FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF ESCAPE-MAINTAINED AGGRESSION CORRELATED WITH SLEEP DEPRIVATION

Functional analysis identified the consequences that maintained aggressive behavior and the relationship between those consequences and sleep deprivation for an individual with severe mental retardation. Results showed that aggression was maintained by negative reinforcement contingencies (escape from demand) and that aggression was more severe when sleep deprivation was present. A multicomponent intervention resulted in reductions of aggression for up to 7 months.     

ESTABLISHING OPERATIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ASSESSMENT,TREATMENT, AND PREVENTION OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR

This paper seeks to integrate Michael's (1982, 1993) discussion of the concept of the establishing operation (EO) with existing conceptual and empirical analyses of problem behavior in people with developmental disabilities. The paper begins with a summary of Michael (1993), which seeks to describe his concept of the EO and place it briefly in historical context. The role of EOs in evoking and establishing motivation for problem behavior is considered in some detail. A case is made for the greater consideration of EOs in the functional analysis of problem behavior, and specific suggestions for detecting the operation of conditioned establishing operations are offered. Turning to treatment, the paper considers the role played by EOs in existing procedures and discusses the development of treatment strategies that seek to modify EOs, extinguish EOs, and modify the responses evoked by EOs. Finally, consideration is given to the implications of EOs for the more systemic treatment and prevention of problem behavior.     

EFFECTS OF PRESESSION ATTENTION ON THE FREQUENCY OF ATTENTION-MAINTAINED BEHAVIOR

The effect of prior attention was systematically manipulated to study its influence on rates of yelling and head hitting, both maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention. Higher levels of head hitting occurred in analogue attention conditions when the person was deprived of attention (no social interactions for 1 hr) prior to the analysis in comparison to when the person received high levels of attention (attention delivered on a fixed-time 30-s schedule for 1 hr) prior to the analysis.     

大学生问题发现过程的问题行为图研究

在潜藏式与矛盾式情境两类问题发现任务中,采用出声思维的方法研究问题发现能力高与低两类各10名大学生问题发现过程的内部认知活动。利用问题行为图技术进行个案分析,着重考察大学生在知识状态、思维操作及问题行为图等方面的表现。基于加工性质把知识编码为陈述性、程序性和策略性知识;基于信息来源编码为情境、内部和推断信息;基于思维关联与转换,把思维操作编码为独立、横向、纵向与元认知思维。研究表明:(1)问题发现中,在内部信息、纵向思维以及纵横交错型行为图的使用频次上,潜藏情境高于矛盾情境;在情境信息、横向思维以及横向平行和横向归纳型行为图的使用频次上,矛盾情境高于潜藏情境。(2)高低能力组被试在知识状态、思维操作与问题行为图的使用上差异均不显著,可能是由于上述方面涉及问题发现的基本认知过程和思维规律,具有普遍性特征。     

Using choice to increase on-task behavior in individuals with traumatic brain injury

An ABA'B design was used to evaluate the effects of choice on task engagement for 3 adults who had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. A yoked-control condition, in which tasks that were selected by each participant were assigned subsequently to that participant by a trainer, was implemented to help distinguish between the effects of task preference and choice. The results for all 3 participants indicated that permitting individuals to choose from a list of tasks increased on-task behavior.     

麻醉告知与手术告知纠纷案问题探讨

麻醉告知和手术告知是两项独立的医疗活动,术后不良后果既可由手术引起,亦可由麻醉引起。术后不良后果发生原因的确定应作为医疗纠纷中责任划分的重要依据。案例表明,麻醉告知和手术告知在法律上没有单独存在的必要,依法完善手术风险的告知义务已成为医务工作者面临的新问题。     

The cognitive architecture for chaining of two mental operations

A simple view, which dates back to Turing, proposes that complex cognitive operations are composed of serially arranged elementary operations, each passing intermediate results to the next. However, whether and how such serial processing is achieved with a brain composed of massively parallel processors, remains an open question. Here, we study the cognitive architecture for chained operations with an elementary arithmetic algorithm: we required participants to add (or subtract) two to a digit, and then compare the result with five. In four experiments, we probed the internal implementation of this task with chronometric analysis, the cued-response method, the priming method, and a subliminal forced-choice procedure. We found evidence for an approximately sequential processing, with an important qualification: the second operation in the algorithm appears to start before completion of the first operation. Furthermore, initially the second operation takes as input the stimulus number rather than the output of the first operation. Thus, operations that should be processed serially are in fact executed partially in parallel. Furthermore, although each elementary operation can proceed subliminally, their chaining does not occur in the absence of conscious perception. Overall, the results suggest that chaining is slow, effortful, imperfect (resulting partly in parallel rather than serial execution) and dependent on conscious control.     

ASSESSING THE UTILITY OF A DEMAND ASSESSMENT FOR FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

We evaluated the utility of an assessment for identifying tasks for the functional analysis demand condition with 4 individuals who had been diagnosed with autism. During the demand assessment, a therapist presented a variety of tasks, and observers measured problem behavior and compliance to identify demands associated with low levels of compliance or high levels of problem behavior (low‐probability demands) and demands associated with high levels of compliance or low levels of problem behavior (high‐probability demands). Results showed that clearer functional analysis outcomes were obtained for 3 of the 4 participants when low‐probability rather than high‐probability demands were used.     

A behavior-analytic account of cognitive bias in clinical populations

Cognitive bias refers to a well-established finding that individuals who suffer from certain clinical problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, etc.) selectively attend to, remember, and interpret events relevant to their condition. Although a body of literature exists that has tried to examine this phenomenon, most existing explanations are mentalistic and mediational. In this paper we offer a behavior-analytic account of cognitive bias, its development, and how it may contribute to maintenance of clinical problems. This account is based on establishing operations or motivating events, verbal processes, and relational responding. Clinical and future research implications are also discussed.