THE AVERSIVE CONTROL OF EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION BY CHRONIC ALCOHOLICS IN THE LABORATORY SETTING1

The efficacy of several methods of aversive control of excessive alcoholic drinking was investigated in a semi-naturalistic setting that permitted objective measurement of the drinking behavior of chronic alcoholics. Studies 1A and 1B compared an escape-conditioning procedure with a control procedure in which aversive electrical shocks were administered before drinking. Neither procedure effectively decreased subjects' pretreatment, baseline alcoholic drinking behavior. In Study 2, aversive response-contingent shocks effectively suppressed alcoholic drinking, but drinking subsequently returned to its former levels after withdrawal of punishment. Self-administered shock appeared to be as effective as experimenter-administered punishment for controlling drinking, even when the punishment contingency was faded out over time. Study 3 replicated the suppressant effect of punishment, and demonstrated that contingent shock was significantly more effective than yoked, noncontingent shock. A direct comparison of self- versus experimenter-administered punishment suggested a possible slight advantage for the latter.     

Infant cry as a graded signal: Experimental modifications of durations of pauses and expiratory sounds alter mothers' perceptions

The purpose of this study was to examine experimentally the effects of the temporal structure of infant crying on mothers' perceptions. Eighteen mothers of young infants rated variations of a 10-sec cry in which durations of all expiratory sounds and pauses were digitally lengthened and shortened by 50%. Results showed a general monotonic effect in which cries with increasingly shorter pauses were perceived to be more arousing, aversive, informative, and rough. Similarly, cries with short expirations were perceived to be more rhythmic and rough than cries with long expirations. The strength of the monotonic effect for pause duration on ratings of urgency interacted with the duration of expiratory sounds such that the combination of short pauses and short expirations created the greatest perceived urgency. This study replicates and extends previous findings which show that gradations in acoustic features of crying are associated with gradations in the intensity of adults' perceptions.     

EFFECTS OF PROBLEM-BASED SCHEDULING ON PATIENT WAITING AND STAFF UTILIZATION OF TIME IN A PEDIATRIC CLINIC

The patient scheduling system in a pediatric outpatient clinic was changed from time-based to problem-based in an A-B-A-B reversal design. During baseline, time-based scheduling was in effect with patients being scheduled in 15-min periods regardless of presenting problem. During intervention, a receptionist matched client problems with time slots so that a more extensive treatment was allocated more time. Problem-based scheduling resulted in a substantial decrease in mean number of minutes spent in clinic across all presenting problems. Waiting time increased to baseline levels when problem-based scheduling was removed and decreased again on reintroduction of the program. A follow-up check conducted 1 month after the end of the second intervention phase revealed that the effects were maintained. The problem-based schedule also resulted in an increase in the proportion of extra time that medical staff had available and produced a positive consumer response.     

Sign-tracking in aversive conditioning

Two experiments were conducted to determine if rats tend to avoid contact with a stimulus that signals the occurrence of shock and contact a stimulus that signals the nonoccurrence of shock. The conditioned stimulus was a 60-sec platform presentation, and the unconditioned stimulus was a 2-sec inescapable shock. In each experiment, the emphasis was on two types of Pavlovian pairings: forward pairing in which each platform presentation was followed by shock, and backward pairing in which each platform presentation was preceded by shock and followed by a lengthy shock-free interval. Experiment 1 showed that in comparison with Random and CS-only procedures, the backward procedure produced a significant increase in approach and contact with the platform, but the forward procedure failed to produce a significant decrease in contact with the platform. Experiment 2, in which all groups were roughly equated for baseline levels of platform preference, demonstrated strong effects of both forward and backward conditioning. The experiments provide evidence for an aversive sign-tracking system in which animals' tendencies to withdraw from or approach and contact a platform CS are determined by the Pavlovian contingencies which render it a reliable signal for the occurrence or nonoccurrence of shock.     

THE RELATION OF FOOD QUANTITY TO RUMINATION BEHAVIOR

Preliminary work suggested that the quantity of food ingested by retarded individuals who usually ruminated following meals was related to the frequency and duration of ruminating responses. This possible relation was experimentally examined by systematically varying food quantity from regular portions to satiation levels for three retarded individuals who exhibited high levels of ruminating. A clear functional relation of food quantity to ruminating emerged, with satiation procedures producing rapid and large decreases in the relatively high frequencies and durations of ruminating characteristic of baseline food quantity conditions.     

