Establishing Foundational Nonarbitrary Distinctive and Categorical Relational Responding in Children with Autism.

The present study sought to evaluate a sequence of training procedures on the emergence of foundational relational responses that underly more complex distinctive (i.e., difference) and hierarchical (i.e., categorical) relational frames. In a multiple baseline design, an initial baseline period with three children with autism showed that the participants did not select nonidentical stimuli from an array when presented the contextual cue "different." Simple discrimination training was efficacious in establishing this response and the skill transferred to a novel set of stimuli without reinforcement. In a second baseline period, participants did not demonstrate conditional identical/nonidentical relational responses when provided the contextual cues "same" and "different." Conditional discrimination training with all three participants was again efficacious in establishing the conditional reflexive and distinctive responses and the skill transferred to untrained stimuli. In a third baseline period, participants did not demonstrate correct conditional categorization/sorting. Like in the prior two training conditions, training was efficacious in establishing the target response with a generalized transfer to untrained stimuli.

Comparison of train-of-four count by anesthesia providers versus TOF-Watch® SX: a prospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: Qualitative monitoring of neuromuscular blockade using the train-of-four (TOF) count is widely used to determine the timing and dose of reversal agents for neuromuscular blockade. We compared TOF count measured manually by anesthesia providers with that determined by TOF-Watch® SX. METHODS: This prospective observational cohort study included patients who were American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status III or less and undergoing elective surgery. During recovery from an intubating dose of rocuronium or vecuronium, the TOF count was measured every 15 sec using TOF-Watch SX. Anesthesia providers assessed the TOF count twice at each level of TOF-count, 15 sec after the TOF-Watch SX count increased to the next level and then two to five minutes later. RESULTS: In 75 patients, 687 observations were collected. There was agreement between the TOF-Watch SX and the subjective assessment by the provider in 386 (56%) of these observations. The agreement was 87% at TOF counts of 0 and 4. In the 409 observations at TOF counts 1, 2, and 3, the agreement was 36%. Among the 264 observations with disagreement at these TOF counts, providers assessed a higher TOF count in 254 (96%) observations and a lower count in 10 (4%) observations compared with the TOF-Watch SX. CONCLUSION: Anesthesia providers report higher values of TOF count compared with the TOF-Watch SX, especially at intermediate levels of neuromuscular blockade. Since the dosing guidelines for the timing and dose of reversal agents are based on the TOF count derived from the TOF-Watch SX, a manually assessed TOF count may lead to inadequate dosing and/or premature administration of reversal agents.

Perceptual training for visual search.

People are better at visual search than the best fully automated methods. Despite this, visual search remains a difficult perceptual task. The goal of this investigation was to experimentally test the ways in which visual search performance could be improved through two categories of training interventions: perceptual training and conceptual training. To determine the effects of each training on a later performance task, the two types of trainings were manipulated using a between-subjects design (conceptual vs. perceptual × training present vs. training absent). Perceptual training led to speed and accuracy improvements in visual search. Issues with the design and administration of the conceptual training limited conclusions on its effectiveness but provided useful lessons for conceptual training design. The results suggest that when the visual search task involves detecting heterogeneous or otherwise unpredictable stimuli, perceptual training can improve visual search performance. Similarly, careful consideration of the performance task and training design is required to evaluate the effectiveness of conceptual training. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: Visual search is a difficult, yet critical, task in industries such as baggage screening and radiology. This study investigated the effectiveness of perceptual training for visual search. The results suggest that when visual search involves detecting heterogeneous or otherwise unpredictable stimuli, perceptual training may improve the speed and accuracy of visual search.