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AIMS To understand dual users' cigarette and e-cigarette use patterns including the contexts in which they vape vs smoke and to understand how environmental and internal contexts and smoking patterns differ between dual users and exclusive smokers. DESIGN Longitudinal observational trial. SETTING Research center in Wisconsin, USA. PARTICIPANTS Adult dual users (n=162) and adults who exclusively smoked (n=143), with no plans to quit smoking or vaping in the next 30 days MEASUREMENTS: Participants carried smartphones for 2 weeks at baseline to record each use event for the two products and report on the context of their product use. Percent of mornings where participants vaped first vs. smoked were used to compute e-cigarette dependence. FINDINGS Hierarchical linear regression models with random slopes and intercepts examined the within- and between-subject effects of context on the likelihood of vaping (vs. smoking); significant fixed effects were tested for moderation by e-cigarette dependence. Dual users reported significantly more puffs/cigarette (mean (M)=13.1, standard deviation (SD)=10.2) than puffs/vape event (M=11.7, SD=11.5; p=0.01). E-cigarette dependence moderated the influence of social cues (t-ratio=2.4, p=0.02) and smoking restrictions (t-ratio=3.1, p=0.003) on the likelihood of vaping versus smoking (odds ratio (OR)=2.30, p=0.02). Context was more related to which product was used in those of low versus higher e-cigarette dependence. Reports of strong cravings to smoke and positive expectancies for cigarettes were associated with reduced likelihood of vaping whereas strong cravings to vape and positive vaping expectancies were related to increased likelihood of vaping. CONCLUSIONS Among dual users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes with no motivation to quit, vaping appears to be related to internal cues and more highly linked with social contexts and smoking restrictions (i.e., under stronger external stimulus control) among those with low to moderate e-cigarette dependence compared with high e-cigarette dependence. These findings illustrate the importance of contextual factors in tobacco product use amongst dual users with the influence of context being reduced at high levels of e-cigarette dependence.

This study measured the responses of dogs to signals delivered via hand and voice signals. The study sought to determine whether dogs would display differential stimulus control when switching from a compound stimulus (auditory-visual) cue to presentation of only one of its elements. Twelve dogs performed a target behavior in response to a 2-element compound stimulus composed of a hand (visual modality) signal and a voice (auditory modality) signal. The mean percent correct responses to the visual element (M = 56.5, SD = 20.74) and the auditory element (M = 67.5, SD = 21.57) were both significantly lower than the 85% correct for the compound stimulus, P < 0.017. There was also evidence of a preference for one of the elements of the compound stimulus. The mean percent correct for the more favoured element (M = 77.25, SD = 12.53) was significantly higher than for the less favoured element (M = 46.75, SD = 17.2), P < 0.001. The identity of the favoured element was not consistent across the animals with 75% preferring the auditory element and 25% the visual element. This study contributes to an understanding of factors related to the stimulus control of learned behaviors. The differential control of behavior by alternative cues has implications for the training of assistance or service and other working animals with multiple cues. The results would strongly suggest that training with a compound stimulus is not appropriate if only elements of the compound stimulus are to be subsequently used.

This chapter talks about the history of a controversial psychologist of the twentieth century: Burrhus Frederick (B. F.) Skinner and his principles to human behavior, and Skinner's work in early childhood settings. Skinner's work was based on observation, measurement, and induction. Knowledge of the principles discovered by Skinner, which have been empirically demonstrated to have profound and lasting effects on humans, will provide professionals in the field of early childhood with the tools they need to enhance learning in the children who cross their paths. For decades, researchers have demonstrated the application of Skinner's findings to develop a technology to address challenging behavior in individuals of all ages, with and without disabilities. An application of Skinner's work is attention to the three term contingency consisting of the stimulus, response, and consequence. Across teaching opportunities, the interventionist inserts a delay between the discriminative stimulus and the prompts.

Stimulus overselectivity remains an ill-defined concept within behavior analysis, because it can be difficult to distinguish truly restrictive stimulus control from random variation. Quantitative models of bias are useful, though perhaps limited in application. Over the last 50 years, research on stimulus overselectivity has developed a pattern of assessment and intervention repeatedly marred by methodological flaws. Here we argue that a molecular view of overselectivity, under which restricted stimulus control has heretofore been examined, is fundamentally insufficient for analyzing this phenomenon. Instead, we propose the use of the term “overselectivity” to define temporally extended patterns of restrictive stimulus control that have resulted in disproportionate populations of responding that cannot be attributed to chance alone, and highlight examples of overselectivity within the verbal behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder. Viewed as such, stimulus overselectivity lends itself to direct observation and measurement through the statistical analysis of single-subject data. In particular, we demonstrate the use of the Cochran Q test as a means of precisely quantifying stimulus overselectivity. We provide a tutorial on calculation, a model for interpretation, and a discussion of the implications for the use of Cochran’s Q by clinicians and researchers.