A randomized control trial of integrated care for families managing infant colic

This article presents a randomized clinical trial examining the effectiveness of a unique model of integrated care for the treatment of infant colic. Families seeking help for infant colic were randomized to either the family‐centered treatment (TX; n = 31) or standard pediatric care (SC; n = 31). All parents completed 3 days of Infant Behavior Diaries (Barr et al., 1998) and the Colic Symptom Checklist (Lester, 1997 ), Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1984 ), and Parenting Stress Index 3rd ed.‐SF (Abidin, 1995 ). TX families were seen three times by a pediatrician and a mental health clinician within 1, 2, and 6 weeks of baseline data. TX families received individualized treatment plans addressing problem areas of sleep, feeding, routine, and family mental health. SC families were seen only by their own healthcare provider. All families were visited at home by a research assistant to retrieve data at 2, 6, and 10 weeks after baseline. Family‐based treatment accelerated the rate of reduction of infant crying faster than did standard pediatric care. Infants in the TX group had more hours of sleep at 2 weeks posttreatment and spent less time feeding at 2, 6, and 10 weeks posttreatment than did SC infants. Results indicate that individualized family‐based treatment reduces infant colic more rapidly than does standard pediatric care.     

Hearing test for a profoundly retarded human subject

A profoundly retarded 28-yr.-old female was trained to avoid an aversive but harmless shock to the foot by withdrawing the foot upon presentation of a visual cue. She was later unable to learn to avoid the shock consistently upon presentation of an auditory cue, confirming the ward staff's contention that she had a hearing disability. The audiometric technique using negative reinforcement bridges the problems of (1) difficulty in finding positive reinforcers for patients of low functioning and (2) satiation which may result from the continued use of positive reinforcers. The use of aversive stimuli raises ethical concerns. The growing trend in research is that aversive stimuli are permissible for individuals for whom positive techniques have not been effective and when used by trained professionals under careful review.     

Effects of response-dependent and independent electric shock on schedule-induced polydipsia

In Experiment I, lever pressing by rats was maintained by the delivery of food pellets under a 45-sec fixed-interval schedule. Fixed-time 180-sec and fixed-interval 180-sec schedules of shock delivery were systematically superimposed on the baseline food schedule to study effects on schedule-induced water intake. Response-dependent shock had little, if any, effect on water intake, whereas shocks independent of lever pressing attenuated fluid intake. In Experiment 2, rats received food pellets under a fixed-time 60-sec schedule. Electric shock delivered concurrently under a variable-time 180-sec schedule, but never while the animal was licking or within 5 sec after licking terminated, led to similar attenuation of water intake. These findings suggest that schedule-induced polydipsia is sensitive to differences in the functional properties of response-independent and dependent electric shock.     

Effects on responding of mixed and multiple schedules of signalled and unsignalled response-dependent electric-shock delivery

Responding in two rats was maintained under mixed and multiple variable-interval 35-sec variable-interval 35-sec food delivery schedules. Similar rates and patterns of responding occurred in each component of the two schedules. Mixed and multiple variable-interval 65-sec variable-interval 65-sec schedules of response-dependent shock delivery were super-imposed on the mixed and multiple baseline food schedules, respectively. In one component, a 5-sec stimulus was presented on the average of once every 65 sec. Offset of the stimulus arranged that the next response would produce shock. In the other component, no stimulus was presented during the 5-sec period. The mixed schedule of signalled and unsignalled dependent shock delivery yielded similar degrees of response suppression in each component, but the multiple schedule of shock delivery revealed differential degrees of response suppression. Considerably more suppression occurred in the component not associated with the preshock stimulus, thus implicating the discriminative functions of the correlated stimulus.     

Facilitation and suppression of human loss-avoidance by signaled, unavoidable loss

A 15-sec stimulus followed by unavoidable monetary loss was presented to human subjects who were avoiding loss on a free-operant schedule. As has been observed in studies where shock is the aversive event, initial reactions to the pre-loss stimulus were transient increases in overall and stimulus rates. Unlike shock studies, continued training produced decreased rates, in the presence of the 15-sec stimulus, which were maintained in two of three subjects. Subsequent observations indicated that lowered rates were a function of the subject's rate of avoidance responding, the duration of the stimulus, and the scheduling of avoidable losses. Increasing the duration of the stimulus eliminated lowered rates in the presence of the stimulus and subsequent exposures to conditions which previously produced lowered rates did not result in recovery of the phenomenon. Introduction of the pre-loss stimulus on an extinction baseline (avoidable losses were omitted), however, reinstituted lowered rates. It is proposed that the pre-loss stimulus assumed discriminative control over low rates because responding in the presence of the stimulus was ineffective in avoiding the unavoidable loss. Recovery from lowered rates is attributed to the occurrence of avoidable losses during the stimulus period, and maintenance of lowered rates on the extinction schedule to the omission of such avoidable losses.     

