恐惧发生与预防的实验研究：──Ⅰ、强烈噪音下恐具行为的动物模型

通过不同方法对ＳＤ型大鼠分四组进行实验处理,观察比较大鼠的行为,发现：在突然的高强度噪音条件下,大鼠出现恐惧的行为反应;强刺激组大鼠恐惧行为较控制组明显增多,行为的唤醒适应能力异常,并存在显著的个体差异;噪音脱敏训练对提高大鼠在高强噪音条件下的应激能力、减少恐惧具有良好的促进作用;在脱敏训练中尤以逐渐递增噪音强度、刺激时间与平均分配实验日结合的方法效果最为显著。     

The Effects of a Self-sacrificing Minority on Pro-environmental Norms and Behavior: An Investigation Using a Sea Pollution Game

This research investigated how a minority member sacrificing his/her personal benefits to protect the environment might influence the attitudes and behavior of others. The experiment, using a sea pollution game, employed a 2(minority factor)×2(cost factor) factorial design. Under the high-cost condition, in which an ecological minority bears the substantial cost it was hypothesized that the rate of subjects' pro-environmental behavior would be higher in the one-minority case than in the no-minority case. In contrast, under the low-cost condition, the differences between these two cases would decrease. The results supported this assumption. In prompting pro-environmental behavior, a self-sacrification minority member is more influential than one whose behavior is not self-sacrificing. Moreover, under the one-minority condition, path analyses indicated that the subjects' cost evaluation did not affect their behavior. It was concluded that when the subjects saw an ecological minority, the inhibiting effects of cost on their pro-environmental behavior would decrease.     

NONCONTINGENT DELIVERY OF ARBITRARY REINFORCERS AS TREATMENT FOR SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR

Results of recent research have shown that noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be effective in reducing the frequency of behavior problems. In typical NCR applications, the reinforcer that is responsible for behavioral maintenance (as demonstrated through a functional analysis) no longer follows occurrences of the target behavior but instead is delivered according to a time-based schedule. Thus, it is unclear if NCR would be effective if the target behavior continued to be reinforced or if arbitrary reinforcers (i.e., those irrelevant to behavioral maintenance) were substituted for the maintaining reinforcers in the NCR procedure. In this study, 2 individuals whose self-injurious behavior (SIB) was maintained by positive reinforcement were exposed to conditions in which arbitrary and maintaining reinforcers were withheld and were delivered either contingently or noncontingently. Results indicated that noncontingent delivery of arbitrary reinforcers was effective in reducing SIB even though occurrences of SIB produced access to the maintaining reinforcer. These results suggest that (a) arbitrary reinforcers may sometimes be substituted for maintaining reinforcers, (b) an important component of NCR procedures is alteration of a behavior's establishing operation, and (c) NCR with arbitrary reinforcers might therefore be effective when maintaining reinforcers cannot be identified or withheld during the course of treatment.     

EFFECTS OF HIGH-PREFERENCE SINGLE-DIGIT MATHEMATICS PROBLEM COMPLETION ON MULTIPLE-DIGIT MATHEMATICS PROBLEM PERFORMANCE

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a sequence of three single-digit (1 digit × 1 digit) multiplication problems on the latency to initiate multiple-digit (3 digit × 3 digit) multiplication problems for 2 students in an alternative education school. Data showed that (a) during the preference assessment, both students selected the single-digit problems in a majority of the sessions, and (b) intervention resulted in a decrease in latency between problems for both students. Results are discussed in relation to using high-preference sequences to promote behavioral momentum in academic content areas.     

ANTECEDENT INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIOR DISORDERS

The influence of antecedent events on behavior disorders has been relatively understudied by applied behavior analysts. This lack of research may be due to a focus on consequences as determinants of behavior and a historical disagreement on a conceptual framework for describing and interpreting antecedent variables. We suggest that antecedent influences can be described using terms derived from basic behavioral principles and that their functional properties can be adequately interpreted as discriminative and establishing operations. A set of studies on assessment and treatment of behavior disorders was selected for review based on their relevance to the topic of antecedent events. These studies were categorized as focusing on assessment of antecedent events, antecedent treatments for behavior disorders maintained by either positive or negative reinforcement, and special cases of antecedent events in behavior disorders. Some directions for future research on antecedent influences in the analysis and treatment of behavior disorders are discussed.     

