Precuing the Target Location in Visual Searching by a Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes): Effects of Precue Validity

A chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ) performed a visual search task using a modified matching-to-sample procedure in which a sample stimulus was followed by the search display, which contained one stimulus identical to the sample (target) and several uniform stimuli different from the sample (distractors). On cued trials, while the subject was observing the sample, a white square (precue) appeared at the location where the target was to be presented (valid trials), or elsewhere (invalid trials). The validity of the precue (correspondence between the cued and the target locations) was changed from 0% to 100% across conditions. Cost-benefit analyses were performed on the difference between valid and noncued trials (benefit) and between invalid and noncued trials (cost). Under the high-validity conditions, the response times were shorter when the cued location corresponded to the target location than when the precue did not appear. When the cued location did not correspond to the target location, on the other hand, the subject took longer to select the target than on noncued trials. When the validity of the precue was relatively low, however, cost of the invalid trials disappeared, while benefit of the valid trials remained. These results confirmed the two-process (automatic and attentional) theory of priming in human information processing; the advance information had the same effects on a chimpanzee's visual search performance as on humans'.     

BEHAVIORAL CUSPS: A DEVELOPMENTAL AND PRAGMATIC CONCEPT FOR BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Most concepts of development explain certain behavior changes as products or markers of the invariable succession of emerging periods, stages, refinements, or achievements that define and order much of an individual's life. A different but comparable concept can be derived from the most basic mechanisms of behavior analysis, which are its environmental contingencies, and from its most basic strategy, which is to study behavior as its subject matter. From a behavior-analytic perspective, the most fundamental developmental questions are (a) whether these contingencies vary in any systematic way across the life span, and thus make behavior change in a correspondingly systematic way; and (b) whether some of these contingencies and their changes have more far-reaching consequences than others, in terms of the importance to the organism and others, of the behavior classes they change. Certain behavior changes open the door to especially broad or especially important further behavior change, leading to the concept of the behavioral cusp. A behavioral cusp, then, is any behavior change that brings the organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have even more far-reaching consequences. Of all the environmental contingencies that change or maintain behavior, those that accomplish cusps are developmental. Behavior change remains the fundamental phenomenon of development for a behavior-analytic view; a cusp is a special instance of behavior change, a change crucial to what can come next.     

DIRECT AND COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF RESTRAINTS AND RESTRAINT FADING

Mechanical restraints are commonly used to reduce the risks associated with severe self-injurious behavior (SIB), but may result in movement restriction and adverse side effects (e.g., bone demineralization). Restraint fading may provide a method for decreasing SIB while increasing movement and reducing these side effects. In the current investigation, rigid arm sleeves and restraint fading (gradually reducing the rigidity of the sleeves) were used with 3 clients who engaged in hand-to-head SIB. Restraints and fading reduced the hand-to-head SIB of all clients. However, for 1 client, the addition of a water mist procedure further reduced SIB to near-zero levels. For a 2nd client, another form of SIB developed that was not prevented by the rigid sleeves. For a 3rd client, a topography of SIB that was not physically prevented by the rigid sleeves was also reduced when restraints and fading were introduced.     

Self- and cross-citations in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior: 1983-1992

We examined self- and cross-citation practices in JABA and JEAB from 1983 through 1992. Mean levels of self-citation for JABA and for JEAB were 22.6% and 36.1%, respectively. Overall, 2.4% of JABA citations were JEAB articles, and 0.6% of JEAB citations were JABA articles, which suggests limited integration of basic and applied research.     

Courteous service: Its assessment and modification in a human service organization

We evaluated strategies to increase behaviors associated with courteous provision of service by 3 staff members of a human service agency. Training included written instructions, practice, and performance feedback. A lottery procedure was introduced to maintain courteous service after training. The results of a multiple baseline design across the 3 participants showed marked increases in courteous behaviors following training. These effects were maintained at 3-, 5-, and 8-month follow-ups. Consumers' satisfaction with service also increased. These findings suggest that simple training and reinforcement procedures can enhance courtesy afforded those who receive service from public and nonprofit organizations.     

BALANCING SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY WITH TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS OF AN INTRUSIVE PROCEDURE: A CASE REPORT

The debate over social acceptability of intrusive procedures has led some school districts to adopt policies allowing punishment for only the most extreme forms of destructive behavior. We investigated the effectiveness of selectively implementing punishment for only the most severe topographies of aggression and property destruction, while less extreme behaviors were ignored. Results indicated that severe behaviors were reduced to near-zero levels only when both severe and less severe behaviors were similarly punished.     

BEHAVIORAL PERSISTENCE AND VARIABILITY DURING EXTINCTION OF SELF-INJURY MAINTAINED BY ESCAPE

The self-injurious escape behavior of a developmentally disabled adult was treated with extinction. Results of a reversal design showed substantial bursts of responding when extinction was introduced and reintroduced: self-injury remained at a variable and elevated rate for some time before stable, low rates were observed. Data on aggression, a nontarget behavior during both baseline and treatment, showed a pattern similar to that seen for self-injury during the extinction conditions.     

Treatment of escape-maintained aberrant behavior with escape extinction and predictable routines

We evaluated the effects of two daily activity schedules on 2 participants' rates of aberrant behavior and their compliance. Functional analysis identified the operant function of the participants' aberrant behaviors to be escape from tasks. Participants were taught to use stimuli contained in daily schedules, and were tested based on a modified stimulus-equivalence model that consisted of flash cards and activity schedules comprised of words or photographs that corresponded to the participants' daily activities. On pretests, the participants demonstrated simple and conditional discriminations with the photographs but not with the printed stimuli. A time-delay procedure was used to teach the participants to name the flash cards. Following training, the printed activity schedules corresponded to lower rates of problem behavior and higher rates of compliance than the photographic activity schedules. Performance on posttests indicated the establishment of functional classes of stimuli involving the flash cards and activity schedules even though this type of correspondence was not directly trained.     

B.F. SKINNER AND THE GRAND INQUISITOR

Abstract. B.F. Skinner allures us with the possibilities of turning the stones of materialistic rewards into the bread of human values. He tempts us by assuring success in achieving our goals through behavioral science, if only we give up our autonomy. He offers the power of complete control over our behaviors, on condition that we relinquish responsibility for our lives to a technological elite. Is B. F. Skinner a flesh-and-blood Grand Inquisitor? This essay tries to persuade the reader that Skinner's offers are worth considering.