Examining the predictive utility of behavioral economic demand indices and subjective effects on the actualized reinforcing value of menthol cigarettes and potential alternatives.

INTRODUCTION: Considering recent and proposed bans on menthol cigarettes, methods are needed to understand the substitutability of potential menthol cigarette alternatives (MCAs) for menthol cigarettes. This study examined the prospective relationship between behavioral economic demand indices and subjective effects of usual brand menthol cigarettes (UBMC) and preferred MCAs with subsequent performance on a laboratory-based concurrent-choice task comparing UBMC and MCAs. METHODS: Eighty participants who typically smoked menthol cigarettes completed this clinical lab study. After sampling each product, participants completed the cigarette purchase task (CPT) and modified cigarette evaluation questionnaire (mCEQ). Following one-week of substituting their preferred MCA for their UBMC, participants completed a 90-min concurrent-choice self-administration task comparing their UBMC and preferred MCA. Linear regression models explored associations between CPT demand indices and mCEQ subjective effects in the lab with subsequent response effort for UBMCs on the concurrent-choice task. RESULTS: Three demand indices for UBMC were positively associated with UBMC response effort: Essential Value (EV; p=.02), Omax (p=.02), and breakpoint (p=.04). Four CPT demand indices for the preferred MCA significantly corresponded with UBMC response effort: EV (p=.03), Pmax (p=.04), Omax (p=.03), and breakpoint (p=.03). Subjective effects captured by the mCEQ were not associated with response effort. CONCLUSIONS: Demand indices reflecting Persistence (i.e., sensitivity to escalating price) predicted effort to obtain UBMC puffs on the concurrent-choice task. Among this sample, the CPT captured information on the relative reinforcing value (i.e., addiction potential) of combustible tobacco products similar to the longer self-administration task. IMPLICATIONS: In an ever-changing product market, assessing the reinforcing efficacy of menthol cigarettes and putative substitutes quickly and with validity is an important methodological tool for understanding abuse liability. Results suggest that behavioral economic demand indices of cigarette purchase task efficiently capture information on the relative reinforcing value of usual brand menthol cigarettes and plausible alternative tobacco products, similar to a 90-min in-laboratory self-administration task.

Substitutability of menthol cigarette alternatives: a clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: This study assessed the substitutability of plausible combustible menthol cigarette alternatives (MCAs) for usual brand menthol cigarettes (UBMCs) in adults who smoke menthol cigarettes. METHODS: Following three in-lab sampling sessions, 80 adults aged 21-50 who smoke menthol cigarettes chose their preferred MCA: (1) a menthol roll-your-own cigarette (mRYO), (2) a menthol filtered little cigar (mFLC) or (3) a non-menthol cigarette (NMC). Participants were instructed to completely substitute their preferred MCA for their UBMC for 1 week and complete daily diaries documenting adherence and subjective effects. At the final lab visit, participants completed concurrent choice and cross-price elasticity tasks with their substitute product and UBMC as the comparator. RESULTS: Most (65%) participants chose mRYO as their preferred product, followed by NMC and mFLC. Adherence to MCA was high for all products across the week (range: 63%-88%). Positive subjective effects for mRYO decreased over time but remained numerically higher than the other MCA products; craving reduction also decreased for NMC across phases. In the progressive ratio task, participants chose their UBMC in 61.7% of choices; this did not differ by preferred MCA, although the median breakpoint was highest for mRYO and similar for mFLC and NMC. Cross-price elasticity comparing UBMC and the preferred product indicated high substitutability of each MCA at phase 3 (I values -0.70 to -0.82). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: mRYOs were the most preferred MCA among the study products, but all MCAs were acceptable substitutes for UBMC using behavioural and economic measures in a short-term trial period.Trial registration number NCT04844762.

Identifying Substitute Activities for Alcohol Consumption: A Preliminary Analysis.