The one-shot pairing of a stimulus with a specific cognitive control process, such as task switching, can bind the two together in memory. The episodic control-binding hypothesis posits that the formation of temporary stimulus-control bindings, which are held in event-files supported by episodic memory, can guide the contextually appropriate application of cognitive control. Across two experiments, we sought to examine the role of task-focused attention in the encoding and implementation of stimulus-control bindings in episodic event-files. In Experiment 1, we obtained self-reports of mind wandering during encoding and implementation of stimulus-control bindings. Results indicated that, whereas mind wandering during the implementation of stimulus-control bindings does not decrease their efficacy, mind wandering during the encoding of these control-state associations interferes with their successful deployment at a later point. In Experiment 2, we complemented these results by using trial-by-trial pupillometry to measure attention, again demonstrating that attention levels at encoding predict the subsequent implementation of stimulus-control bindings better than attention levels at implementation. These results suggest that, although encoding stimulus-control bindings in episodic memory requires active attention and engagement, once encoded, these bindings are automatically deployed to guide behavior when the stimulus recurs. These findings expand our understanding of how cognitive control processes are integrated into episodic event files. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13414-021-02343-9.

Previous research has investigated generalized intraverbal-tacting by teaching children with autism to respond using autoclitic frames. The present study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of a Frame and a No Frame procedure across counterbalanced stimulus sets with 4 children with autism. In the Frame condition, children were taught to respond using autoclitic frames (e.g., "Shape square," "Number two," "Color green," "It's mummy," "S/he is drinking") corresponding to the verbal antecedent ("What shape?", "What number?", "What color?", "Who is it?", "What is s/he doing?"). In the No Frame condition, intraverbal-tacting was established without the autoclitic frame. Irrespective of stimuli employed, 2 children acquired intraverbal-tacting only in the Frame condition. The other 2 children acquired intraverbal-tacting in both conditions, with the Frame procedure requiring fewer teaching trials for 1 child and producing greater generalization for the other. Implications for clinical practice and the role of additive intraverbal stimulus control of autoclitic frames are discussed.

Exposure to food cues in the modern obesogenic environment poses a significant barrier for weight control, as cues challenge self-regulation systems and make maintaining a calorie deficit particularly challenging. Thus, management of environmental food cues, particularly in the home food environment, is a frequent target of gold-standard behavioral weight loss (BWL) treatment, typically through stimulus control content. Principles of stimulus control highlight the pivotal role of environmental triggers for eating behavior and focus on modifying cues in the home food environment. BWL participants are taught to maximize availability of healthy foods and minimize availability of foods that make it difficult to meet prescribed calorie goals, decreasing the presence of stimuli that are conditioned to cue excess intake. Modifying contextual cues in this way is expected to decrease reliance on self-regulatory systems. Despite being a common component of BWL programs, little empirical work has been done to understand the usage and efficacy of stimulus control for weight management. This study will examine stimulus control strategies targeting the home food environment among adults enrolled in a BWL program. The project aims to characterize utilization, perceived importance, and barriers of stimulus control strategies during the group phase of a BWL treatment, examine how stimulus control relates to concurrent and prospective weight loss, and explore individual- and environmental-level variables that influence these constructs.

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (1821-1894) began investigating vision at a time when its study was undergoing a revolution. Laboratory experiments were augmenting the long history of naturalistic observations. Instruments of stimulus control enabled the manipulation of time and space in ways that had not been possible previously, and Helmholtz added to their tally. Vision was a central issue in his early years as an academic, and the bicentenary of his birth is here celebrated visually. Much of his research on vision was described in his Handbuch der physiologischen Optik, which was translated into English to mark the centenary of his birth. The history of his Handbuch is examined, together with illustrating highlights from it. Helmholtz's contributions to understanding the eye as an optical instrument, the sensations of vision, and perception were expressed in the three parts of the Handbuch, which became the three volumes of his Treatise on Physiological Optics.

