ABSTRACT
Recent research findings suggest that reinforcing stimuli may be differentially effective as response requirements increase. We extended this line of research by evaluating responding under increasing schedule requirements via progressive-ratio schedules and behavioral economic analyses. The differential effectiveness of preferred stimuli in treating destructive behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement also was examined. Results showed that one of two stimuli was associated with more responding under increasing schedule requirements for the 4 participants. Furthermore, stimuli associated with more responding under increasing schedule requirements generally were more effective in treating destructive behavior than stimuli associated with less responding. These data suggest that progressive-ratio schedules and behavioral economic analyses may be useful for developing a new technology for reinforcer identification. From a clinical perspective, these results suggest that two reinforcers may be similarly effective for low-effort tasks and differentially effective for high-effort tasks.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/therapy , Reinforcement Schedule , Adolescent , Female , Humans , Intellectual Disability/complications , Male , PsychotherapyABSTRACT
Recent research findings suggest that idiosyncratic variables can influence the outcomes of functional analyses (E. G. Carr, Yarbrough, & Langdon, 1997). In the present study, we examined idiosyncratic environment-behavior relations more precisely after identifying stimuli (i.e., a particular toy and social interaction) associated with increased levels of problem behavior. Two children, an 8-year-old boy with moderate mental retardation and a 5-year-old boy with no developmental delays, participated. Results of functional analyses for both children indicated that idiosyncratic antecedent stimuli set the occasion for occurrences of problem behavior (hand biting or hand flapping) and that problem behavior persisted in the absence of social contingencies. Further analyses were conducted to identify specific components of the stimuli that occasioned problem behavior. Treatments based on results of the analyses successfully reduced self-injury and hand flapping.
Subject(s)
Self-Injurious Behavior/prevention & control , Attention/physiology , Behavior Therapy , Child, Preschool , Developmental Disabilities/complications , Humans , Male , Play and Playthings , Reinforcement, Psychology , Reproducibility of Results , Self-Injurious Behavior/complicationsABSTRACT
Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) consists of delivering a reinforcer on a time-based schedule, independent of responding. Studies evaluating the effectiveness of NCR as treatment for problem behavior have used fixed-time (FT) schedules of reinforcement. In this study, the efficacy of NCR with variable-time (VT) schedules was evaluated by comparing the effects of VT and FT reinforcement schedules with 2 individuals who engaged in problem behavior maintained by positive reinforcement. Both FT and VT schedules were effective in reducing problem behavior. These findings suggest that VT schedules can be used to treat problem behavior maintained by social consequences.
Subject(s)
Reinforcement Schedule , Reinforcement, Psychology , Social Behavior Disorders/therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Aggression/psychology , Extinction, Psychological , Female , Humans , Intellectual Disability/psychology , MaleABSTRACT
This study replicates and extends prior research showing that access to self-restraint materials can reinforce self-injurious behavior (SIB). A functional analysis was conducted showing that SIB occurred at differentially high rates when access to restraint materials (a leather jacket) was made contingent on the behavior. In addition, an alone condition during the functional analysis showed that SIB did not occur in the absence of restraint materials. Finally, a treatment analysis showed that functional communication training was effective using an alternative reinforcer.