Individuals with alcohol use disorder may excessively value alcohol reinforcement over other types of rewards and may seek out environments supportive of alcohol consumption despite negative consequences. Therefore, examining ways to increase engagement in substance-free activities may be useful in treating alcohol use disorder. Past research has focused on preference and frequency of engagement in alcohol-related versus alcohol-free activities. However, no study to-date has examine the incompatibility of such activities with alcohol consumption, an important step in preventing possible adverse consequences during treatment for alcohol use disorder and for ensuring that activities do not function in a complementary fashion with alcohol consumption. The present study was a preliminary analysis comparing a modified activity reinforcement survey with the inclusion of a suitability question to determine the incompatibility of common survey activities with alcohol consumption. Participants recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N=146) were administered an established activity reinforcement survey, questions regarding the incompatibility of the activities with alcohol consumption, and measures of alcohol-related problems. We found that activity surveys may identify activities that are enjoyable without alcohol, but that some of these activities were still compatible with alcohol. For many of the activities examined, participants who rated those activities as suitable with alcohol also reported higher alcohol severity, with the largest effect size differences for physical activity, school or work, and religious activities. The results of this study are an important preliminary analysis for determining how activities may function as substitutes, and may hold implications for harm reduction interventions and public policy.

Leveraging the cigarette purchase task to understand relationships between cumulative vulnerabilities, the relative reinforcing effects of smoking, and response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes.

We examined if the relative-reinforcing effects of smoking increase with greater cumulative vulnerability and whether cumulative vulnerability moderates response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes. Participants were 775 adults from randomized clinical trials evaluating research cigarettes differing in nicotine content (0.4, 2.4, 15.8 mg/g). Participants were categorized as having low (0-1), moderate (2-3), or high (≥4) cumulative vulnerability. Vulnerabilities included rural residence, opioid use disorder, affective disorder, low educational attainment, poverty, unemployment, and physical disability. We used the cigarette purchase task (CPT) to assess the relative-reinforcing effects of participants' usual-brand cigarettes at baseline and study cigarettes during the 12-week trial. The CPT is a behavioral-economic task wherein participants estimate likely smoking (demand) over 24 h under escalating cigarette price. Demand is characterized by two factors: Amplitude (demand volume at zero/minimal price) and Persistence (demand sensitivity to price). Greater cumulative vulnerability was associated with greater demand Amplitude (F[2709] = 16.04,p < .0001) and Persistence (F[2709] = 8.35,p = .0003) for usual-brand cigarettes. Demand Amplitude for study cigarettes increased with increasing cumulative vulnerability (F[2619] = 19.59, p < .001) and decreased with decreasing nicotine content ([4879] = 5.45, p < .001). The only evidence of moderation was on demand Persistence (F[8867] = 2.00,p = .04), with larger reductions at the 0.4 mg/g compared to 15.8 mg/g doses among participants with low compared to moderate or high cumulative vulnerability. The relative-reinforcing effects of smoking clearly increase with greater cumulative vulnerability. Reducing nicotine content would likely reduce demand Amplitude across cumulative-vulnerability levels but reductions in demand Persistence may be more limited among those with greater cumulative vulnerability.

A Rapid Assessment of Sensitivity to Reward Delays and Classwide Token Economy Savings for School-Aged Children.

Delay discounting tasks measure the relation between reinforcer delay and efficacy. The present study established the association between delay discounting and classroom behavior and introduced a brief measure quantifying sensitivity to reward delays for school-aged children. Study 1 reanalyzed data collected by Reed and Martens (J Appl Behav Anal 44(1):1-18, https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2011.44-1, 2011) and found that 1-month delay choices predicted student classroom behavior. Study 2 examined the utility of the 1-month delay indifference point in predicting saving and spending behavior of second-grade students using token economies with two different token production schedules. Collectively, results showed (a) the 1-month delay indifference point predicted classroom behavior, (b) children who discounted less and had greater self-regulation, accrued and saved more tokens, and (c) a variable token production schedule better correlated with discounting than a fixed schedule. Implications are discussed regarding utility of a rapid discounting assessment for applied use.

Interfacial vs Bulk Phenomena Effects on the Surface Tensions of Aqueous Magnetic Surfactants in Uniform Magnetic Fields.

The literature clearly reports that magnetic surfactant systems respond to magnetic fields. This manuscript investigates if the responses are because the magnetic fields directly alter the interfacial properties or if the surface-active properties are independent of the paramagnetic fluid responses. It uses uniform and gradient magnetic fields to determine the magnetically induced changes to the surface tensions independent of bulk paramagnetic fluid effects for ionic magnetic surfactants. The magnetically induced decrease in surface tensions is small compared to the bulk paramagnetic fluid effects. The reported decrease in surface tensions is significantly smaller than those previously found in the literature, which reported a combined interfacial and bulk paramagnetic effect. The magnetically induced surface tension changes are a function of the degree of association, α, of the magnetic moiety with the surfactant's amphiphilic structure. Therefore, the proposed answer to the question is that as α approaches zero, the magnetic properties of the magnetic surfactant system approaches the behavior of an ordinary paramagnetic fluid. For magnetic surfactants with α approaching one, there is a measurable interfacial response. For example in this study, a magnetic surfactant with α = 0.92 had a 2.5 times greater magnetically induced change in surface tension compared to a magnetic surfactant with α = undetectable, even thought they had similar magnetic moments.

