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History
and Implications of the Paideia Personalized Education (PPE) System
F. Mechner, 2012.
This article describes
the Foundation's activities and goals in the area of education and
school reform.
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
F. Mechner, 2011.
A formal symbolic
language codifies its discipline's basic units and the relationships
among these. In the sciences, formal symbolic languages codify the
known events that can be manipulated and controlled -- the independent
variables, rather than their empirically observed effects. The symbols
of the behavioral contingency language codify available behavior, its
assumed potential consequences, and parameters of these. This language
can accommodate the complexity of the behavioral contingencies that are
at the core of such diverse fields as education, sociology, economics,
health, business management, law, public affairs, and activity that
impacts the environment. Formal symbolic languages can accelerate the
progress and maturation of their disciplines by (1) defining basic
units, (2) making relationships among these visually accessible, (3)
identifying their parameters, (4) recording and communicating the
discipline's knowledge, (5) categorizing and conceptualizing it, and
(6) teaching it. Examples are presented to show how the present formal
symbolic language can perform these vital functions in the behavioral
sciences. One example demonstrates how the language makes explicit the
parameters of the traditional three-term operant contingency. Another
demonstrates how a wide range of behavioral contingencies can be
conceptualized and grouped, including prevention, deception, theory of
mind situations, contingencies that change, discounting contingencies,
and economic phenomena. The methodological significance of the
contingency language for the behavioral sciences is discussed.
Mechner, F. (2011). Why behavior analysis needs a formal symbolic
language for codifying
behavioral
contingencies. European Journal of
Behavioral Analysis, 12, 93-104.
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
F. Mechner, 2008.
This is the PDF file of
the published paper:
Mechner, F. (2008). Behavioral contingency analysis. Behavioral Processes, 78, 124-144.
A more detailed treatment of the subject of this paper, with an
expanded range of examples, is provided in the paper "Applications of
the Language for Codifying Behavioral Continencies," available below.
Applications
of the Language for Codifying Behavioral
Contingencies
F. Mechner, 2008.
This is an expanded
version of the paper "Behavioral Contingency Analysis" published in
Behavioral Processes (PDF version available above). It presents a
formal language for the codification of behavioral contingencies, and
illustrates the application of this language to the analysis of
behavioral contingencies in such diverse fields as economics, law,
business management, clinical psychology, education, public affairs,
games, and military planning.
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
F. Mechner, 2008.
This is the PDF file
of the published paper:
Mechner, F. (2008). An invitation to behavior analysts: Review of In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a
New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of
Behavior, 90, 235-248.
It discusses the reasons
why the study of this book can be valuable to behavior analysts.
It analyses and attempts to bring into perspective criticisms that have
been leveled against certain aspects of the language used by some
neuroscientists, opportunities for productive collaboration between
behavior analysts and neuroscientists, the value of heuristics put
forward by Kandel for locating important research problems, and the
lessons that can be gleaned from the book for recognizing potentially
great achievers and for producing good scientists.
Summary
of Neuroscience Information in "In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a
New Science of Mind" by Eric R. Kandel
F. Mechner, 2008.
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.
Learning
and Practicing Skilled Performance.
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
F. Mechner, et al., 1994. Cambridge Center
for
Behavioral Studies Monograph Series.
The "revealed operant" is intended as a
laboratory research model of any operant response. Its purpose is to
permit the internal structure and properties of operants to be recorded
and studied. With Commentaries by Donald M. Baer, M. Jackson Marr, John
A. Nevin, and Thom Verhave. DOWNLOAD
What
Are the Effects of Reinforcer Presentations?
F. Mechner, 1994. Cambridge Center for
Behavioral Studies Monograph Series.
Chapter 9 of the monograph The Revealed
Operant: A Way to Study the Characteristics of Individual Occurrences
of Operant Responses (available in full above). This chapter
develops the thesis that the usual effect of a reinforcer is not to
increase the strength of the preceding behavior, but rather to
perpetuate its direction of change. The Foundation is currently
conducting a research program to address this issue experimentally,
using shaping procedures for various types of revealed operants. DOWNLOAD
Methodological Points for Behavioral
Scientists
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
F. Mechner, 1977. The Mechner Foundation
website.
Programmed instruction was defined in the
early 1960s as using active response by the
learner, immediate confirmation of correct responses, and successive
approximations
towards the knowledge to be learned. This paper, written in 1977,
proposes some newer and presumably more effective techniques of
programmed instruction and the theoretical
justification of those techniques. DOWNLOAD
The Contingency as an Independent Variable of
Social Interaction
K. Weingarten & F. Mechner, 1966. T.
Verhave (Ed.), Readings in the experimental analysis of behavior.
This paper shows how the Mechner notation
system can be applied to behavioral
contingencies that involve the interactions of two or more individuals
in such dynamics as cooperation, competition (both for individuals and
groups) economic interactions, blackmail, flattery, insults, etc. DOWNLOAD
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
2.
Mozart: Turkish Rondo from Sonata in A
3.
Introduction to Sonata Pathetique
4.
Beethoven: Sonata Pathetique, 2nd Movement
5.
Introduction to Minuet from French Suite
6.
Bach: Minuet from French Suite in B Minor
7.
Introduction to Fantasy Impromptu
8.
Chopin: Fantasy Impromptu
9.
Introduction to Waltz in E Minor
10.
Chopin: Waltz in E Minor
11.
Introduction to Impromptu in E Flat
12.
Schubert: Impromptu in E Flat
13.
Introduction to Nocturne in C Sharp Minor
14.
Chopin: Nocturne in C Sharp Minor
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
Prince
Princess
Heart
Death
Victory
Epilogue
SOFTWARE
Revealed Operant using Keystrokes
Software for designing and programming experiments
using a revealed operant that
consists of sequences of keystrokes on a computer keyboard. This
software, developed by
David A. Mechner, functions like a menu for the design of experiments
that use this type of revealed operant. The experimenter can specify
dozens of parameters for a wide range of experiments.
System requirements: Windows 95 or newer, VGA monitor. DOWNLOAD
Revealed Operant using Graphics Tablet
This software, developed by Martin Silbernagl, is used
to design and program experiments using a revealed operant that
consists of drawing lines on a graphics tablet. Available parameters
include the length and slope of the drawn lines, the speed with which
they are drawn, and the pressure applied to the stylus. The software
can be used to design a wide variety of experiments that use this type
of operant.
System requirements: Windows 95 or newer, VGA monitor. DOWNLOAD
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