This study aimed to assess whether applied behavior analysis (ABA) procedures such as feedback, goal setting and stimulus control, combined with acceptance and commitment training (ACTr) interventions implemented digitally improve levels of physical activity, consistency with self-care values and psychological flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across five participants was used in this study. Participants included five women with BMI's in the overweight or obese range. All participants were exposed to two intervention phases. In the first phase, feedback, goal setting and stimulus control procedures were implemented to improve physical activity. In the next phase, these procedures were combined with mindful walking exercises and values clarification exercises. In addition, psychological flexibility related to physical activity and values consistency were measured throughout the study. Results indicated that step count improved with the implementation of ABA + ACTr across all participants. Furthermore, psychological flexibility and self-care value scores improved after the intervention and maintained at 1-week follow-up. Lastly, the impact of physical activity during COVID-19, effectiveness and efficiency of ABA + ACT interventions are discussed.

Resurgence is an increase in a previously reinforced behavior following a worsening of conditions for a more recently reinforced behavior. Discrimination training is incorporated into treatment for problem behavior to prevent treatment adherence failures that may result in resurgence. There is evidence that resurgence may be reduced when a stimulus that signals alternative-response extinction is present compared with absent; however, the generality of this effect is unknown given the limited testing conditions. The goal of the present experiments was to further examine the effects of such stimuli in a reverse-translational evaluation using rats. Target responding was reinforced in baseline and then placed on extinction in the following discrimination-training phase. An alternative response was differentially reinforced in a two-component multiple schedule where one stimulus (i.e., SD) signaled alternative-response reinforcement and the other (i.e., SΔ) signaled extinction. Experiment 1 assessed resurgence in both the SΔ and SD when alternative reinforcement was removed. Experiment 2 evaluated resurgence under conditions that better approximated those used in the clinic in which the alternative-response SΔ was present or absent. The SΔ failed to suppress target responding during resurgence testing in both experiments. These findings suggest that the conditions under which an alternative-response SΔ will successfully mitigate resurgence may be limited and require further research.

Dois procedimentos têm sido propostos como alternativas para induzir repertórios não ensinados diretamente: 1) instrução com múltiplos exemplares (MEI); e 2) observação de pareamento de estímulos (SPOP). O MEI implica a rotação do ensino de diferentes respostas a um estímulo (ex. tato e resposta de ouvinte), o que favorece a aprendizagem incidental dessas respostas para novos estímulos a partir do ensino de apenas um dos tipos. No SPOP é exigida apenas a observação de estímulos apresentados contíguos, sem reforçamento diferencial para qualquer resposta. Os resultados de alguns estudos sugerem que uma maior frequência de pareamentos poderia levar a emergência de respostas de tato e ouvinte não ensinadas diretamente e que o pareamento de estímulos pode afetar o procedimento de MEI. O presente estudo avaliou o efeito de SPOP com uma frequência maior de pareamentos por tentativas sobre a emergência de respostas de tato e ouvinte em três crianças com Transtorno do Espectro Autista, e o efeito do SPOP no ensino dessas respostas por meio de MEI. Para dois participantes, o SPOP com mais pareamentos a cada tentativa favoreceu a emergência do repertório de ouvinte. Estes participantes somente aprenderam respostas de tato após o MEI. O SPOP teve um efeito facilitador no treino de MEI. Discute-se o papel do MEI e de treino de tato intensivo na emergência de repertórios de tato e ouvinte, assim como os tipos de controle de estímulo que o SPOP parece favorecer, e a possibilidade de investigar o SPOP em ambientes menos estruturados.

Treatment integrity is the extent to which components of an intervention are implemented as intended (Gresham, 1989). Recent behavior-analytic literature has begun to evaluate the effects of reduced-treatment integrity on the efficacy and efficiency of skill-acquisition interventions. This study extended the current literature on the effects of errors of omission and commission of reinforcer delivery by replicating and extending Hirst and DiGennaro Reed (2015). Using a randomized-control group design, we compared undergraduate student participants' acquisition of conditional discriminations in a parametric analysis of different error values. A computer program erred in reinforcer delivery on 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 50% of trials. The purpose of the current study was to identify which levels of reduced integrity slowed or prevented acquisition. Our data replicated the findings of Hirst and DiGennaro Reed, and extended parametric analyses by identifying that errors in reinforcer delivery occurring on 15% or fewer trials (i.e., 85% integrity) were unlikely to prevent participants' responding from meeting the mastery criterion. These results could inform future research on how treatment-integrity errors change behavior-analytic procedures and the effects on skill acquisition for consumers of applied behavior analysis.

