Individual and combined effects of noncontingent reinforcement and response blocking on automatically reinforced problem behavior

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) and response blocking are 2 common interventions for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. We implemented NCR and blocking with 1 boy and found this combined intervention to be effective at decreasing high rates of automatically reinforced pica. With another child, we compared the effects of blocking alone to the combined intervention. With the third child, we compared NCR alone and blocking alone to the combined intervention. Results showed that the combined intervention was effective at reducing automatically reinforced problem behavior while moderate to high levels of item engagement maintained. When evaluated individually, neither NCR nor blocking was sufficient to reduce problem behavior to clinically significant levels.     

An evaluation of a punisher assessment for decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior

We extended research on the identification and evaluation of potential punishers for decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior in four individuals with autism spectrum disorder. A punisher selection interview was conducted with lead clinicians to identify socially acceptable punishers. During the treatment evaluation, treatment phases were introduced sequentially and included noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), NCR and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), and NCR‐and‐DRA with punishment. During the NCR‐and‐DRA with punishment phase, four to five potential punishers were evaluated using a multielement design. Dependent measures included the target problem behavior, appropriate item engagement, and emotional responding. For all participants, NCR‐and‐DRA was not effective and punishment was necessary. However, the most effective punisher identified in the context of NCR‐and‐DRA differed across participants.     

Further evaluation of methods to identify matched stimulation

The effects of preferred stimulation on the vocal stereotypy of 2 individuals were evaluated in two experiments. The results of Experiment 1 showed that (a) the vocal stereotypy of both participants persisted in the absence of social consequences, (b) 1 participant manipulated toys that did and did not produce auditory stimulation, but only sound-producing toys decreased his vocal stereotypy, and (c) only noncontingent music decreased vocal stereotypy for the other participant, but sterotypy paradoxically increased when toys were presented with music. Using a three-component multiple schedule, the results of Experiment 2 showed that the vocal stereotypy of both participants remained below preintervention levels following the removal of auditory stimulation and that 1 participant's vocal stereotypy increased following the removal of contingent reprimands. These patterns suggest that auditory stimulation functioned as an abolishing operation for vocal stereotypy and reprimands functioned as an establishing operation for vocal stereotypy. Together, the two experiments provide a method for identifying alternative stimulation that may substitute for automatically reinforced behavior.     

Response competition and stimulus preference in the treatment of automatically reinforced behavior: a comparison

Clinicians are particularly challenged by the development of interventions for behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement because reinforcers that maintain the responses often cannot be directly observed or manipulated. Researchers have conducted either preference assessments or competing items assessments when developing effective treatments for behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. However, interventions based on these assessments have not been directly compared. The current study evaluated procedures to make such a comparison. High-competition items resulted in greater reductions in vocal stereotypy than did high-preference items for a preschool boy with autism.     

A review of environmental enrichment as treatment for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement

We reviewed studies that used environmental enrichment as treatment for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. A search of behavior analytic journals produced 71 publications with a total of 265 applications of environmental enrichment used alone or in conjunction with alternative behavior manipulations (e.g., prompting, reinforcement) and problem behavior manipulations (e.g., blocking, restraint). Environmental enrichment, as a sole intervention, was efficacious in 41% of the sample. Alternative behavior manipulations, problem behavior manipulations, and a combination of both improved the overall efficacy of environmental enrichment. We discuss factors that may influence the efficacy of environmental enrichment, current trends in research on this topic, and implications for both practitioners and researchers.     

Multiple schedules of conjugate reinforcement and extinction: A translational model for assessing automatically reinforced behavior

This study evaluated the extent to which a conjugate reinforcement schedule (CONJ) involving a contingency between pedaling a stationary bike and viewing a preferred movie could serve as a translational preparation for the analysis of automatically reinforced behavior. In part, researchers examined whether providing participants with either an accurate or an inaccurate rule about the extinction (EXT) component of a multiple schedule (MULT) contributed to the development of control by the MULT (CONJ EXT) schedule. Results show schedule control emerged for four of five participants who received the accurate rule and none of the five participants who received the inaccurate rule. In addition, participants who received accurate rules typically increased pedaling during CONJ components that followed two consecutive EXT components, suggesting that they experienced deprivation for audio and visual stimulation generated by pedaling. These preliminary findings suggest that researchers could use this translational preparation to identify matched interventions for some automatically reinforced behavior.     