Comparing participant estimated demand intensity on the cigarette Purchase Task to consumption when usual-brand cigarettes were provided free.

Accumulating evidence suggests that the hypothetical Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT), especially its demand Intensity index (i.e., estimated cigarettes participants would smoke if free), is associated with individual differences in smoking risk. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the extent to which hypothetical CPT demand Intensity may differ from consumption when participants are provided with free cigarettes. That topic is the overarching focus of the present study. Participants were 745 adult smokers with co-morbid psychiatric conditions or socioeconomic disadvantage. CPT was administered for usual-brand cigarettes prior to providing participants with seven days of their usual-brand cigarettes free of cost and consumption was recorded daily via an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System. Demand Intensity was correlated with IVR smoking rate (rs 0.670-0.696, ps < 0.001) but estimates consistently exceeded IVR smoking rates by an average of 4.4 cigarettes per day (ps < 0.001). Importantly, both measures were comparably sensitive to discerning well-established differences in smoking risk, including greater cigarettes per day among men versus women (F(1,732) = 18.74, p < 0.001), those with versus without opioid-dependence (F(1,732) = 168.37, p < 0.001), younger versus older adults (F(2,730) = 32.93, p < 0.001), and those with lower versus greater educational attainment (F(1,732) = 38.26, p < 0.001). Overall, CPT demand Intensity appears to overestimate consumption rates relative to those observed when participants are provided with free cigarettes, but those deviations are systematic (i.e., consistent in magnitude and direction, Fs all <1.63; ps > 0.19 for all interactions with subgroups). This suggests that demand Intensity was sensitive to established group differences in smoking rate, supporting its utility as an important measure of addiction potential.

Relating individual differences in nicotine dependence severity to underpinning motivational and pharmacological processes among smokers from vulnerable populations.

We examined whether elucidating underpinning smoking motivation and related pharmacological processes enhances understanding of nicotine dependence among smokers from vulnerable populations. Data were obtained between Oct, 2016 and Sept, 2019 from 745 adult smokers with co-morbid psychiatric conditions or socioeconomic disadvantage at University of Vermont, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University. Smoking motivation was assessed using the Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT), a behavioral-economic task that models the relative reinforcing value of smoking under varying monetary constraint. Dependence severity was measured using the Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI), Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence total scores (FTND), and FTND total scores minus items 1 and 4 (FTND2,3,5,6). We also assessed associations between dependence severity and smoking motivation with nicotine levels and metabolism rate. Principal Component Analysis was used to examine the latent structure of the conventional five CPT indices; bivariate and multivariable modeling was used to test associations. Factor analysis resulted in a two-factor solution, Amplitude (demand unconstrained by price) and Persistence (price sensitivity). CPT latent factors were associated with each dependence-severity measure (ps ≤ 0.0001), with associations stronger for Amplitude than Persistence across each, especially HSI which was exclusively associated with Amplitude. Amplitude and each dependence measure were associated with nicotine intake (ps ≤ 0.0002); Persistence was not (p = .19). Demand Amplitude more than Persistence appears key to understanding individual differences in dependence severity. Regarding potential application, the results suggest a need for interventions that more effectively target demand Amplitude to make greater headway in reducing smoking in vulnerable populations. Trial Registration:clinicaltrials.gov identifiers: NCT02232737, NCT02250664, NCT02250534.

Latent Structure of the Cigarette Purchase Task Among Treatment-Seeking Smokers With Depression and Its Predictive Validity on Smoking Abstinence.