Case study: Initiating and maintaining a nonruminative response in an adult male who is profoundly retarded

A 51-year-old male with profound retardation and an 11-year history of rumination was treated using a simple intervention that included shaping, time-out, and stimulus control. An A-B-A-B design was used to evaluate treatment. Results indicated that the mean rate of rumination decreased from an average of 16.1 times per day during baseline to less than once per day at the conclusion of treatment. The potential prosocial effects of eliminating rumination and the implications of using less aversive interventions for serious and potentially life-threatening disorders in individuals with developmental disabilities are discussed.     

Maternal and infant touching behaviours during perturbed interactions: Associations with maternal depressive symptomatology and infant crying

Touch is an important means through which mothers and infants co-regulate during periods of stress or perturbation. The present study examined the synchrony of maternal and infant touching behaviours among 41 mother-infant dyads, some of whom were deemed at-risk due to maternal depressive symptomatology. Mothers and their 4-month-old infants participated in the Still-Face (maternal emotional unavailability; SF) and Separation (maternal physical unavailability; SP) procedures. Infant crying was examined across procedures and investigated as a brief period of perturbation. Results revealed that mothers and infants displayed a positive pattern of tactile synchrony (coordinated, analogous changes in touch) during infant crying episodes. However, dyads in the high depression group displayed significantly less affectionate touch during instances of infant crying. Furthermore, more depressive symptoms were associated with less maternal and infant touch and lower rates of infant crying. This group of dyads may be less expressive via touch, be less affected by disruptions in their interactions, have impaired regulatory abilities, or simply require minimal amounts of touch to mutually regulate following social stressors and during brief perturbation periods. These findings enrich our limited knowledge about the dynamic interplay of maternal and infant touch and inform preventative intervention programs for at-risk groups.     

The effects of contingent music and differential reinforcement on infantile colic

Infantile Colic is a behavioral syndrome characterized by paroxysms of excessive crying and increased motor activity, hypertonicity of the musculature, excessive flatus and erratic sleeping and feeding patterns. Ten to 40% of all infants are diagnosed as having Colic. The medical evidence to date does not justify any conclusions regarding the etiology or treatment of Colic. Typically, parents are advised to simply wait until Colic has run its course which is often 3-4 months. The behavioral program reported here was designed to increase behavior that competed with crying by reinforcing quiet alertness with music and parental attention. Concurrently, it attempted to inhibit excessive crying by a brief time-out procedure. A group of 8 infants diagnosed as Infant Colic were included in this study. The dependent variable, crying, was measured through direct observations based on hourly samples involving 30 observations of 2-min intervals. The independent variable consisted of a behavioral treatment package. A within-S reversal design was used to assess the functional properties of the treatment. The results show that across all 8 infants the introduction of the treatment package led to a substantial decrease in excessive crying of about 75% of the initial baseline. Further, a functional relationship was identified between the treatment and excessive crying behavior: crying decreased when the treatment was initially introduced, it resumed when the treatment was withdrawn and decreased again when the treatment was reinstated.     

Crying as social behavior

Twenty mother-infant pairs were observed once a week for 7-hour periods when the infants were 2, 3, 4, and 5 weeks old. The occurrence of crying and its relationship to patterning of maternal behaviors was studied in two social contexts: while the mother was holding the infant and while she was not holding the infant. There were significant individual differences in the amount of crying in each of these contexts. The amount of crying in the two contexts was not correlated. Six variables describing forms of maternal attention throughout the 7-hour day were selected, and profiles were formed from measures of these variables. These profiles were found to vary systematically as a function of the amount of crying while the mother was holding the infant. In this context, only physical stimulation increased linearly with increased crying, whereas other forms of attention showed a U-shaped function in relation to increased crying. No relationship was found between crying while the mother was not holding the baby and patterns of interaction. We conclude that the structuring of a mother-infant relationship is reflected in the amount of crying that occurs while mother and infant are in close physical contact. The results also provide evidence that the social context for an infant's crying must be taken into account if the full adaptive value of crying is to be understood.     

Comparisons between variable-interval and fixed-interval schedules of electric shock delivery

Responding maintained in rats under a variable-interval 35-sec food schedule was suppressed more by 60-sec and 240-sec fixed-interval schedules of shock delivery than by 60-sec and 240-sec variable-interval schedules of shock delivery. When the delivery of shock was preceded by a 5-sec visual stimulus, little overall response suppression was found with either fixed-interval or variable-interval schedules. In a third experiment, the percentage of occasions on which a cue preceded each shock delivery was varied from 0% to 100%. For the fixed-interval shock condition, the most suppression occurred with the 0% treatment, the least with 100%, and an intermediate amount with the 50% treatment. For the variable-interval groups, the most suppression occurred in the 50% condition, the least in the 100% group, and an intermediate amount with 0%.     

