Saint Anselm College

About: Saint Anselm College is a education organization based out in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & Nurse education. The organization has 255 authors who have published 522 publications receiving 7222 citations.

Do Pavlovian Processes Really Mediate Behavioral Momentum? Some Conflicting Issues

Abstract: According to the behavioral momentum theory of response strength (Nevin et al., Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 53, 359–379, 1990), steady-state responding reflects the contingency between a response and a reinforcer (response–reinforcer relationship), whereas behavior’s resistance to change is mediated by a contingency between a stimulus and the reinforcer (stimulus–reinforcer relationship). It is further presumed in this theory that a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS)–unconditioned stimulus (US) contingency overlaps with the discriminative stimulus (SD), signaling a primary reinforcer (SR+) within the 3-term contingency (SD: response [R]–SR+). The mere arranging of a stimulus–reinforcer relation in an operant preparation, however, does not necessarily imply that the resulting behavioral process is Pavlovian. This article questions how important such Pavlovian CS–SR+ relations really are in governing operant behavior and its resistance to change in view of evidence from the operant and Pavlovian literatures showing dissociation between Pavlovian and operant stimulus control. To this end, we highlight studies published in the Pavlovian associative literature (Holman and Mackintosh, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 33, 21–31, 1981; Rescorla, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 66–70, 1992b) as well as at least 1 seldom-cited study published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (Marcucella, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 36, 51–60, 1981) supporting the view that CS relations embedded in the 3-term operant contingency can act independently of the discriminative stimulus functions of the SD. These CS relations appear to be neither necessary nor sufficient for sustaining operant discriminative control. Pavlovian relations are likely to be artifacts of operant conditioning—not causal mediators. It is suggested that continued and excessive focus on Pavlovian processes that only have meager influence on operant behavior in general, and behavioral momentum more specifically, will likely be an empirical cul-de-sac for improvement of behavioral management for addiction relapse and other behavioral disorders.

Abstract control structures and the semantics of quantifiers

Abstract: Intuitively, a quantifier is any word or phrase that expresses a meaning that answers one of the questions "How many?" or "How much?" Typical English examples include all, no, many, few, some but not many, all but at most a very few, wherever, whoever, whoever there is, and also, it can be arguesd, only (Keenan, 1971), also (Cushing, 1978b), and the (Chomsky, 1977), In this paper we review an empirically motivated analysis of such meanings (Cushing, 1976; 1982a) and draw out its computational significance. For purposes of illustration, we focus our attention on the meanings expressed by the English words whatever and some , commonly represented, respectively, by the symbols "V" and "3", but most of what we say will generalize to the other meanings of this class.In Section I, we review the notion of satisfaction in a model, through which logical formulas are customarily imbued implicitly with meaning. In Section 2, we discuss quantifier relativization, a notion that becomes important for meanings other than V and 3. In Section 3, we use these two notions to characterize quantifier meanings as structured function of a certain sort. In Section 4, we discuss the computational significance of that analysis. In Section 5, we elaborate on this significance by outlining a notion of abstract control structure that the analysis instantiates.

Free in-network pricing as an entry-deterrence strategy

Abstract: This paper analyzes the entry-deterring power of free in-network pricing with multiple incumbents. Free in-network pricing may deter entry since it creates network externality that intensifies competition. One may expect that a particular entry-deterrent strategy adopted by all incumbents would have more entry-deterring power than when it is adopted by some incumbents only. However, we show that when free-in network plan has entry-deterrence power with two incumbent firms, sometimes one incumbent offering free in-network plan may have more entry deterrence power than both firms offering free in-network plans. In other words, we find that an asymmetric adoption of entry-deterrence strategies by the incumbent firms may be the best for entry deterrence. This result highlights the importance of the strategic choice of the pricing plan as a function of not only the likelihood/cost of entry but also of the plan choices of other firms, and may partially explain the asymmetric strategies used by competing firms.

Incumbent Responsiveness to Female Challengers

Abstract: How do congressional incumbents respond to challengers, particularly female challengers? This article extends recent research on the effect of congressional challengers on legislative agenda setting by analyzing the symbolic effect of a female challenger on bill sponsorship and cosponsorship of women's issue legislation. The results indicate incumbents who ran against female challengers in the previous election are more likely to respond to that constituency through their legislative activities. However, in practice, there may be few significant policy effects, as incumbents challenged by female opponents are more likely to cosponsor, rather than sponsor, women's issue legislation. ?Como responden los miembros del Congreso a los candidatos y especialmente a las candidatas que les disputan su reeleccion? Este articulo amplia investigaciones recientes sobre el efecto de la presion electoral sobre distritos seguros en la definicion de la agenda. Lo hace analizando el efecto simbolico que produce la presion electoral de candidatas femeninas en distritos cuyo representante actual ha sido reelegido varias veces enfocandose en que tanto dicho representante patrocina o copatrocina proyectos de ley favorables a las mujeres. Los resultados indican que los representantes que contendieron contra mujeres en elecciones previas estan mas inclinados a responder al electorado femenino a traves de sus actividades legislativas. En la practica, sin embargo, puede haber pocos efectos politicos significativos, ya que los representantes estan mas inclinados a copatrocinar que a patrocinar leyes que favorecen a las mujeres.