Evaluation of interactive computerized training to teach parents to implement photographic activity schedules with children with autism spectrum disorder

Training parents of children with autism spectrum disorder can be a challenge due to limited resources, time, and money. Interactive computerized training (ICT)—a self‐paced program that incorporates instructions, videos, and interactive questions—is one method professionals can use to disseminate trainings to broader populations. This study extends previous research on ICT by assessing the effect of ICT to teach three parents how to implement a photographic activity schedule using a systematic prompting procedure with their child. Following ICT, all parents increased their fidelity to implementation of an activity schedule during role‐play sessions with an adult. Fidelity remained high during implementation with their child and maintained during a 2‐week follow‐up.     

Asymmetry of reinforcement and punishment in human choice

The hypothesis that a penny lost is valued more highly than a penny earned was tested in human choice. Five participants clicked a computer mouse under concurrent variable-interval schedules of monetary reinforcement. In the no-punishment condition, the schedules arranged monetary gain. In the punishment conditions, a schedule of monetary loss was superimposed on one response alternative. Deviations from generalized matching using the free parameters c (sensitivity to reinforcement) and log k (bias) were compared in the no-punishment and punishment conditions. The no-punishment conditions yielded values of log k that approximated zero for all participants, indicating no bias. In the punishment condition, values of log k deviated substantially from zero, revealing a 3-fold bias toward the unpunished alternative. Moreover, the c parameters were substantially smaller in punished conditions. The values for bias and sensitivity under punishment did not change significantly when the measure of net reinforcers (gains minus losses) was applied to the analysis. These results mean that punishment reduced the sensitivity of behavior to reinforcement and biased performance toward the unpunished alternative. We concluded that a single punisher subtracted more value than a single reinforcer added, indicating an asymmetry in the law of effect.     

The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior at zero, fifty, and one hundred

The experimental content areas represented in JEAB in its first volume (1958) and 50 years later in Volume 87 are in many ways similar with regard to research on schedules of reinforcement, research with human subjects, and several other topics. Experimental analysis has not been displaced by quantitative analysis. Much less research on aversive control has been published in recent than in earlier years. Wishes for progress in the next 50 years include experiments on verbal behavior, the sources of novel behavior, and observing responses based on stimuli correlated with escape or avoidance.     

Combinations of response-dependent and response-independent schedule-correlated stimulus presentation in an observing procedure

Pigeons pecked a response key on a variable-interval (VI) schedule, in which responses produced food every 40 s, on average. These VI periods, or components, alternated in irregular fashion with extinction components in which food was unavailable. Pecks on a second (observing) key briefly produced exteroceptive stimuli (houselight flashes) correlated with the component schedule currently in effect. Across conditions within a phase, the dependency between observing and presentation of the stimuli was decreased systematically while the density of stimulus presentation was held constant. Across phases, the proportion of session time spent in the VI component was adjusted from 0.5 to 0.25, and then to 0.75. Results indicate that rate of observing decreased as the dependency between responses and stimulus presentations was decreased. Further, discriminative control by the schedule-correlated stimuli was systematically weakened as dependency was decreased. Increasing the proportion of session time spent in VI decreased the rate of observing. This effect was additive with the manipulation of the dependency between observing and presentation of the stimuli. Overall, these results show that conditioned reinforcers function similarly to unconditioned reinforcers with respect to response-consequence dependencies, and that stimulus control is enhanced under conditions in which the relevant stimuli are produced by an organism's behavior.     

Using joint activity schedules to promote peer engagement in preschoolers with autism

We assessed the use of a joint activity schedule to increase peer engagement for preschoolers with autism. We taught 3 dyads of preschoolers with autism to follow joint activity schedules that cued both members of the pair to play a sequence of interactive games together. Results indicated that joint activity schedules increased peer engagement and the number of games completed for all dyads. Schedule following was maintained without additional prompting when activities were resequenced and when new games were introduced for 2 of the 3 dyads.     

Fixed-time teacher attention to decrease off-task behaviors of typically developing third graders

Evidence to validate the use of fixed-time (FT) reinforcer delivery (i.e., noncontingent reinforcement) with typically developing populations has been relatively rare in the behavioral literature. In those studies that have provided validation, reinforcer delivery schedules appeared to be prohibitively dense for sustained implementation of procedures. This study demonstrated the efficacy of using FT reinforcer delivery to reduce off-task behavior of 2 typically developing third graders using a teacher-selected schedule (FT 4 min). Immediate reductions in off-task behavior were observed for both children. Challenges in identifying the operative mechanism of FT schedules in natural settings are discussed.     

Model Evaluation and Multiple Strategies in Cognitive Diagnosis: An Analysis of Fraction Subtraction Data

This paper studies three models for cognitive diagnosis, each illustrated with an application to fraction subtraction data. The objective of each of these models is to classify examinees according to their mastery of skills assumed to be required for fraction subtraction. We consider the DINA model, the NIDA model, and a new model that extends the DINA model to allow for multiple strategies of problem solving. For each of these models the joint distribution of the indicators of skill mastery is modeled using a single continuous higher-order latent trait, to explain the dependence in the mastery of distinct skills. This approach stems from viewing the skills as the specific states of knowledge required for exam performance, and viewing these skills as arising from a broadly defined latent trait resembling the θ of item response models. We discuss several techniques for comparing models and assessing goodness of fit. We then implement these methods using the fraction subtraction data with the aim of selecting the best of the three models for this application. We employ Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms to fit the models, and we present simulation results to examine the performance of these algorithms. The work reported here was performed under the auspices of the External Diagnostic Research Team funded by Educational Testing Service. Views expressed in this paper does not necessarily represent the views of Educational Testing Service.     

Choice,Conditioned Reinforcement,and the Prius Effect

Psychologists have long been intrigued with the rationales that underlie our decisions. Similarly, the concept of conditioned reinforcement has a venerable history, particularly in accounting for behavior not obviously maintained by primary reinforcers. The studies of choice and of conditioned reinforcement have often developed in lockstep. Many contemporary approaches to these fundamental topics share an emphasis on context and on relative value. We trace the evolution of thinking about the potency of conditioned reinforcers from stimuli that were thought to acquire their value from pairings with more fundamental reinforcers to stimuli that acquire their value by being differentially correlated with these more fundamental reinforcers. We discuss some seminal experiments (including several that have been underappreciated) and some ongoing data, all of which have propelled us to the conclusion that the strength of conditioned reinforcers is determined by their signaling a relative improvement in the organism''s relation to reinforcement.     

Effects of Interspersing Briefer Mathematics Problems on Assignment Choice in Students with Learning Disabilities

Within- and between-series designs were combined and used to evaluate the effects of interspersing briefer math problems (i.e., one-digit by one-digit multiplication, 1 × 1) with more time-consuming problems (i.e., two-digit by one-digit multiplication, 2 × 1) on time allocation to one of two concurrent computer-delivered mathematics computation assignments in four high school students with specific learning disabilities in mathematics. The computer presented students with a choice of 2 × 1 problems with 1 × 1 problems interspersed every third problem (i.e., experimental assignment) or 2 × 1 problems without interspersal (i.e., control assignment). Visual and statistical analysis showed that students allocated a greater percentage of their time to the interspersal assignments. These results support previous research on the matching law and problem completion rates and suggest that students' preference for assignments can be improved through the interspersal technique. Discussion focuses on future research and applied educational implications for curricula construction and task sequencing.