Transfer trials are a component of discrete-trial training in which the therapist re-presents the initial instruction following a prompted trial to provide an opportunity for the learner to answer independently. Transfer trials may expedite the transfer of stimulus control, are commonly used by practitioners and researchers, and are often recommended as best practice by applied behavior analysis organizations. However, there is little research comparing the efficiency and efficacy of transfer trials to more traditional teaching procedures. The current study evaluated and compared transfer trials to a nontransfer trial procedure for two-component tacting with three children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Results indicated both procedures were both effective and efficient for teaching two-component tacts for all learners, supporting the inclusion of transfer trials in discrete-trial training.

Sidman et al.'s (1982) failure to find evidence for symmetry (bidirectional associations between stimuli) in monkeys and baboons set the stage for decades of work on emergent relations in nonhumans. They attributed the failure to the use of procedures that did not (1) promote stimulus control based on the relation between the sample and correct comparison and (2) reduce control by irrelevant stimulus features. Previous reviews of symmetry in nonhumans indicated that multiple exemplar training and successive matching might encourage appropriate stimulus control. This review examined 16 studies that investigated symmetry in 94 subjects, including pigeons, rats, capuchin monkeys, and baboons. Several studies used alternative training procedures to minimize sources of irrelevant stimulus control, and many combined multiple exemplar training with other procedural modifications. Symmetry was observed in approximately 30% of subjects. Studies that reported the strongest evidence for symmetry used successive matching-to-sample procedures that included training on both symbolic and identity relations, and studies finding mixed evidence employed alternative methods. These studies highlight the challenge in creating training procedures that promote symmetry and the need to assess the underlying sources of control on positive demonstrations.

We examined emergent tact control following stimulus pairing, using 2 different stimulus presentation arrangements. In the word-first condition, presentation of the auditory stimulus preceded the visual stimulus, and in the image-first condition, the visual stimulus preceded the auditory stimulus. Eight children (2–5 years old) participated. In Experiment 1, 4 children were exposed to 3 sessions in each condition with a new set of stimuli in each session. In Experiment 2, 2 of the same children received repeated exposure to the same stimulus sets. Experiment 3, with new participants, was identical to Experiment 1, except visual and auditory stimuli overlapped during the presentation. Postsession probes documented emergent stimulus control over 1 or more vocal responses for 7 of the 8 participants. Participants were more likely to make echoic responses with the visual stimulus present in the word-first condition; however, emergent tact control was unaffected by the order of the stimulus presentation. Additional research is needed on stimulus-pairing procedures and on the role of echoic responding in emergent tact control.

This experiment investigated whether pigeons’ response to numerical stimuli in a numerosity discrimination task differed by degree of difference in total element area ratio between numerical stimuli. After the pigeons learned to respond to a smaller numerical stimulus containing fewer elements, Tests 1 and 2 were conducted. In Test 1, the study compared smaller numerical stimulus choice ratios under several conditions, wherein the ratios of the total element area between smaller and larger numerical stimuli were manipulated. Test 2 presented a test pair with the same number of pairs, but whose areas differed, and examined whether discrimination based on total element area was established through different reinforcements within the numerosity discrimination task. In Test 1, birds responded to smaller numerical stimuli under the conditions that the total area of the smaller numerical stimuli was less than or equal to that of the larger numerical stimuli. On the other hand, under the condition that the total area of the smaller numerical stimuli was larger than that of the larger numerical stimuli, the frequency of responses to the smaller numerical stimuli decreased with the increase in differences in the area ratio between stimuli. Test 2 demonstrated that the birds consistently chose the smaller area of stimuli when the numerical stimulus pairs differed only in area size. These results suggested that either stimulus control by numerosity or by nonnumerical visual cues is dominant, depending on the degree of the total element area ratio between the numerical stimuli.

