Punishment-induced resurgence.

The phenomenon of extinction-induced resurgence is well established, but there is comparatively little experimental evidence for punishment-induced resurgence. Punishment-induced resurgence can by tested by contingent shocks following the alternative response. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to test whether low-intensity shocks, that do not decrease rate of reinforcement, result in resurgence. Four rats served as subjects. Rats were exposed to three sequential conditions: (a) variable-interval (VI) 30-s food delivery for a lever press (target response); (b) VI 30-s food delivery for a nose poke (alternative response) and extinction of the lever press; (c) VI 30-s reinforcement for a nose poke with superimposed VI 60-s shock delivery. In the final condition, shocks increased gradually from 0.1 to 0.5 mA. Experiment 2 evaluated whether an abrupt introduction of a high-intensity shock would result in resurgence. Three rats served as subjects and were exposed to three sequential conditions: (a) VI 30-s food delivery for a lever press; (b) VI 30-s food delivery for a nose poke and extinction of the lever press; (c) continued VI 30-s reinforcement for a nose poke with superimposed VI 60-s 0.6 mA shock delivery. Resurgence was observed in all subjects, including in situations in which rate of responding, but not rate of reinforcement, decreased. The present study provides additional evidence for punishment-induced resurgence, but future studies are warranted to determine the extent to which punishment can produce resurgence with or without decreases in rates of reinforcement.

Self-Control Training: A Scoping Review.

We conducted a scoping review of the behavior analytic self-control training (SCT) literature. To identify included articles, we searched key terms in six databases for articles published between 1988 and 2021. We included empirical articles that used a behavioral approach to self-control training with human participants for whom increasing self-control choice was a clinically significant goal and measured self-control and impulsive choice as dependent variables. Twenty-five experiments from 24 articles with a total of 79 participants were included in the review. This review aims to summarize the characteristics of SCT procedures and outcomes, provide recommendations for future research directions, and offer practical suggestions to clinicians incorporating SCT into practice. We examined similarities across studies regarding the independent variables manipulated in SCT, dependent variables measured, metrics of successful interventions, and assessment of generalization and maintenance of self-control choice. Twenty-one experiments arranged concurrent self-control- and impulsive-choice options with positive reinforcement, and four experiments arranged self-control training with negative-reinforcement contingencies. Variations of SCT included progressively increasing delays, intervening activities, signaled delays, antecedent rules, and commitment responses. Providing an intervening activity during the delay was largely successful at increasing self-control choice. Maintenance and generalization of increased self-control choice were assessed in two and three experiments, respectively. Future research should focus on improving the generality of SCT procedures in clinical settings by increasing terminal delays, fading out intervening activities, including probabilistic outcomes, and combining appetitive and aversive outcomes. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-023-00885-y.

Considerations of Baseline Classroom Conditions in Conducting Functional Behavior Assessments in School Settings.

Research has shown that environmental classroom variables affect academic performance and student behavior, and appropriate behavior is often related to the presence of effective teaching practices and classroom management (Moore Partin, Robertson, Maggin, Oliver, & Wehby Preventing School Failure, 54, 172-178, 2010). For behavior analysts consulting in elementary education, some referrals for assessment and treatment of individual student behavior can be resolved by helping teachers establish effective class-wide practices. For this reason, some researchers suggest that behavior analysts should assess baseline classroom conditions as part of a functional behavior assessment (FBA; Anderson & St. Peter Behavior Analysis in Practice, 6(2), 62, 2013; Sutherland & Wehby Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 11, 239-248, 2001). Through a literature review on effective classroom practices, we identified four specific classroom variables that have large effects on both learning outcomes and student behavior; we suggest consultants consider these four variables in baseline classroom assessments: (a) rates of active student responding (ASR), (b) appropriateness of the curriculum, (c) feedback and reinforcement, and (d) effective instructions and transitions. In this article, we will discuss each of these variables, describe how they can affect classroom behavior, and provide recommended targets from the research literature. We also provide a data-collection form for practitioners to use in their assessments of baseline classroom ecology, and for situations when these practices are not in place, we suggest potential resources for antecedent- and consequence-based interventions to decrease challenging classroom behavior.

Assessing the repeatability of resurgence in humans: Implications for the use of within-subject designs.

Resurgence refers to the recurrence of a previously reinforced response following the worsening of reinforcement conditions (e.g., extinction) for an alternative response. Because of the implications for treatment relapse, researchers have become particularly interested in mitigating resurgence of human behavior. Some studies have employed reversal designs and varied parameters across replications (e.g., ABCADC) to compare effects of second-phase variables. Although resurgence is generally repeatable within and between subjects, the extent to which similar levels of resurgence occur across replications is less clear. To assess the repeatability of resurgence, we conducted a secondary analysis of 62 human-operant data sets using ABCABC reversal designs from two laboratories in the United States. We found significant reductions in the magnitude of resurgence during the second exposure to extinction relative to the first exposure when all other phase variables were held constant. These results suggest that researchers should exercise caution when using within-subject, across-phase replications to compare resurgence between variable manipulations with human participants.

Echoic and self-echoic responses in children.

Eleven typically developing children were assessed on the accuracy of prompted self-echoic responses following a 5-s delay from their initial echoic response, replicating procedures in Esch, Esch, McCart, and Petursdottir (2010) that compared discrepancies between echoic and self-echoic scores of autistic and typically developing children following a 2-s delay. We compared the two studies in terms of age, level tested, and echoic/self-echoic discrepancy scores. Age and test level differences were found to be statistically significant. Results are discussed in terms of discrepant self-echoic performance and self-echoic rehearsal as it relates to participant age, test level, motivating variables, and the development of complex behavior.