Evaluation of the immediate and subsequent effects of response interruption and redirection on vocal stereotypy

We evaluated 2 3-component multiple-schedule sequences-a response interruption and redirection (RIRD) treatment sequence and a no-interaction control sequence-using a multielement design. With this design, we were able to evaluate the immediate and subsequent effects of RIRD on 2 participants' vocal stereotypy. For both participants, RIRD produced an immediate decrease in vocal stereotypy and did not result in a subsequent increase.     

Increasing item engagement and decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior within a modified competing stimulus assessment

A competing stimulus assessment (CSA) is commonly used to identify leisure items for use in treatments designed to decrease automatically reinforced problem behavior. However, this type of assessment may not yield useful information if participants do not readily engage with leisure items. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a modified CSA that included additional treatment components (i.e., prompting, prompting plus differential reinforcement of alternative behavior). The modified CSA identified the treatment components and leisure items that were most effective for increasing leisure-item engagement and decreasing problem behavior for each participant. Modified CSA outcomes maintained during an extended treatment analysis in a natural setting and when intervention components were faded.     

Further evaluation of treatments for vocal stereotypy: Response interruption and redirection and response cost

The purpose of this study was to expand on research on treatments for stereotypy by evaluating the effects of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) and response cost (RC) alone and as a treatment package on vocal stereotypy. Treatment phases included RIRD, RC, and response interruption and redirection plus response cost (RIRD + RC). The efficacy of these treatments was determined by measuring duration of stereotypy in session and during treatment intervals. Vocal stereotypy decreased in all three treatment conditions; however, when data analysis included stereotypy occurring during treatment intervals, stereotypy during the RC condition occurred at similar levels as baseline for one treatment evaluation phase for Karl and both treatment evaluations phases for Jon. We discuss implications of these findings, limitations of the current study, and areas for future research.     

Multiple schedules in practical application: Research trends and implications for future investigation

Researchers began studying multiple schedules in basic laboratories, but recent advances have extended research on multiple schedules to a wide variety of socially significant applications, especially during the last decade. Applied researchers have used multiple schedules to (a) promote stimulus control over high‐rate appropriate behaviors, (b) thin the schedule of reinforcement following functional communication training, and (c) obtain stimulus control over problem behaviors maintained by automatic reinforcement. In the current paper, we reviewed 31 studies with 147 applications identified through a search of the applied literature on multiple schedules. Using these studies, we (a) reviewed the empirical literature on multiple schedules, (b) recommended multiple‐schedule procedures that serve as best practice guidelines for applied behavior analysts, (c) identified the generality and boundaries of current knowledge about the effectiveness of multiple schedules, and (d) critically analyzed the literature to provide directions for future multiple‐schedule research.     

Reinforcement of human observing behavior by a stimulue correlated with extinction or increased effort

Young men pulled a plunger on mixed and multiple schedules in which periods of variable-interval monetary reinforcement alternated irregularly with periods of extinction (Experiment 1), or in which reinforcement was contingent on different degrees of effort in the two alternating components (Experiment 2). In the baseline conditions, the pair of stimuli correlated with the schedule components could be obtained intermittently by pressing either of two observing keys. In the main conditions, pressing one of the keys continued to produce both discriminative stimuli as appropriate. Pressing the other key produced only the stimulus correlated with variable-interval reinforcement or reduced effort; presses on this key were ineffective during periods of extinction or increased effort. In both experiments, key presses producing both stimuli occurred at higher rates than key presses producing only one, demonstrating enhancement of observing behavior by a stimulus correlated with the less favorable of two contingencies. A control experiment showed that stimulus change alone was not an important factor in the maintenance of the behavior. These findings suggest that negative as well as positive stimuli may play a role in the conditioned reinforcement of human behavior.     