INTRODUCTION: Research has recently shown that nicotine reinforcement is better characterized by a bifactorial latent structure: persistence (insensitivity to cigarette pricing) and amplitude (consumption at inexpensive prices). No study to date has examined its value as a predictor of abstinence. This study aimed to provide new evidence on the latent structure of the cigarette purchase task (CPT) in smokers with depressive symptoms and to examine whether the latent structure performs better as a predictor of continuous abstinence than do the individual indices. METHODS: Participants (n = 205 smokers; 72% female: Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition, M = 24.68, SD = 10.45) were randomized to two smoking cessation treatments for quitting smoking: cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) or CBT + contingency management (CM). A principal-components analysis was conducted to examine the latent structure of the CPT and a set of regression models were performed to assess its predictive validity. RESULTS: The principal-components analysis revealed a bifactorial solution, which was interpreted as persistence (breakpoint, Omax, Pmax, and elasticity) and psychological inertia (intensity and elasticity of demand). Evidence on the convergent validity was obtained through significant associations between the two latent factors and smoking variables (all r values ≥.17). Psychological inertia was negatively related to the number of days of continuous abstinence at the end of treatment regardless of the treatment condition [R2 = .038; F(2, 202) = 4.989, p = .008]. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological inertia informs on which patients benefit less from smoking cessation treatments incorporating CM and CBT. Treatment components that affect individuals' excessive valuation of cigarettes might improve cessation outcomes. IMPLICATIONS: This is the first attempt to examine the latent structure of the CPT in depressed smokers and to yield evidence on its predictive validity. A specific bifactorial solution exists for this population: persistence (breakpoint, Omax, Pmax, and elasticity) and psychological inertia (intensity and elasticity). Isolating demand indices and factors provides a high-resolution characterization of nicotine reinforcement for depressed smokers in that it informs on treatment response. Compared to the individual CPT indices, psychological inertia more effectively predicts which patients benefit most from either CM or CBT. Treatment components that affect individuals' excessive valuation of cigarettes (eg, episodic future thinking) should be integrated into smoking cessation treatments.

Stability of Ionic Magnetic Surfactants in Aqueous Solutions: Measurement Techniques and Impact on Magnetic Processes.

Predicting the behavior of magnetic surfactants in magnetic fields is critical for designing magnetically driven processes such as chemical separations or the tuning of surface tensions. The ability of magnetic fields to alter the interfacial properties of magnetic surfactant solutions may be dependent upon the strength of association between the magnetic and surfactant moieties of the surfactant molecules. This research shows that the stability of a magnetic surfactant in an aqueous environment is dependent upon the type of complex that contains the paramagnetic ion, and these findings provide valuable insight for the design of magnetic surfactants for applications in aqueous media. The surfactants investigated were ionic surfactants, which contained paramagnetic counterions. This investigation looked at both anionic and cationic surfactants; it utilized solution conductivity, cyclic voltammetry (CV), sampled current voltammetry (SCV), and solution pH measurements to qualitatively evaluate the stability of the magnetic counterions in aqueous solution. In addition, solution conductivity was used to quantify the degree of binding between the paramagnetic ions and surfactant micelles in solution. These results indicate metal halide-based cationic surfactants are unstable in aqueous solutions. We hypothesize that this instability results in the difference in the magnetic response of the anionic vs cationic surfactants examined in this study.

Sensitivity of hypothetical purchase task indices when studying substance use: A systematic literature review.

Hypothetical Purchase Tasks (HPTs) simulate demand for a substance as a function of escalating price. HPTs are increasingly used to examine relationships between substance-related correlates and outcomes and demand typically characterized using a common battery of indices (Intensity, Omax, Pmax, Breakpoint, Elasticity). This review examines the relative sensitivity of the HPT indices. Reports were identified using the search term "purchase task" in PubMed and Web of Science. For inclusion, reports had to be original studies in English, examine relationships between HPT indices and substance-related correlates or outcomes, and appear in a peer-reviewed journal through December 2017. Indices were compared using effect sizes (Cohen's d) and the proportion of studies in which statistically significant relationships were observed. The search identified 1274 reports with 114 (9%) receiving full-text review and 82 (6%) meeting inclusion criteria. 41 reports examined alcohol, 34 examined cigarettes/nicotine products, and 10 examined other substances. Overall, statistically significant relationships between HPT indices and substance-related correlates and outcomes were most often reported for Intensity (88.61%, 70/79), followed by Omax (81.16%, 56/69), Elasticity (72.15%, 57/59), Breakpoint (62.12%, 41/66), and Pmax (48.08%; 25/52). The largest effect sizes were observed for Intensity (0.75 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.67-0.84) and Omax (0.64 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.56-0.71), followed by Elasticity (0.44 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.37-0.51), Breakpoint (0.30 ±â€¯0.03, CI 0.25-0.36), and Pmax (0.25 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.18-0.33). Patterns were largely consistent across substances. In conclusion, HPTs can be highly effective in revealing relationships between demand and substance-related correlates and outcomes, with Intensity and Omax exhibiting the greatest sensitivity.

The Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS): Psychometric update based on a United States sample.

