Functional analysis and treatment of low‐rate problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities

Extensive research has validated the standard functional analysis as a useful technology for identifying the function of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. The assessment of low‐rate problem behavior is one area that has yet to receive a significant amount of research. Some problem behaviors may occur at rates too low to be observed during a standard functional analysis, despite the fact that they may be highly destructive behaviors. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of initiating functional analysis sessions contingent on the occurrence of bursts of problem behavior for producing interpretable functional analysis results. While a standard functional analysis did not produce definitive results with respect to behavioral function, the ‘low‐rate’ functional analysis produced interpretable results for all three participants. Two of the three participants were available for the evaluation of treatments based on their functional analysis results. Function‐based treatments suppressed rates of problem behavior for both participants. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Functional analysis and treatment of low rate problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities

Extensive research has validated the standard functional analysis as a useful technology for identifying the function of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. The assessment of low rate problem behavior is one area that has yet to receive a significant amount of research. Some problem behaviors may occur at rates too low to be observed during a standard functional analysis, despite the fact that they may be highly destructive behaviors. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of initiating functional analysis sessions contingent on the occurrence of bursts of problem behavior for producing interpretable functional analysis results. While a standard functional analysis did not produce definitive results with respect to behavioral function, the ‘low rate’ functional analysis produced interpretable results for all three participants. Two of the three participants were available for the evaluation of treatments based on their functional analysis results. Function‐based treatments suppressed rates of problem behavior for both participants. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using stimulus variation to increase reinforcer efficacy of low preference stimuli

Recent research findings suggest that low preference stimuli can be effective reinforcers. This study compared responding to high preference and low preference stimuli under continuous reinforcement. Results demonstrated that responding was greater when a high preference stimulus was presented. Other research findings suggest that stimulus variation increases the potency of reinforcers perceived to be of high preference. This study extended this line of research by evaluating whether stimulus variation would increase the potency of low preference stimuli. Results demonstrated that when three low preference stimuli were presented in a varied fashion, responding corresponded with the levels obtained when a high preference stimulus was presented. Furthermore, a varied reinforcer presentation of low preference stimuli was found to increase and maintain high percentages of correct responding and on‐task behavior to levels equal to those obtained with a high preference stimulus during a discrete trial preparation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning

We examined the impact of training-induced improvements in self-regulation, operationalized in terms of response inhibition, on longitudinal changes in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Data were collected from participants undergoing 3 months of intensive meditation training in an isolated retreat setting (Retreat 1) and a wait-list control group that later underwent identical training (Retreat 2). A 32-min response inhibition task (RIT) was designed to assess sustained self-regulatory control. Adaptive functioning (AF) was operationalized as a single latent factor underlying self-report measures of anxious and avoidant attachment, mindfulness, ego resilience, empathy, the five major personality traits (extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience), difficulties in emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and psychological well-being. Participants in Retreat 1 improved in RIT performance and AF over time whereas the controls did not. The control participants later also improved on both dimensions during their own retreat (Retreat 2). These improved levels of RIT performance and AF were sustained in follow-up assessments conducted approximately 5 months after the training. Longitudinal dynamic models with combined data from both retreats showed that improvement in RIT performance during training influenced the change in AF over time, which is consistent with a key claim in the Buddhist literature that enhanced capacity for self-regulation is an important precursor of changes in emotional well-being.     

Neighborhood Characteristics and Depression: An Examination of Stress Processes

ABSTRACT— Neighborhoods with poor-quality housing, few resources, and unsafe conditions impose stress, which can lead to depression. The stress imposed by adverse neighborhoods increases depression above and beyond the effects of the individual's own personal stressors, such as poverty and negative events within the family or workplace. Furthermore, adverse neighborhoods appear to intensify the harmful impact of personal stressors and interfere with the formation of bonds between people, again increasing risk for depression. Neighborhoods do not affect all people in the same way. People with different personality characteristics adjust in different ways to challenging neighborhoods. As a field, psychology should pay more attention to the impact of contextual factors such as neighborhoods. Neighborhood-level mental health problems should be addressed at the neighborhood level. Public housing policies that contribute to the concentration of poverty should be avoided and research should be conducted on the most effective ways to mobilize neighborhood residents to meet common goals and improve the context in which they live.     

