is shown of the use of total choice and running time as a characteristic of equilibration of nervous processes in animals.
Animals↗
Choice making to promote adaptive behavior for students with emotional and behavioral challenges.
Two analyses investigated the effects of choice making on the responding of elementary school students with emotional and behavioral challenges. In the first analysis, 2 participants were given choices from menus of academic tasks, all of which were pertinent to their educational objectives in English and spelling, respectively. Reversal designs showed that the choice-making conditions increased task engagement and reduced disruptive behavior for both students. An additional analysis was performed with a 3rd student in an effort to further distinguish the effects of choice making from preference. In this study, one of the no-choice phases was yoked to a previous choice-making condition. This analysis demonstrated that the choice-making condition was superior to baseline and yoked control phases as determined by levels of task engagement and disruptive behavior. The findings of the two analyses contribute information relevant to students with emotional and behavioral disorders, and to a growing literature on the desirable effects of choice making for students with disabilities and challenging behaviors.
Attention↗
A behavioral economics analysis of food choice in humans.
Three studies on the behavioral economics of food choice were presented. In Experiment 1 subjects were provided a choice of working for food on concurrent VR4 VR20 schedules, and subjects allocated the majority of their responding to the VR4 schedule. Subjects in Experiment 2 were provided a choice between two foods differing in ratings of subjective liking. The lower rated food was available on an FR1 component of a concurrent schedule, while the higher rated food was available on the other component across six comparisons ranging from FR1 through VR32. Subjects initially chose to work for the higher rated food, but as the constraints for this food increased, subjects chose to work for the lower rated food. In Experiment 3, subjects were provided the choice of a breakfast they liked or the monetary equivalent during deprivation and non-deprivation conditions. The food and money were first compared on equal FR1 schedules. Schedule requirements for money were subsequently maintained on a VR2 schedule, while access to food was presented in four phases from VR4 through VR32. Under deprivation, subjects allocated their time to get the preferred food instead of money only at the FR1 FR1 comparison. Under non-deprivation subjects allocated almost all their responding to work for money. These results suggest that the laboratory choice task is sensitive to schedule differences when food is used as a reinforcer, that subjective liking and schedule constraints for food are both important in determining food choice, and that alternative reinforces can complete with food, but the effect is dependent on both the level of deprivation and constraints on access to food.
Adolescent↗