Brain Activity in the Play of Dominant Strategy and Mixed Strategy Games

We conjecture that the thought processes used to solve dominant strategy games and mixed strategy games are quite distinct. Two-person games with dominant strategies can be treated as simple decision problems that involve no assessment of one's partner. By contrast, two-person games with mixed strategies require that one think about one's partner. We measure differences in electroencephalogram (EEG) activity while a human subject is playing two-person games. We time-lock the EEG to a common event and use the average across many trials and subjects to find an Event Related Potential (ERP) associated with the common event. The ERP is the brain's response to events—in this case our different games. Our findings lend modest support for the idea that subjects respond to types of games differently.     

Telephone-Administered Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Exposure with response prevention and cognitive behavior therapy are widely recognized as effective treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Unfortunately, many people with obsessive-compulsive disorder - particularly those living in rural areas - do not have access to therapists providing these treatments. Accordingly, we investigated the efficacy of telephone-administered cognitive behavior therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Two open trials are reported, for a total of 33 people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (without major depression). The first trial consisted of 12 weeks on a waiting list followed by 12 weeks of treatment (delayed treatment). The second trial consisted of 12 weeks of immediate treatment. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms did not change during the waiting period. Symptoms declined from pre- to post-treatment, with gains maintained at 12-week follow-up. For the pooled sample our pre-to-post-treatment effect size was as large or larger than those obtained in other studies of reduced contact treatment, and similar to those of face-to-face exposure with response prevention. Our proportion of treatment dropouts tended to be lower than those of other reduced contact interventions. The results suggest that telephone-administered cognitive behavior therapy is effective and well-tolerated, at least for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder without major depression. It remains to be seen whether this treatment is safe and effective when comorbid major depression is present.     

The General Behavior Inventory as an outpatient screen for dysthymic disorder

High prevalence, morbidity, and response to treatment make the detection of dysthymic disorder an important public health issue. We report our experience with the General Behavioral Inventory, a self-report questionnaire developed to detect affective illness, including dysthymic disorder. In a small sample of psychiatric outpatients the instrument yielded a sensitivity of 61% and a specificity of 88% for dysthymic disorder. These results challenge the utility of this instrument for detecting dysthymic disorder in this population.This work was supported in part by Grants MH-19069 and MH7103 from the National Institutes of Mental Health.     

Comparison of behavioral and cognitive-behavioral one-session exposure treatments for small animal phobias

This study evaluated the efficacy of behavioral and cognitive-behavioral one-session exposure treatment procedures with and without programmed generalization for participants with small animal phobias. Forty participants were randomly assigned to the treatment and generalization conditions. Both treatments produced significant improvements from pre-test to post-test and these results were maintained for 1 year. The treatment effect sizes ranged from large to very large across behavioral, self-report, and subjectively rated measures. Participants in the behavioral treatment condition reported that the treatment was significantly more intrusive than participants in the cognitive-behavioral treatment group. The programmed generalization condition did not produce additional measured benefit. The results are discussed in terms of the overall effectiveness of one-session exposure treatment components for small animal phobias.     

Why Brains Are Not Computers,Why Behaviorism Is Not Satanism,and Why Dolphins Are Not Aquatic Apes

Modern psychology has, to all intents and purposes, become synonymous with cognitive psychology, with an emphasis on the idea that the brain is a form of computer, whose job is to take in sensory input, process information, and produce motor output. This places the brain at a remove from both the body and environment and denies the intimate connection that exists between them. As a result, a great injustice is done to both human and nonhuman animals: On the one hand, we fail to recognize the distinctive nature of nonhuman cognition, and on the other hand, we continue to promote a somewhat misleading view of human psychological capacities. Here, I suggest a more mutualistic, embodied, enactive view might allow us to ask more interesting questions about how animals of all kinds come to know their worlds, in ways that avoid the (inevitable) anthropocentric baggage of the cognitivist viewpoint.     

Conceptualization and Development of the Behavior Analysis Programs at the Florida Institute of Technology

We describe the conceptualization and development of the Behavior Analysis programs at the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech). From its beginnings as a small master’s program in applied behavior analysis (ABA), the Behavior Analysis programs at Florida Tech have now grown to include three Master of Science programs across two campuses, a Ph.D. program in Behavior Analysis, an undergraduate degree (B.A.) in ABA, an online certificate program that has attracted students internationally, and a hybrid (live and online) Master of Arts in Professional Behavior Analysis program at several sites around the USA. These programs are now housed in the first ever School of Behavior Analysis at a Tier 1, nationally ranked private university.     

Behavioral case consultation with parents and teachers: An example using differential reinforcement to treat psychogenic cough

This study presents a demonstration of successful behavioral case consultation combined with case study methodology in the treatment of a 13-year-old female who presented with a brief history of psychogenic cough. Psychogenic cough is diagnosed when there is no organic or physiologic basis for the repeated, harsh coughing. We first present a brief review of treatments for psychogenic cough and then describe how we used differential reinforcement of low rate responding (DRL) and differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO) within an A-B-C design. The DRL schedule produced significant decreases in coughing but plateaued at about one-third the baseline rate. Thereafter, a DRO schedule was employed which resulted in complete and lasting elimination of coughing. Discussion focuses on the limitations of case study methodology as well as its usefulness for conducting service related research in the schools, implications of some of the findings for practitioners, and other issues related to treatment.     

Alcohol Use in Adolescent Twins and Affiliation with Substance Using Peers

Affiliation with substance using peers is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent alcohol use. This association is typically interpreted causally: peers who drink incite their friends to drink. This association may be complicated by uncontrolled genetic and environmental confounds because teens with familial predispositions for adolescent substance use may be more likely to select into social networks where drinking is common. We test this alternative hypothesis using a sample of 1,820 twin and sibling pairs, and their same-sex best friends, from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Across all three waves, peer report of substance use did not influence adolescent alcohol use when genetic and shared environmental predispositions for drinking were considered. The association between alcohol use and peer behavior may be a spurious association attributable to a shared genetic liability to drink alcohol and associate with peers who drink alcohol.     

On the Induction and Consequences of Variation in Behavior Perception

Research indicates that perceivers regulate information gain from their observation of ongoing behavior by varying the number and kind of actions they identify as meaningful. Although numerous factors have been shown to induce variation in this behavior-perception process, it is not currently known whether observers must consciously and intentionally initiate these changes. To address this question, different observational goals (impression formation or memorization) were nonconsciously primed in participants who then viewed and segmented a behavior sequence into meaningful actions. Although participants were unaware of its effects, the priming manipulation led to quantitative and qualitative shifts in their perception of the behavior that were similar to those found in a previous study in which observational goals were manipulated via explicit instructions. Importantly, these shifts in perception, in turn, influenced evaluations of the observed actor and memory for her behavior. We conclude that an act of will is not required for adjustments in behavior perception to be initiated, and, furthermore, that a full understanding of social judgment cannot be achieved without examination of the behavior-perception process.