Mother-to-Daughter Disclosure After Divorce: Are There Costs and Benefits?

To investigate the association between post-divorce mother-to-daughter disclosure regarding sensitive topics and adolescent daughters' adjustment and closeness to mother, we collected data from 62 adolescent girls within the first two years after their mother's divorce. Analyses revealed that most mothers in the current sample have disclosed to their daughters to some degree about the five sensitive topic areas studied. In accordance with structural family systems theory, we found that detailed mother-to-daughter disclosures regarding financial concerns, negativity toward ex-husband, job ups-and-downs, and personal concerns were clearly associated with greater daughter psychological distress, but not with greater feelings of mother-daughter closeness, as existing retrospective research would have predicted. Daughters' worrying about their mothers explained (mediated) the link between maternal disclosure and daughter's distress to some extent. We discuss methodological issues as well as the valuable contributions that future, more contextualized research could make to understanding the conditions under which detailed mother-to-adolescent disclosure may be more or less risky.     

Test-retest reliability and standard error of measurement for the test of variables of attention (T.O.V.A.) with healthy school-age children

Test-retest reliability of the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.) was investigated in two studies using two different time intervals: 90 min and 1 week (2 days). To investigate the 90-min reliability, 31 school-age children (M = 10 years, SD = 2.66) were administered the T.O.V.A. then read ministered the test 90 min afterward. Significant reliability coefficients were obtained across omission (.70), commission (.78), response time (.84), and response time variability (.87). For the second study, a different sample of 33 school-age children (M = 10.01 years, SD = 2.59) were administered the test then read ministered the test 1 week later. Significant reliability coefficients were obtained for omission (.86), commission (.74), response time (.79), and response time variability (.87). Standard error of measurement statistics were calculated using the obtained coefficients. Commission scores were significantly higher on second trials for each retest interval.     

Fimbria-fornix lesions disrupt the dead reckoning (homing) component of exploratory behavior in mice

Exploration is the primary way in which rodents gather information about their spatial surroundings. Thus, spatial theories propose that damage to the hippocampus, a structure thought to play a fundamental role in spatial behavior, should disrupt exploration. Exploration in rats is organized. The animals create home bases that are central to exploratory excursions and returns, and hippocampal formation damage alters the organization of exploration by disrupting returns. Mice do not appear to readily establish home bases in novel environments, thus, for this species, it is more difficult to establish the contribution of the hippocampus to exploration. The purpose of the present study was threefold: develop a task in which mice center their exploration from a home base, determine whether the exploratory behavior is organized, and evaluate the role of fimbria-fornix lesions on exploration. Mice were given a novel exploratory task in which their nesting material was placed on a large circular table. Video records of control and fimbria-fornix mice were made in both light and dark (infrared light) conditions. Exploration patterns (outward trips, stops, and homeward trips) were reconstructed from the video records. Control mice centered their activity on their bedding, from which they made circuitous outward trips marked by many stops, and periodic direct returns. The bedding-centered behavior and outward trips of the fimbria-fornix mice were similar to those of the control mice, but significantly fewer direct return trips occurred. The direct homeward trips observed under light and dark conditions were consistent with a dead-reckoning strategy, in which an animal computes its present position and homeward trajectory from self-movement cues generated on the outward trip. Because the fimbria-fornix lesions disrupted the homeward component of exploratory trips, we conclude that the fimbria-fornix may contribute to dead reckoning in mice. The results also show that the home-bedding methodology facilitates the establishment of a home base by mice, thus providing a useful methodology for studies with mice.