DOES FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING COMPETE WITH ONGOING CONTINGENCIES OF REINFORCEMENT? AN ANALYSIS DURING RESPONSE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE

We examined the effectiveness of functional communication training (FCT) in reducing self-injurious behavior (SIB) and in shaping an alternative (communicative) response while SIB continued to be reinforced. Following a functional analysis of 3 individuals' SIB, we attempted to teach an alternative response consisting of a manual sign to each individual, using the reinforcer that maintained SIB. When FCT was implemented without extinction, SIB remained at baseline rates for all participants, and none of the participants acquired the alternative response. When extinction was added to the training procedure, SIB decreased and manual signing increased for all participants. To determine if signing, when established, would compete with SIB when both were reinforced, extinction was then withdrawn. Signing was maintained and SIB occurred at low rates for 2 individuals, but SIB returned to baseline rates for the 3rd individual, necessitating the reimplementation of extinction. These results suggest that it may be difficult to establish alternative behaviors if inappropriate behavior continues to be reinforced, but that, when established, alternative behavior might compete successfully with ongoing contingencies of reinforcement for inappropriate behavior.     

Teacher Use Of Interventions In General Education Settings: Measurement And Analysis Of The Independent Variable

This study examined the integrity with which 4 general education teachers implemented an intervention designed to improve the academic performance of elementary school students. Treatment integrity was measured daily using permanent products. The results showed that the 4 teachers markedly increased the integrity of the delivered treatment when they were provided with performance feedback. The results suggest that academic performance improved for the group of students as integrity improved.     

A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF INTERACTIVE EFFECTS BETWEEN COMMON CLASSROOM CONTINGENCIES AND METHYLPHENIDATE

To assess the drug—behavior interaction effects with an 8-year-old boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, common classroom antecedent (e.g., seating arrangement) and consequent (e.g., peer prompts) stimuli were alternated within a school day while drug conditions (methylphenidate vs. placebo) were alternated across days. The results suggested that peer attention maintained disruptive behavior when methylphenidate was absent but not when it was present.     

TOWARD A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE VERBAL SELF-REGULATION

We developed a methodology, derived from the theoretical literatures on rule-governed behavior and private events, to experimentally investigate the relationship between covert verbal self-regulation and nonverbal behavior. The methodology was designed to assess whether (a) nonverbal behavior was under the control of covert rules and (b) verbal reports of these rules were functionally equivalent to the covert rules that control nonverbal behavior. The research was conducted in the context of teaching shopping skills to persons with mild intellectual disabilities using a self-instruction training format. In Phase 1, 4 participants were successfully taught to perform shopping skills using overt and covert self-instructions. The self-instructions were then blocked under overt and covert self-instruction conditions, which resulted in a reversal of shopping skills to baseline levels. This indicated that the overt and covert self-instructions might be controlling responding. In Phase 2, we demonstrated that the self-instructions, when used as external directives, produced successful shopping with 3 other participants. By demonstrating that self-rules can produce correct responding when used as external directives, we were more confident that it was the self-instructions and not other verbal or nonverbal behavior that controlled responding under overt, covert, and blocking conditions in Phase 1.     

Increasing the variability of response sequences in pigeons by adjusting the frequency of switching between two keys.

Three experiments compared the amounts of behavioral variability generated with two reinforcement rules. In Experiments 1 and 2 pigeons received food whenever they generated a sequence of eight pecks, distributed over two keys, provided that the sequence contained a certain number of change-overs between the keys. Although no variability was required-the birds could obtain all reinforcers by repeating the same sequence-the pigeons emitted a large number of different sequences. In Experiment 3 pigeons received food whenever they generated a sequence that had not occurred during the last 25 trials. After prolonged training, the birds showed more sequence variability than in the first two experiments. The analysis of the internal structure of the response sequences revealed that, in general, (a) the location of the first peck was highly stereotyped; (b) as the trial advanced, the probability of switching to the initially preferred key decreased whereas the probability of switching to the other key increased; and (c) a first-order Markov chain model with transition probabilities given by a logistic function accounted well for the internal structure of the birds' response sequences. These findings suggest that, to a large extent, the variability of response sequences is an indirect effect of adjustments in changeover frequency.