Two experiments with rat subjects separated learning about the discriminative stimulus versus the operant response in the extinction of discriminated operant learning. Each was designed to separate 2 forms of error that could generate extinction learning from an error-correction perspective: Stimulus error, where the discriminative stimulus overpredicts the reinforcer in extinction, and response error, where the response is higher than what the current reinforcer supports. Stimulus error would cause correction of the Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer association, whereas response error could cause correction of the instrumental response through adjustment of the response-reinforcer association or direct inhibition of the response. Previous research has supported a role for prediction error in instrumental extinction but has confounded these 2 potential sources of error. Using new variations of the concurrent excitor paradigm (Experiment 1) and the overexpectation paradigm (Experiment 2), the present experiments manipulated response error while controlling stimulus error. Both demonstrated that response error plays a role in instrumental extinction. When a discriminated operant response is not reinforced, response error correction may cause the animal to learn to suppress that specific response. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A common practice in tact training is to include a supplemental verbal stimulus (e.g., “What is it?”) in addition to the presentation of a nonverbal discriminative stimulus. Previous literature has suggested that this supplemental verbal stimulus can impede acquisition and generalization relative to the presentation of the object alone, as it may establish faulty stimulus control or decrease spontaneous tacting. Research has yet to compare these 2 training methods on the generalization of learned tacts to more naturalistic, play-based environments. The present study evaluated the use of “What is it?” compared to the presentation of only the nonverbal discriminative stimulus on tact acquisition among 3 children with autism spectrum disorder and the extent to which these training procedures led to tacting in a play-based setting following discrete-trial training. Overall, participants learned to tact stimuli under both conditions, and all participants demonstrated generalization of tacts in a play-based setting. Recommendations for the development and evaluation of naturalistic posttraining assessment are discussed.

One strategy to program for generalization is to vary noncritical features in teaching exemplars, thereby avoiding noncritical features from being highly correlated with reinforcement and thus gaining faulty stimulus control. In the current translational evaluation, 2 groups of adults of typical development were taught to respond to arbitrary stimuli with experimenter-defined critical and noncritical features in a matching-to-sample task. The teaching arrangement used for 1 group programmed for low correlation between noncritical features and reinforcement; the teaching arrangement used for the other group programmed for high correlation between noncritical features and reinforcement. Participants in the former group displayed (a) faster acquisition of matching, (b) less variability in correct responding, and (c) a decreased likelihood of faulty stimulus control developing during training. The results contribute towards advancing the study of stimulus control and developing an explicit technology of generalization to better serve consumers of the application of our science.

Previous research has shown that instrumental training can encourage the formation of binary associations between the representations of the elements present at the time of learning, that is, between the discriminative stimulus and the instrumental response (the S-R association), between the stimulus and outcome (the S-O association), and between the response and outcome (the R-O association). Studies with rats have used transfer procedures to explore the effects of discriminative extinction (i.e., extinction that is carried out in the presence of the discriminative stimuli) on these three binary associations. Thus, a reduction in the response rate of the extinguished response (R) can be detected in situations involving a different discriminative stimulus that was associated with the same outcome, and to unextinguished responses controlled by the discriminative stimulus (S) and associated with the outcome (O). These transfer effects suggest that R-O and S-O associations remain active after extinction in nonhuman animals. We carried out an experiment to explore these postextinction transfer effects in humans using a within-subject design. Contrary to nonhuman reports, the S-O association was affected by discriminative extinction, suggesting differences in the associative structure of instrumental conditioning in human and nonhuman animals that should be considered by those therapeutic strategies based in nonhuman animal research aimed to reduce unhealthy instrumental behaviours in human beings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigated a novel method for implementing programs of graduated stimulus change aimed at teaching arbitrary matching to children—stimulus fading in this case. Whereas typical fading programs arrange graduated stimulus change across trials, our method used computer animation to arrange stimulus changes within trials. Thus, children could observe stimuli changing dynamically rather than statically as in typical fading procedures. We hypothesized that dynamic stimulus change would likely prove superior to static change. When dynamic versus static fading procedures were compared, however, both procedures yielded similar, variable learning outcomes. Nevertheless, our study showed that dynamic fading was feasible, perhaps setting the stage for further research to assess whether variations in the parameters of dynamic fading might lead to greater successes.

Stimuli that provide information about likely future reinforcers tend to shift behavior, provided a reliable relation between the stimulus and the reinforcer can be discriminated. Stimuli that are apparently more reliable exert greater control over behavior. We asked how the subjective value (measured in terms of preference) of reinforcers associated with stimuli influences stimulus control. Five pigeons worked on a concurrent chains procedure in which half of all trials ended in a smaller reinforcer sooner, and the other half in a larger reinforcer later. In Signaled trials, the color and flash duration on the keys in the initial link signaled the outcome of the trial. In Conflicting probe trials, the color and the flash duration signaled conflicting information about the outcome of the trial. Choice in Signaled trials shifted toward the signaled outcome, but was never exclusive. In Conflicting probe trials, control was divided idiosyncratically between the 2 stimulus dimensions, but still favored the outcome with the higher subjective value. Thus, stimulus control depends not only on the perceived reliability of stimuli, but also on the subjective value of the outcome.

