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DOCUMENTS
The
exhibits mentioned in the article are available as a
separate PDF document here. Why
Behavior Analysis Needs a Formal Symbolic Language for Codifying
Behavioral Contingencies Uses and Functions of a Formal Symbolic Language for Codifying Behavioral Contingencies This PowerPoint presentation was made at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2010. It is directed at a highly sophisticated audience of leaders in the field of behavior analysis. Effects of Sequential Aspects of Learning History F. Mechner & L. Jones, 2011. In a series of five experiments, a number of similar operant classes, consisting of keystroke sequences on a computer keyboard, were learned and practiced in succession by human subjects. Each experiment consisted of learning sessions spread over several days, separated by either elapsed time or interpolated sessions in which unrelated but similar operant classes were performed. The learning sessions were followed by a final test session in which the subjects were required to choose and perform one from presented sets of three operant classes. The test was designed to be stressful by the imposition of time pressure and certain other contingencies. In the test session, preference was commonly shown for operant classes from the first- and/or last-learned groups -- termed primacy and recency effects respectively -- with minimal preference for the middle groups. Most subjects showed either primacy or recency effects, and relatively few showed both; the subjects that showed mainly recency effects also made the largest number of errors during initial learning of the last set of operant classes. In addition, certain noncriterial characteristics of these operants were measured. These revealed other effects, in particular the association of performance errors with both greater resurgencew of older behavior patterns and greater numbers of new behavior patterns. Mechner, F., & Jones, L. (2011). Effects of sequential aspects of learning history. Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis, 37, 109-138.
Chess as a Behavioral Model for Cognitive Skill Research: Review of Blindfold Chess by Eliot Hearst and John Knott F. Mechner, 2010. This multifaceted work on chess played without sight of the pieces is a sophisticated psychologist's examination of this topic and of chess skill in general, including a detailed and comprehensive historical account. This review builds on Hearst and Knott's assertion that chess can provide a uniquely useful model for research on several issues in the area of cognitive skill and imagery. A key issue is the relationship between viewing a stimulus and mental imagery in the light of blindfold chess masters' consistent reports that they do not use or have images. This review also proposes a methodology for measuring and quantifying an individual's skill shortfall from a theoretical maximum. This methodology, based on a 1951 proposal by Claude Shannon, is applicable to any choice situation in which all of the available choices are known. The proposed "Proficiency" measure reflects the equivalent number of "yes-no" questions that would have been required to arrive at a best choice, considering also the time consumed. As the measure provides a valid and nonarbitrary way to compare different skills and the effects of different independent variables on a given skill, it may have a wide range of applications in cognitive skill research, skill training, and education. Mechner, F. (2010). Chess as a behavioral model for cognitive skill research: Review of Blindfold Chess by Eliot Hearst
and John Knott. Journal of the
Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 94, 373-386.
Anatomy of Deception: A Behavioral Contingency Analysis F. Mechner, 2010. Deception, a basic biological function of most forms of life, is analyzed in terms of its behavioral contingency components. The analysis focuses on types of deception that are prevalent in human affairs, including interpersonal relationships and economics, and shows how diverse forms of deception can be categorized according to whether they are disadvantageous to the deceived or not, direct or indirect, based on misperception, non-perception or misprediction, whether the agent of deception is animate or inanimate, and, if animate, whether the deception is intentional or unintentional, gradual, or sudden. For the PDF of the published paper as it appeared in Behavioral Processes, click here. Mechner, F. (2010). Anatomy of deception: A behavioral contingency analysis. Behavioral Processes, 84, 516-520.
Formal Parallels Among Derivatives, Ponzi Processes, and Bubbles: A Behavioral Contingency Analysis F. Mechner, 2010. Given that all economic phenomena consist of human behavior, how can behavioral science help us understand them? We are particularly interested in understanding those phenomena that have the greatest impact on our lives and on society, like those that involve large-scale property transfers -- buying and selling, lending and borrowing, aggregation and partitioning of property, and government interventions in these. This paper seeks to show how the application of behavioral contingency analysis can advance such an understanding. Analyzing Variable Behavioral Contingencies: Are Certain Complex Skills Homologous With Locomotion? F. Mechner, 2009. This is the PDF file of the published paper: Mechner, F. (2009). Analyzing variable behavioral contingencies: Are certain complex skills homologous with locomotion? Behavioral Processes, 81, 316-321. It shows how behavioral contingency analysis can demonstrate that locomotion behavior is the phylogenetic ancestor and biological homologue of certain complex verbal processes such as reading or copying. More broadly it illustrates how behavioral contingency analysis can show how behavioral phenomena that may seem to be unrelated actually involve the same underlying behavioral processes. Behavioral
Contingency Analysis Applications
of the Language for Codifying Behavioral
Contingencies The
paper
represents a
comprehensive update of the Mechner Notation System presented in “A
notation
system for the description of behavioral procedures" (JEAB, 1959), and
the 1966
Weingarten and Mechner paper “The contingency as an independent
variable of
social interaction,” both of which are available for downloading on
this website. Review
of "In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a
New Science of Mind" by Eric R. Kandel This is the PDF file
of the published paper: Summary
of Neuroscience Information in "In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a
New Science of Mind" by Eric R. Kandel This summary of
neuroscience information covered in Eric R. Kandel’s book In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a
New Science of Mind is presented in a dry style for reference
purposes only. It omits many of the explanatory details and colorful
background and historical information that can be found in the book. F. Mechner, 1994. The Mechner Foundation website. This book develops a theory and technology of skilled performance, based on research in psychology and physiology. Examples are drawn from various performance disciplines, with special emphasis on pianism. It is 101 pages in length and can be downloaded. View TABLE OF CONTENTS Download FULL BOOK The Revealed Operant: A Way to Study the
Characteristics of Individual Occurrences of Operant Responses What
Are the Effects of Reinforcer Presentations? F. Mechner, 1993. The Mechner Foundation website. This paper discusses the status of hypothetical constructs, models, and explanatory fictions in science generally, and in psychology in particular. It explores possible reasons why the problem is particularly insidious in the behavioral sciences. DOWNLOAD A
New Approach to Programmed Instruction The Contingency as an Independent Variable of
Social Interaction
MUSIC Mechner's involvements with music have included piano
performance, composition, study and analysis of certain piano pieces in
the classical repertory, and the theory and technology of effective
practicing. The 2005 Mechner Piano
Recital (tracks below) illustrates
Mechner's approach to the performance of seven pieces from the
classical piano repertory. To download a track (instead of
opening a new window to play it online), right click on
its name and select "Save Link As...". 1.
Introduction to Turkish Rondo In the download "Learning and Practicing Skilled Performance"
(in Documents, above), the general principles and technology presented
are based on piano learning and practicing, and make frequent
references to the piano pedagogy literature. Mechner composed the soundtracks for two of his son Jordan Mechner's best-selling computer games -- Karateka, published in 1984, and the original (1989-1991) versions of the Prince of Persia games. Midi files of some of the themes from the original Prince of Persia are available below (to download a track, right click on its name and select "Save Link As..."). Prologue
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