Effects of textual prompts and feedback on social niceties of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder in a simulated workplace

Previous research demonstrates the efficacy of behavioral skills training with a textual prompt to establish greetings and conversational skills. This study examined the efficacy of a brief intervention of textual prompts with performance feedback for increasing social niceties of adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder in a simulated workplace. Target social niceties included “Do you have a minute?” when a participant initiated an interaction and “Thank you for your time” when a participant ended the interaction. Results revealed this intervention was effective for 7 of 9 participants. This study expands upon previous studies by showing the efficacy of a resource-efficient training on acquisition and generalization of social niceties by people with autism spectrum disorder.     

The influence of instructive feedback presentation schedule: A replication with children with autism spectrum disorder

Instructive feedback (IF) is a modification to discrete trial instruction that may increase instructional efficiency for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Several variations of IF have recently been evaluated in the literature; however, few studies have assessed the effectiveness and efficiency of presenting secondary targets on continuous versus intermittent presentation schedules. The current study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of various presentation schedules of secondary targets during discrete trial instruction. Specifically, we replicated and extended Griffen et al. (1998) by comparing a condition in which secondary targets were presented during each trial of a session, a condition in which secondary targets were presented every other trial, and a condition in which secondary targets were presented about every 4 trials. Within-subject replications were included for both participants. One of the intermittent presentation schedules was associated with the most optimal outcomes in all 4 comparisons.     

Planned Straight or Biased to Be So? The Influence of Visual Feedback on Reaching Movements

Abstract

Behavioral studies consistently find that subjects move their hand along straight paths despite considerations that suggest reaches should be curved. Literature on this topic makes it clear that the experimentally displayed feedback influences how subjects reach. Could the standard visual feedback, a displayed cursor, explain the lack of path curvature in experimental results? To address this question, we conducted three experiments to examine reach behavior in the absence of the standard visual feedback. In the first experiment, we found significant increases in curvature as visual feedback was progressively extinguished across groups. A second experiment revealed that practiced reaches became curved after the standard visual feedback was removed. A final experiment found that subjects’ reaches made before and after a brief display of visual feedback were similar, indicating a preference for specific curved trajectories. Our results suggest that the consistently straight reaches often observed could be due to a bias to move the displayed cursor straight, which when removed reveal subject-specific preferences for reaches that are often curved.     

The effects of video feedback on running form

Correct running form is important for injury prevention; as such, correct form promotes continued engagement in running as a long-term form of exercise. Researchers have shown video feedback to be an effective strategy to improve athletic form for a variety of sports, but it has not been evaluated in any behavior analytic research as a method for improving running form. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of video feedback to improve running form for regular runners. During baseline, each participant was video recorded while running without any feedback (verbal or video). During intervention, the researcher recorded the participant, then showed them the video and provided feedback on correct or incorrect form, according to a 9-step task analysis. Results show that all three participants achieved 100% correct steps on the task analysis when video feedback was used to maintain their form during follow-up.     

Stuttering and sensory gating: a study of acoustic startle prepulse inhibition

It was hypothesized that stuttering may be related to impaired sensory gating, leading to overflow of superfluous disturbing auditory feedback and breakdown of the speech sequence. This hypothesis was tested using the acoustic startle prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm. A group of 22 adults with developmental stuttering were compared with controls regarding the degree of PPI. No significant differences were found between the stuttering adults and the control group; the groups showed similar means and distribution. Likewise, no relation between the degree of PPI and the effect of altered auditory feedback on stuttering was found. In summary, the results of the study indicate that there is no relation between stuttering and PPI.     

Effects of public posting,goal setting,and oral feedback on the skills of female soccer players

We evaluated the effects of public posting, goal setting, and oral feedback on the skills of 3 female high school soccer players during practice scrimmages. The dependent variables were the percentage of appropriate responses when the player (a) kept and maintained possession of the ball, (b) moved to an open position during a game restart (e.g., goal or corner kick), and (c) moved to an open position after passing the ball. We also assessed the extent to which changes in practice performances generalized to games. A social validity questionnaire was completed by both players and coaches to assess the acceptability of the intervention's goals, procedures, and outcomes. Results indicate that the intervention was effective in improving performances during practice scrimmages but produced limited generalization to game settings.     

Feedback and its effectiveness in a computer-aided personalized system of instruction course

In a computer-managed version of Keller's personalized system of instruction, students received frequent feedback from more advanced students within the course. Overall accuracy of student-provided feedback was 87%, and students complied with 61% of the feedback.     

The assumed effects of positive feedback paired with success on motivation to do a task: The cases of characters with high and low initial levels of interest

This study investigated the effects of positive feedback paired with success on motivation to do a task, and examined whether this differed according to whether the person performing the task had a high or low initial level of interest in that task. Subjects (448 junior college students) were asked to rate (from 0–10) the level of motivation of characters in four different stories. Subjects believed that positive feedback would encourage the character to do a task regardless of initial level of interest. However, when positive feedback could not be expected, ratings for motivation fell. Ratings for motivation were further analyzed when no positive feedback could be expected, either after an earlier experience of positive feedback paired with success or after success only (no feedback). In the case of a low initial level of interest, it was assumed that motivation would be increased after positive feedback, but in the case of a high initial level of interest motivation was assumed to be decreased by an earlier experience of positive feedback paired with success. These results suggest that the effect of positive feedback paired with success will differ according to the level of a person's initial interest.     

Getting groups to develop good strategies: Effects of reflexivity interventions on team process,team performance,and shared mental models

This study examines the effect of guided reflection on team processes and performance, based on West’s (1996, 2000) concept of reflexivity. Communicating via e-mail, 49 hierarchically structured teams (one commander and two specialists) performed seven 15 min shifts of a simulated team-based military air-surveillance task (TAST) in two meetings, a week apart. At the beginning of the second meeting, teams were assigned either to a reflexivity (individual or group) or to a control condition. Results show that reflexivity enhanced performance, the link between reflexivity and team performance being mediated by communication and implementation of strategies as well as by similarity of mental models. Contrary to expectations, individual reflexivity was superior to group reflexivity. Additional analyses suggested that group reflexivity decreased the commanders’ active behavior and increased discussion of strategies that were too general to be helpful. Results point to the usefulness of reflexivity as a generic intervention but underscore the importance of focusing on strategies that are task-specific.