A long-standing debate revolves around which mental codes allow humans to control behavior. The internal stimulus model (going back to Rudolf Hermann Lotze) proposes that behavior is controlled by codes of stimuli that had previously preceded corresponding motor activities. The internal effect model (going back to Emil Harleß) proposes that behavior is controlled by codes of perceptual effects that had previously resulted from corresponding motor activities. Here, we present a test of these two control models. We observed evidence for both models with stronger evidence for the internal stimulus model. We suggest that the proposed experimental setup might be a useful tool to study the relative strengths of stimulus control and effect control of behavior in various contexts.

Murray Sidman's contributions to the science of behavior span many areas including avoidance behavior, coercion and its effects, stimulus control, errorless learning, programmed learning, stimulus equivalence, and single-subject methodology. He was also a great mentor to many and helped shape the discipline we now call behavior analysis. In this memoriam, we briefly highlight his scholarly legacy and share some personal anecdotes.

Stimuli with no specific biological relevance for the organism can acquire multiple functions through conditioning procedures. Conditioning procedures involving compound stimuli sometimes result in blocking, related to the phenomenon of overshadowing. This can affect the establishment of conditioned stimuli in classical conditioning and discriminative stimuli in operant conditioning. The aim of the current experiment was to investigate whether a standard blocking procedure might block the establishment of a conditioned reinforcer—in addition to blocking discriminative control by that stimulus in rats. We used successive discrimination training to establish a tone or a light as a discriminative stimulus for chain pulling, upon which an unconditioned reinforcer (water) was contingent. Next, we trained a tone–light compound stimulus the same way. Finally, we conducted two tests, one for stimulus control and one for a conditioned reinforcing effect on a new response. Little or no discriminative control was evident by the second stimulus, which was added to the previously established discriminative stimulus later during training. The subsequent test showed blocking of conditioned reinforcement in five of the seven rats. Procedures that generate blocking can have a practical impact on attempts to establish discriminative stimuli and/or conditioned reinforcers in applied settings and needs careful attention. Open Access funding provided by OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University.

Skinner’s (1957) book Verbal Behavior is a critical tool in designing effective communication programs for individuals with limited speech. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyze the speech generating device (SGD) research literature from Skinner’s taxonomy of primary verbal operants. An extraction procedure yielded 56 studies published between 1995 and 2018, with a total of 221 participants, most of whom had autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). The large majority of SGD studies (42) targeted multiply controlled mands, whereas only a handful of studies targeted verbal operants that were not mands. Few studies employed procedures for fading contrived sources of stimulus control to promote spontaneous responding, and few studies targeted more sophisticated, topography-based responses (e.g., typing, speech). Results of the review highlight the need for better dissemination of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior, the need for research to evaluate effects of SGD in teaching a greater variety of spontaneous verbal operants, and the need to focus on application of SGD with populations beyond individuals with ASD and IDD.

This experiment explored how training modality influenced the formation of three-node, five-member equivalence classes during the simultaneous protocol by 23 college students. The baseline relations were established in one of three ways: concurrently (CONC; i.e., all together), serially (SER; i.e., one after another)—both on a trial and error basis—or serially and “errorlessly” by use of a constructed response matching to sample procedure (CRMTS). After training, class formation was assessed with test blocks that contained all baseline relations trials and probe trials for symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence. Error percentages during the acquisition of the baseline relations was highest during concurrent training, lower during serial training, and lowest during constructed response training. Yet, a similar percentage of participants formed classes in each training condition. Thus, the likelihood of equivalence class formation under these variants of the simultaneous protocol was not influenced by training modality or prevalence of errors during acquisition. In addition, only some of the transient nonclass-indicative stimulus control topographies that emerged during training resurged during testing. These results challenge predictions regarding class formation posited by stimulus control topography coherence theory.

Behavior interacts with its environment both during an organism’s lifetime and across generations through natural selection. Speech is a natural event that comes down to sounds that affect the beha...