COMPARISON OF EXTINCTION,DRO 0-SEC,AND DRO 6-SEC IN THE ELIMINATION OF IMITATIVE RESPONDING UNDER DISCRETE-TRIAL PARADIGMS1

Imitative response levels were observed for normal 5-yr-old children within a discrete-trial imitation paradigm. Following imitation training sessions, children were observed under conditions of contingent reinforcement for three experimental sessions. Following the contingent reinforcement phase, children were then observed under reversal conditions for four sessions. A 3 × 4 repeated measures design was employed for observing response decrements under conditions of extinction, DRO 6-sec, and DRO 0-sec. The DRO 0-sec group demonstrated a significantly greater decrement in imitative responding than did the DRO 6-sec and extinction group. The differences in effects between the two DRO conditions and results from previous studies in which DRO procedures have had little effect in reducing imitative responding, suggest an incomplete understanding of the ways in which DRO procedures may operate.     

DOES SLEEPTIGHT WORK? A BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SLEEPTIGHT FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF INFANT COLIC

We evaluated the effectiveness of SleepTight in the management of infant colic. SleepTight is a device that vibrates the infant's crib to simulate the action of a car traveling at 55 mph. A multiple baseline design across 6 infants was used. Data were collected on infant crying, parental use of SleepTight, and parental satisfaction. The application of SleepTight was associated with reduction in crying in 4 of the 6 infants. These outcome data notwithstanding, consideration of reported nonrecording of severe episodes and mixed reports of satisfaction suggests that SleepTight may not be a viable means of managing infant colic.     

Affective reactivity to cry sounds predicts young women’s reactivity and behavior in a simulated caregiving task

Different populations of adults (experienced vs. inexperienced caregivers, men vs. women, abusive vs. nonabusive parents, etc.) have been reported to differ in their affective reactions to the sounds of infant crying. These differences are thought to impact caregiving behavior and, in some instances, to affect long-term outcomes for infants. There can be great intra-group variation, however, even when group differences are significant; modeling developmental process will require a finer grained approach. We have undertaken a pair of studies intended to validate the Negative Affect Scale (NA) from the PANAS as a measure of individuals’ affective reactivity to cry sounds. In Study 1, 306 young women who were not yet mothers listened either to infant crying or to birdsong. The results supported the NA as a measure of reactivity to crying. In Study 2, a new sample of 301 young women listened to crying in a screening task; a group of “high reactors” (n = 21) and a group of “low reactors” (n = 22) then participated in a simulated caregiving situation. Individuals’ affective reactivity to the caregiving simulation mirrored their affective reactivity in the screening task, and rates and overall organization of caregiving behavior differed between the groups. Changes in negative affect, then, appear to be both a result of infant crying and a determinant of some aspects of caregiving behavior. Further studies will extend these laboratory results to real infants and their caregivers, and further validate the NA as a measure of individual differences in reactivity to cry sounds.     

The peak shift in stimulus generalization: equivalent effects of errors and noncontingent shock

Terrace suggested that the peak shift in stimulus generalization occurs because the training stimulus not correlated with reinforcement has become aversive. This hypothesis is plausible in the light of instances where the peak shift is obtained compared with those where it fails to appear. The present experiment attempted to test implications of this hypothesis. Two groups of pigeons learned the same two-stimulus discrimination between colors by different training methods in a free-operant situation. When the discrimination was trained with many errors, a large peak shift was obtained in a subsequent generalization test of wavelength; after discrimination training with few errors, a negligible shift was observed. Half of each group then received noncontingent aversive shock during presentations of the stimulus not correlated with reinforcement in continued discrimination training. After this treatment, the errorless-shock subgroup showed a large peak shift and the error-shock subgroup tended to show a larger shift than before. Nonshocked control groups showed little change in the peak shift. It was concluded that pairing aversive shock with a stimulus not correlated with reinforcement is sufficient to produce or enhance a peak shift. In their effect on the peak shift, aversive shock and large amounts of nonreinforced responding appear to be equivalent.     

Effects of a pre-aversive stimulus upon oddity performance in monkeys

Two monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were trained to perform an oddity discrimination using automatically projected patterned stimuli. After criteria for both response and discrimination stability were met, a tone followed by shock was superimposed upon the ongoing behavior. Each 60-sec tone was terminated with the onset of a 0.3-sec, 1 to 1.5-ma electric shock. During the tone, baseline responding was partially suppressed but discrimination performance was little altered from the pre-tone period. When shock was raised to 2 to 3 ma, responding was further suppressed, but discrimination performance was again essentially unaltered.