Response acquisition under targeted percentile schedules: a continuing quandary for molar models of operant behavior.

The number of responses rats made in a "run" of consecutive left-lever presses, prior to a trial-ending right-lever press, was differentiated using a targeted percentile procedure. Under the nondifferential baseline, reinforcement was provided with a probability of .33 at the end of a trial, irrespective of the run on that trial. Most of the 30 subjects made short runs under these conditions, with the mean for the group around three. A targeted percentile schedule was next used to differentiate run length around the target value of 12. The current run was reinforced if it was nearer the target than 67% of those runs in the last 24 trials that were on the same side of the target as the current run. Programming reinforcement in this way held overall reinforcement probability per trial constant at .33 while providing reinforcement differentially with respect to runs more closely approximating the target of 12. The mean run for the group under this procedure increased to approximately 10. Runs approaching the target length were acquired even though differentiated responding produced the same probability of reinforcement per trial, decreased the probability of reinforcement per response, did not increase overall reinforcement rate, and generally substantially reduced it (i.e., in only a few instances did response rate increase sufficiently to compensate for the increase in the number of responses per trial). Models of behavior predicated solely on molar reinforcement contingencies all predict that runs should remain short throughout this experiment, because such runs promote both the most frequent reinforcement and the greatest reinforcement per press. To the contrary, 29 of 30 subjects emitted runs in the vicinity of the target, driving down reinforcement rate while greatly increasing the number of presses per pellet. These results illustrate the powerful effects of local reinforcement contingencies in changing behavior, and in doing so underscore a need for more dynamic quantitative formulations of operant behavior to supplement or supplant the currently prevalent static ones.     

In vitro reinforcement of hippocampal bursting: a search for Skinner's atoms of behavior.

A novel "in vitro reinforcement" paradigm was used to investigate Skinner's (1953) hypotheses (a) that operant behavior is made up of infinitesimal "response elements" or "behavioral atoms" and (b) that these very small units, and not whole responses, are the functional units of reinforcement. Our tests are based on the assumption that behavioral atoms may plausibly be represented at the neural level by individual cellular responses. As a first approach, we attempted to reinforce the bursting responses of hippocampal units in a highly reduced brain-slice preparation with local micropressure applications of behaviorally reinforcing dopaminergic drugs. The same injections were administered independently of bursting to provide a "noncontingent" control for nonspecific stimulation or facilitation of firing. It was found that the bursting responses of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons may be progressively facilitated in a dose-related manner by response-contingent (but not noncontingent) injections of dopamine itself, the dopamine D1-preferring agonist SKF 82958, the D3-preferring agonist quinpirole, and the D2-like selective agonist (+)-4-propyl-9 hydroxynapthoxazine. These findings support the conclusion that unit bursting responses can be reinforced in vitro in hippocampal slices, and they further suggest that the same dopamine receptor subtypes are involved in both cellular and behavioral operant conditioning. The results thus provide indirect support for Skinner's atoms-of-behavior hypothesis.     

Through neural stimulation to behavior manipulation: a novel method for analyzing dynamical cognitive models

The dynamical systems' approach to cognition (Dynamicism) promises computational models that effectively embed cognitive processing within its more natural behavioral context. Dynamical cognitive models also pose difficult, analytical challenges, which motivate the development of new analytical methodology. We start by illustrating the challenge by applying two conventional analytical methods to a well-known Dynamicist model of categorical perception. We then introduce our own analysis, which works by analogy with neural stimulation methods, and which yields some novel insights into the way the model works. We then extend and apply the method to a second Dynamicist model, which captures the key psychophysical trends that emerge when humans and animals compare two numbers. The results of the analysis-which reveals units with tuning functions that are monotonically related to the magnitudes of the numbers that the agents must compare-offer a clear contribution to the contentious debate concerning the way number information is encoded in the brain.