“Peak Shift” usually occurs following intradimensional-discrimination training and involves a shift of the peak of the generalization gradient away from the original discriminative stimulus (S+) in a direction away from an S-. Two theoretical accounts of peak shift, the gradient interaction theory (GIT) and adaptation level theory (ALT), were compared. The effects of asymmetric test stimuli and the impact of instructions to participants for them to treat stimuli as members of categories on generalization gradients were investigated. In Experiment 1, the relation between peak shifts obtained when an extended asymmetric set of test stimuli was employed and the occurrence of categorization of the stimuli involved was investigated in four separate conditions. Two involved temporal discrimination, one involved line-angle discrimination, and one involved a compound line-angle and temporal cue discrimination. If participants treated the stimuli as belonging to discrete categories, such as hands-on a clock, rather than as being on continuous dimensions then responding to the compound cue was expected to result in attenuation of blocking of a peak shift. However, the peak shift obtained to the three cue types were the same. In Experiment 2, an independent group of participants was given explicit instructions to treat the line angles as if they were the hands of a clock face and this eliminated peak shift. The results from the present experiments support an ALT interpretation, although the peak shifts were significantly smaller in magnitude than predicted by this account.

The motivating operations concept has been of considerable interest and practical value to behavior analysts, including practitioners. Nonetheless, the concept has generated substantial controversy and has significant limitations. To address some of these limitations, we suggest that it would be wise to redefine motivating operations, to deemphasize the importance that has historically been placed on subtypes of conditioned motivating operations, to emphasize how motivating operations and discriminative stimuli interact, and to further examine the kinds of environmental changes that alter the reinforcing value of particular kinds of stimuli. These suggestions are detailed elsewhere and summarized in this article.

This study evaluated the efficacy of a set of procedures in evoking responding under multiple stimulus control (identifying emotions when provided a person and context) in a match-to-sample arrangement. Three participants with autism achieved a mastery criterion following direct training of the target relations, and two of the participants additionally demonstrated derived relations without direct training (identifying people when provided an emotion and context). Corrective procedures were effective in promoting the emergence of derived relations for the third participant. These data suggest that incorporating derived stimulus relation training and testing procedures may have utility for clinical interventions in children with autism.

Instructors use prompts to assist learners in acquiring skills and then fade those prompts until responding occurs under the appropriate stimulus control conditions. Cengher et al. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 30, 155-173 (2018) reviewed studies that compared two or more different prompt-fading procedures. The current review extends the literature by analyzing studies that manipulated parameters and components of prompt-fading procedures. The data search and data analysis processes were similar to the ones reported by Cengher et al. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 30, 155-173 (2018). The results support the selection of self-paced, individualized instruction that programs the appropriate development of stimulus control by fading within the discriminative stimulus, using an observing response, and teaching a conditional discrimination from the onset of training. Even though the results were generally consistent across studies, there are some parameters and components that have more empirical support and others that require continued investigation. Implications for clinical practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Until recently, demonstrations of metacognition in primates have been frequent and robust, while in rodents they have been few and equivocal. However, the past few years have seen a change in this trend with the introduction of novel methods to determine whether metacognitive responding is governed by internal or external sources of stimulus control in rats. Such studies suggest that like primates, rats can indeed use internal assessment of memory strengths to guide metacognitive responding. Strong behavioral paradigms suitable for rodents support the development of easily-accessible animal models for the neurobiology of metamemory and translational studies on diseases of memory. They also allow for a more complete comparative study of the evolution of metacognition, as the presence of this ability in rodents would suggest that metacognition evolved ~80 rather than ~25 million years ago.

Results of several recent translational studies have suggested that correlating contextual or discriminative stimuli with the delivery and withholding of reinforcement for the functional communication response (FCR) may mitigate resurgence of destructive behavior, but few, if any, have isolated the effects of those stimuli. In the present study, we first trained the FCR, brought it under stimulus control of a multiple schedule, and thinned its reinforcement schedule in one stimulus context. Next, we conducted resurgence evaluations (i.e., baseline, functional communication training [FCT], extinction challenge) in two novel contexts to test the effects of the discriminative stimuli on resurgence. We programmed one context to include the (a) SD during the FCT phase to signal the availability of reinforcement for the FCR and (b) SΔ during a subsequent extinction challenge to signal the unavailability of reinforcement for the FCR. The other context did not include the SD during the FCT phase, nor the SΔ during the extinction challenge. We expected to see greater persistence of the FCR in the context that included the SD during FCT and less persistence of the FCR and less resurgence of destructive behavior in the context that included the SΔ during the extinction challenge. Obtained results confirmed this latter prediction, but we observed no reliable difference when the SD was present or absent during the FCT phase. Our results have relevance for practitioners in that they provide further empirical support for the use of discriminative stimuli when treating destructive behavior.

