Antecedent manipulations in a tangible condition: effects of stimulus preference on aggression.

After a functional analysis indicated that aggression of an 8‐year‐old boy with autism was maintained by access to preferred items, antecedent manipulations involving the relative preference of restricted and noncontingently available stimuli were conducted. Restricting highly preferred items evoked the highest rates of aggression regardless of the preference level of the noncontingently available alternative items. Restricting less preferred stimuli was associated with moderate rates of aggression even when the alternative items were more preferred.     

绝对音高者对音乐的加工及其神经机制

绝对音高感是一种特殊的音高命名能力。通过论述绝对音高能力与音乐加工的关系,发现绝对音高者具有对音高、音程和旋律的加工优势,但他们对相对音高的加工存在劣势。同时,与非绝对音高者相比,绝对音高者大脑结构和功能都表现出特殊性。未来研究应进一步厘清音乐训练对绝对音高者音乐加工的影响。     

从好奇发生到满足：好奇反馈循环的神经生理机制

好奇是驱动信息寻求行为最主要的内部动机。从感知信息缺口使好奇发生,到对控制进行价值评估,信息寻求行为发生,再到目标信息获得使好奇满足,每一环节都受到当前信息输入和上一环节反馈输出的影响,它们构成了一个反馈循环。该循环还嵌入在个体的终生发展过程中,随着经验积累和脑的发育不断变化。好奇反馈循环模型融入了控制的期望价值模型和贝叶斯强化学习框架,整合了来自监控系统、奖赏系统、控制系统等多个脑功能系统的研究证据,为理解好奇的神经生理机制提供了新思路。     

Defense mechanisms predict differential lifespan change in Self-control and Self-acceptance

Individual differences in the direction of personality change over a period of 40 years for two scales of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI: Gough & Bradley, 1996) - Self-control (Sc) and Self-acceptance (Sa) - as previously identified through the use of longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling (Jones, Livson & Peskin, 2003), were studied in a sample of men and women from the Institute of Human Development Intergenerational Studies. It was hypothesized that the use of defense mechanisms, as assessed by the Defense Mechanism Manual (DMM: Cramer, 1991a), would be differentially related to change in Sc and Sa, depending on whether participants were increasing or decreasing in that trait over time. Results indicated that for participants who decreased in Sa, the use of Denial was associated with less decrease. For participants who increased in Sc, the use of Identification was associated with less increase.     

The Effects of Positive Peer Reporting as a Class-Wide Positive Behavior Support

School-wide, selective, and individual positive behavioral supports are critical elements of a comprehensive, tiered model of service delivery. Positive peer reporting (PPR) involves brief, highly structured sessions during which peers are provided the opportunity to praise the behavior of target students. PPR procedures were modified in this study to provide all children in a classroom the opportunity to provide or receive peer praise. The effects of class-wide PPR on teacher-recorded critical events were evaluated using a multiple baseline design across two classrooms. Results indicated marginal improvement across the two settings, as well as supplemental measures of behavior outside of the classroom and class-wide sociometric nominations. Implications for future research and emerging models of school-wide PBS are discussed.     

A randomized trial of employment-based reinforcement of cocaine abstinence in injection drug users

High-magnitude and long-duration abstinence reinforcement can promote drug abstinence but can be difficult to finance. Employment may be a vehicle for arranging high-magnitude and long-duration abstinence reinforcement. This study determined if employment-based abstinence reinforcement could increase cocaine abstinence in adults who inject drugs and use cocaine during methadone treatment. Participants could work 4 hr every weekday in a workplace where they could earn about $10.00 per hour in vouchers; they were required to provide routine urine samples. Participants who attended the workplace and provided cocaine-positive urine samples during the initial 4 weeks were invited to work 26 weeks and were randomly assigned to an abstinence-and-work (n = 28) or work-only (n = 28) group. Abstinence-and-work participants had to provide urine samples showing cocaine abstinence to work and maintain maximum pay. Work-only participants could work independent of their urinalysis results. Abstinence-and-work participants provided more (p = .004; OR = 5.80, 95% CI = 2.03-16.56) cocaine-negative urine samples (29%) than did work-only participants (10%). Employment-based abstinence reinforcement can increase cocaine abstinence.     

Applying the behavioral economics principle of unit price to DRO schedule thinning

Within the context of behavioral economics, the ratio of response requirements to reinforcer magnitude is called unit price. In this investigation, we yoked increases in reinforcer magnitude with increases in intervals of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) to thin DRO intervals to a terminal value.     

Treating excessively slow responding of a young man with Asperger syndrome using differential reinforcement of short response latencies

Fjellstedt and Sulzer-Azaroff (1973) used differential reinforcement of short latencies to decrease a child's latency to comply with instructions. We replicated this contingency with a young man diagnosed with Asperger syndrome across two tasks (question answering and math problem solving). We added a differential reinforcement contingency to teach the participant to discriminate between math problems that could be answered rapidly and those that required more time for accurate performance.     

The effects of reinforcer pairing and fading on preschoolers' snack selections

The effects of reinforcement pairing and fading on preschoolers' snack selections were evaluated in a multiple baseline design. Baseline preferences for snack options were assessed via repeated paired-item preference assessments. Edible, social, and activity-based reinforcers were then exclusively paired with a less preferred snack option. Once the snack paired with reinforcement was selected most frequently, the three types of reinforcement were systematically faded. Frequent selections of the previously less preferred snack option were produced with paired reinforcement, but were disrupted for all children as the paired reinforcement was reduced to low levels. These data showed that paired reinforcement was initially effective in increasing preference for the originally less preferred snack options, but more permanent changes in the value of the snack options were not achieved. Conditions for producing persistent changes in children's snack choices are discussed.     

Assessing and treating vocal stereotypy in children with autism

Previous research implies that stereotypic behavior tends to be maintained by the sensory consequences produced by engaging in the response. Few investigations, however, have focused on vocal stereotypy. The current study examined the noncommunicative vocalizations of 4 children with an autism spectrum disorder. First, functional analyses were conducted in an attempt to identify the function of each child's behavior. For each of the participants, it was found that vocal stereotypy was likely not maintained by the social consequences. Following assessment, response interruption and redirection (RIRD) was implemented in an ABAB design to determine whether vocal stereotypy could be successfully redirected. RIRD involved a teacher issuing a series of vocal demands the child readily complied with during regular academic programming. Vocal demands were presented contingent on the occurrence of vocal stereotypy and were continuously presented until the child complied with three consecutively issued demands without emitting vocal stereotypy. For each child, RIRD produced levels of vocal stereotypy substantially lower than those observed in baseline. For 3 of the children, an increase in appropriate communication was also observed. The children's teachers were trained to implement RIRD. Brief follow-up probes and anecdotal information implied that the treatment had a positive impact in the natural environment.