USING HIGH-PROBABILITY INSTRUCTION SEQUENCES WITH FADING TO INCREASE STUDENT COMPLIANCE DURING TRANSITIONS

Making efficient transitions from one instructional activity to another has been shown to increase academic learning time and therefore student achievement. Because compliance with teacher instructions is a prerequisite for efficient transitions, we sought to determine if high-probability (high-p) instruction sequences issued by a classroom teacher would increase student compliance and decrease latency to comply during transitions. Three children in a regular second-grade classroom participated. Each day at the beginning of morning calendar time, the teacher issued five instructions to the class as a group while compliance data were recorded for the 3 target students. Following baseline, a multielement design was used to examine the effects of the high-p instruction sequence. We then systematically faded the number of instructions included in the high-p sequence as a means of transferring stimulus control to low-probability instructions. The procedure was effective for 2 of the 3 participants, and the results were maintained at 2-and 3-week follow-up. The implications of these findings for group applications of the high-p instruction sequence in regular education classrooms are discussed.     

What is an extinction burst?: A case study in the analysis of transitional behavior

Among the tactics of experimental science discussed by Sidman (1960) were those used to study transitional behavior. Drawing from his insights, this review considers an often cited but infrequently analyzed aspect of the transition from reinforcement to extinction: the extinction burst. In particular, the review seeks to answer the question posed in its title. The generic definition of an extinction burst as an increase in response rate following the onset of extinction is found to be wanting, raising more questions than it answers. Because questions of definition in science usually come down to those of measurement, the answer to the title's question is suggested to be found in how behavior prior to extinction is maintained and measured, when and how extinction is introduced, and where in time and how behavior early in extinction is measured. This analysis suggests that a single, uniform, and precise definition of the extinction burst is misguided. Examining how each of these facets contributes to what has been described generically as the extinction burst is a small, but important, part of Sidman's methodological legacy to the experimental analysis of behavior.     

Using warnings to reduce categorical false memories in younger and older adults

Warnings about memory errors can reduce their incidence, although past work has largely focused on associative memory errors. The current study sought to explore whether warnings could be tailored to specifically reduce false recall of categorical information in both younger and older populations. Before encoding word pairs designed to induce categorical false memories, half of the younger and older participants were warned to avoid committing these types of memory errors. Older adults who received a warning committed fewer categorical memory errors, as well as other types of semantic memory errors, than those who did not receive a warning. In contrast, young adults' memory errors did not differ for the warning versus no-warning groups. Our findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of warnings at reducing categorical memory errors in older adults, perhaps by supporting source monitoring, reduction in reliance on gist traces, or through effective metacognitive strategies.     

Prevalence of the extinction burst and its attenuation during treatment

Although extinction has been an effective treatment for a variety of behavior disorders, its use may be associated with several adverse side effects, the most common being an initial increase in the frequency of the target response, called an "extinction burst." We attempted to determine the prevalence of the extinction burst in applied research and its possible attenuation with other operant procedures. An analysis of 113 sets of extinction data indicated that bursting may not be as common as previously assumed (it occurred in 24% of the cases) and may be less likely when extinction is implemented with alternative procedures rather than as the sole intervention (bursting was evident in 12% of the former cases and 36% of the latter).     

The effects of work- and family-related transitions on young people’s perception of being adult

Using a nationwide sample of 2656 eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds, the first part of the present study addressed the question of how non-traditional as compared to traditional living arrangements related to young people’s self-perception of being either adolescent or adult. Being in a romantic relationship increased the likelihood of feeling adult. Modern adult living arrangements (living alone in a single household or sharing an apartment with peers) increased the likelihood of feeling adolescent. Employing a longitudinal sample of 461 twenty- to twenty-seven-year-olds, changes in job status and sources of income were studied with regard to their connections to the emergence of subjective adulthood or the regression to subjective adolescence, respectively. No association between adult or adolescent self-perception and issues of work and material autonomy was found, but the emergence of subjective adulthood was related to romantic relationships and parenthood. Findings are discussed with reference to young people’s volatile living conditions and transient commitments implied by social change.     

初治肺结核患者服药依从性的相关因素分析

为了了解初治肺结核患者服药依从性状况及影响因素,采用分层整群随机抽样方法抽取样本,利用自制调查表和Morisky依从性量表获取数据信息,并用SPSS 16.0软件进行统计分析.参与调查的578例初治肺结核患者中,依从性低组为194例,占33.6％,依从性正常组为384例,占66.4％.影响服药依从性的主要因素为职业、治疗时期、生活满意度、病情严重程度等（P＜0.05）.可见初治肺结核患者不规则服药受多方面因素影响,应加强各方督导,提高服药依从性.