The benefit of permanent prompts depends on the extent to which their use is generalized. Previous research has demonstrated both control by and efficacy of pictorial prompts (e.g., Phillips & Vollmer, 2012). The present studies similarly evaluated stimulus control by textual prompts. Six school aged children with intellectual disabilities were taught to complete four 5-step instructional sets under the control of textual prompts. All 6 subjects showed some generalization to the final set. The results suggest that training served 1 of 3 purposes: (a) established control by the textual prompts or the ordinal sequence thereof, (b) addressed a reading deficit, or (c) addressed the lack of a motivating operation during baseline. Training a single task sequence may not be sufficient for acquisition of generalized textual instruction-following. However, establishing appropriate stimulus control by the textual prompts may facilitate acquisition of a generalized repertoire.

Stereotyped vocal behavior exhibited by a seven-year-old child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and maintained by automatic reinforcement was placed under stimulus control through discrimination training. The training consisted of matching a green card (SD) with free access to vocal stereotypy and a red card (SD-absent) with interruption of stereotypy and vocal redirection. At the same time, appropriate behaviors were reinforced. After discrimination training, the child rarely engaged in vocal stereotypy in the red card condition and, to a greater extent, in the green card condition, demonstrating the ability to discriminate between the two different situations. After the training, the intervention began. Once they reached the latency criterion in the red stimulus condition, the child could have free access to vocal stereotypy (green card condition). The latency criterion for engaging in stereotypy was gradually increased during the red card condition and progressively decreased during the green card condition. The intervention follows a changing criterion design. This study indicates that stimulus discrimination training is a useful intervention to reduce vocal stereotypy in an autistic child.

OBJECTIVE: Behavioral parent training (BPT) is an evidence-based intervention for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but little is known about the effects of separate techniques parents learn in BPT. METHOD: In a three-armed randomized controlled microtrial including parents of 92 children (4-12 years) with ADHD, we examined the efficacy of two sessions parent training involving either stimulus control techniques (antecedent-based condition (AC)) or contingency management techniques (consequent-based condition (CC)), compared to a waitlist. Primary outcome was daily parent-rated problem behaviors, secondary outcomes were parent-rated symptoms of ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and mental health-care consumption. Measures were completed at baseline (T0), immediately after the training (T1), at two weeks (T2) and three months (T3) follow-up. We also explored whether child and parent characteristics moderated treatment effects. RESULTS: Compared to the waitlist, in the AC, daily rated problem behaviors improved at T1 (d= .56) and T2 (d= .65); in the CC, these behaviors only improved at T2 (d= .53). Daily rated problem behaviors within both conditions remained stable between T2 and T3. In the AC compared to the other conditions, inattention symptoms decreased at T1 and T2. For both active conditions compared to waitlist, hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms decreased only at T2 and ODD symptoms did not decrease. No moderators were identified. Mental health-care consumption after training was low and did not differ between the active conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Brief training of parents in antecedent- or consequent-based techniques improves problem behaviors of children with ADHD. Antecedent-based techniques appear to be especially important to target inattention. ispartof: Journal Of Clinical Child And Adolescent Psychology vol:50 issue:6 pages:888-903 ispartof: location:England status: Published online

The current study evaluated the use of precision teaching to address the verbal behavior deficits of children with autism and other language disorders. From 2013 to 2018, a high-research-activity doctoral university in the south-central United States operated a free clinic that provided applied behavior anlaysis services to early learners in the local community. Participants received referent-based verbal behavior instruction to strengthen their functional language skills by systematically transferring stimulus control across 4 primary verbal operants: mands, echoics, tacts, and sequelics. Referent-based instruction is premised on the notion that proportionate levels of strength among these 4 operants provide the relational flexibility of naturalistic speaking observed in typical language development. This article details the language gains made by 49 participants who received 13 weeks of intervention for 90 min a day, 4 days a week. Relative strengths and weaknesses were identified in the verbal repertoire of each participant, and individualized fluency aims were subsequently developed. Results of pretest and posttest comparisons show that there was a large effect size within the verbal behavior gains of participants who received precision teaching. Implications for implementing referent-based instruction, as well as future areas of research, are discussed.