BACKGROUND: Some have suggested that text messaging is an addictive behavior. However, this characterization is uncertain, partly due to lack of well-validated measures of text messaging attitudes and behaviors. One standard instrument for measuring text messaging attitudes and behaviors is the Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS), though the psychometric properties of this scale have only been examined with a sample of Japanese youth. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the STDS in the United States to determine its utility as a measure of text messaging dependence. We were interested in examining the factor structure and determining the extent to which this scale would correlate with two important outcome measures: motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and moving violations. METHODS: We analyzed data from 468 adults (age 18-74; 274 women) recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (mTurk) service. Participants completed the STDS and provided information about their driving-related incidents in the past year. RESULTS: First we performed a confirmatory factor analysis, which supported the instrument's original factor structure. Then we tested the relationship between scores on the STDS and two important variables, MVAs and moving violations. We found that the STDS significantly correlated with both MVAs and moving violations. CONCLUSION: The present study confirms that the STDS is a potentially useful instrument for studying texting dependence in the United States and with adults of all ages. The instrument may be particularly useful in predicting motor vehicle outcomes.

Response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes among smokers differing in tobacco dependence severity.

This study examines whether tobacco dependence severity moderates the acute effects of reducing nicotine content in cigarettes on the addiction potential of smoking, craving/withdrawal, or smoking topography. Participants (N = 169) were daily smokers with mild, moderate, or high tobacco-dependence severity using the Heaviness of Smoking Index. Following brief abstinence, participants smoked research cigarettes varying in nicotine content (0.4, 2.4, 5.2, 15.8 mg nicotine/g tobacco) in a within-subject design. Results were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of co-variance. No main effects of dependence severity or interactions with nicotine dose were noted in relative reinforcing effects in concurrent choice testing or subjective effects on the modified Cigarette Evaluation Questionnaire. Demand for smoking in the Cigarette Purchase Task was greater among more dependent smokers, but reducing nicotine content decreased demand independent of dependence severity. Dependence severity did not significantly alter response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes on the Minnesota Tobacco Withdrawal Scale nor Questionnaire of Smoking Urges-brief (QSU) Factor-2 scale; dependence severity and dose interacted significantly on the QSU-brief Factor-1 scale, with reductions dependent on dose among highly but not mildly or moderately dependent smokers. Dependence severity and dose interacted significantly on only one of six measures of smoking topography (i.e., maximum flow rate), which increased as dose increased among mildly and moderately but not highly dependent smokers. These results suggest that dependence severity has no moderating influence on the ability of reduced nicotine content cigarettes to lower the addiction potential of smoking, and minimal effects on relief from craving/withdrawal or smoking topography.

The Fuzzy Concept of Applied Behavior Analysis Research.

A seven-dimension framework, introduced by Baer, Wolf, and Risley in an iconic 1968 article, has become the de facto gold standard for identifying "good" work in applied behavior analysis. We examine the framework's historical context and show how its overarching attention to social relevance first arose and then subsequently fueled the growth of applied behavior analysis. Ironically, however, in contemporary use, the framework serves as a bottleneck that prevents many socially important problems from receiving adequate attention in applied behavior analysis research. The core problem lies in viewing the framework as a conjoint set in which "good" research must reflect all seven dimensions at equally high levels of integrity. We advocate a bigger-tent version of applied behavior analysis research in which, to use Baer and colleagues' own words, "The label applied is determined not by the procedures used but by the interest society shows in the problem being studied." Because the Baer-Wolf-Risley article expressly endorses the conjoint-set perspective and devalues work that falls outside the seven-dimension framework, pitching the big tent may require moving beyond that article as a primary frame of reference for defining what ABA should be.

Progress of and Prospects for Hypothetical Purchase Task Questionnaires in Consumer Behavior Analysis and Public Policy.

Based on the conceptual, methodological, and analytical framework of operant behavioral economics, hypothetical purchase task (HPT) questionnaires provide a low cost, scalable, and quantitatively rich source of empirical insights on consumer motivation, preferences, and decision-making. Here, we briefly summarize the history of HPT development and validation in clinically oriented research in addiction through to recent work with more conventional consumer goods and services. We discuss several possible novel applications of HPT methods to consumer behavior analysis for business, marketing, and public policy formulation and evaluation, as well as emerging best practices, limitations, and additional directions for future research and development.

Being Kind to Your Future Self: Probability Discounting of Health Decision-Making.

INTRODUCTION: Nearly 50 % of patients with chronic medical illness exhibit poor treatment adherence. When making treatment decisions, these patients must balance the probability of current side effects against the probability of long-term benefits. This study examines if the behavioral economic construct of probability discounting can be used to explain treatment decisions in chronic disease. METHODS: Thirty-eight nonadherent and 39 adherent patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) completed a series of hypothetical treatment scenarios with varied risk and benefit probabilities. RESULTS: As described by a hyperbolic probability discounting model, all patients reported decreased medication initiation as the probability of treatment efficacy decreased and the probability of treatment side effects increased. When compared to adherent patients, nonadherent patients significantly devalued treatment efficacy and inflated treatment risk. DISCUSSION: The methods in this study can be used to identify optimal risk/benefit ratios for treatment development and inform the process by which patients make treatment decisions.

On the Social Acceptability of Behavior-Analytic Terms: Crowdsourced Comparisons of Lay and Technical Language.

Behavior analysis has a marketing problem. Although behavior analysts have speculated about the problems regarding our technical behavior-analytic terminology and how our terminology has hindered the dissemination of behavior analysis to outsiders, few have investigated the social acceptability of the terminology. The present paper reports the general public's reactions to technical behavioral jargon versus non-technical substitute terms that refer to applied behavior-analytic techniques. Two-hundred participants, all non-behavior analysts, were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and completed a survey on the social acceptability of behavioral jargon and non-technical terms. Specifically, participants rated the acceptability of how the six pairs of terms (technical and non-technical) sounded if the treatments were to be implemented for each of 10 potential populations of clients that behavior analysts typically work with. The results show that, overall, members of the general public found non-technical substitute terms more acceptable than technical behavior-analytic terms. The finding suggests that specialized vocabulary of behavior analysis may create hurdles to the acceptability of applied behavior-analytic services. The implication of these findings suggest the importance of a systematic investigation of listener behavior with respect to behavior analysis terms.

Automating Scoring of Delay Discounting for the 21- and 27-Item Monetary Choice Questionnaires.

Delay discounting describes the process wherein rewards lose value as a function of their delayed receipt; how quickly rewards lose value is termed the rate of delay discounting. Rates of delay discounting are robust predictors of much behavior of societal importance. One efficient approach to obtaining a human subject's rate of delay discounting is via the 21- and 27-item Monetary Choice Questionnaires, brief dichotomous choice tasks that assess preference between small immediate and larger delayed monetary outcomes. Unfortunately, the scoring procedures for the Monetary Choice Questionnaires are rather complex, which may serve as a barrier to their use. This report details a freely available Excel-based spreadsheet tool that automatically scores Monetary Choice Questionnaire response sets, using both traditional and contemporary/advanced approaches. An overview of the Monetary Choice Questionnaire and its scoring algorithm is provided. We conclude with general considerations for using the spreadsheet tool.

Robust relation between temporal discounting rates and body mass.

When given the choice between $100 today and $110 in 1 week, certain people are more likely to choose the immediate, yet smaller reward. The present study examined the relations between temporal discounting rate and body mass while accounting for important demographic variables, depressive symptoms, and behavioral inhibition and approach. After having their heights and weights measured, 100 healthy adults completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Behavioral Inhibition Scale/Behavioral Approach Scale. Overweight and obese participants exhibited higher temporal discounting rates than underweight and healthy weight participants. Temporal discounting rates decreased as the magnitude of the delayed reward increased, even when other variables known to impact temporal discounting rate (i.e., age, education level, and annual household income) were used as covariates. A higher body mass was strongly related to choosing a more immediate monetary reward. Additional research is needed to determine whether consideration-of-future-consequences interventions, or perhaps cognitive control interventions, could be effective in obesity intervention or prevention programs.

Determining How, When, and Whether You Should Publish Outside the Box: Sober Advice for Early Career Behavior Analysts.

Publishing outside of behavior analysis is necessary for the field's impact in advancing its science or improving its treatments. As consumers of behavior analysis, we typically only see the success stories in outlets such as the Journal for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and The Behavior Analyst. Lacking from these models is a description of the hard work and occasional missteps that accompany dissemination outside the box. In this paper, I propose that prospective disseminators need to (a) critically evaluate what they have to say, (b) carefully consider the field's interests, and (c) honestly analyze professional and personal contingencies to determine whether publishing outside the box should be a priority, depending on one's stage of professional development. I conclude with some general recommendations to early career behavior analysts aspiring to disseminate outside the field.