Response effort and resurgence.

This study provides an initial translational examination of response effort and resurgence. Eleven typically developing adults and five adolescents with autism served as participants across two experiments. Participants received points for touching moving stimuli on a computer screen. The resurgence evaluation consisted of three phases: establishment wherein R1 was reinforced, elimination wherein R1 was placed on extinction while R2 was reinforced, and extinction wherein R1 and R2 no longer resulted in reinforcement. Rate of R1 during extinction was compared across three conditions: intermediate, easy, and difficult. Disparity in effort was created by manipulations of the size and speed of objects that moved about on a computer screen. In Experiment 2, control stimuli were added to the experimental arrangement. Across the two experiments, the magnitude of resurgence was greater when R1 was easy. In Experiment 2, both R1 and control responding were greater in the extinction phase than in the elimination phase in all conditions with all participants. The present study supports the hypothesis that response effort affects resurgence and that less effortful responses are likely to recur with greater magnitude under conditions that produce resurgence than are their more effortful counterparts.

The Women in Behavior Analysis Hall of Fame: Description and 2021 Inductees.

The inaugural Women in Behavior Analysis Conference (WIBA) was hosted in 2017 to highlight the accomplishments of women in the field of behavior analysis, provide opportunities for early career behavior analysts to obtain mentorship, and encourage meaningful discourse about gender issues in the field. In 2021, WIBA created the Hall of Fame to identify and honor outstanding women who have contributed to the field. Four stellar and important women were inducted into the inaugural class: Eve Segal, Bea Barrett, Martha Bernal, and Judith Favell. This article provides an overview of the structure and function of the hall of fame as well as the individual accomplishments, accolades, and impacts of these women as described in the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Each year a newly selected group of women will be inducted, and their career will be highlighted in an article in Behavior Analysis in Practice.

Reducing overselective stimulus control with differential observing responses.

Overselective stimulus control refers to discriminative control in which the number of controlling stimuli is too limited for effective behavior. Experiment 1 included 22 special-education students who exhibited overselective stimulus control on a two-sample delayed matching task. An intervention added a compound identity matching opportunity within the sample observation period of the matching trials. The compound matching functioned as a differential observing response (DOR) in that high accuracy verified observation and discrimination of both sample stimuli. Nineteen participants learned to perform the DOR and two-sample delayed matching accuracy increased substantially for 16 of them. When the DOR was completely withdrawn after 10 sessions, accuracy declined. In Experiment 2, a more gradual withdrawal of DOR requirements showed that highly accurate performance could be maintained with the DOR on only a proportion of trials for most participants. The results show that DOR training may lead to a general improvement in observing behavior.

Matching-to-sample assessment of stimulus overselectivity in students with intellectual disabilities.

A delayed matching-to-sample task with multiple sample stimuli was used to evaluate stimulus overselectivity in 70 individuals attending residential special-education schools. A Mental Age Equivalent score (MAE) was obtained for each student using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Twenty-one participants failed to complete matching-to-sample pretests (mean MAE = 3.70 years). Results on the multiple-sample test for the remaining 49 participants indicated no overselectivity for 14 students (mean MAE = 7.44 years) and were consistent with overselectivity for 35 students (mean MAE = 5.28 years). Performances of students with overselectivity were more variable than those with no overselectivity. The MAE scores were related to both matching-to-sample performance and stimulus overselectivity.

Overselective stimulus control in residential school students with intellectual disabilities.

Overselective stimulus control was assessed in 29 students at residential schools for individuals with developmental disabilities. Overselectivity testing included three different delayed identity matching-to-sample tasks. Sample stimuli for the Form/Color Test were nine possible combinations of three colors and three forms. On each trial, the S+ stimulus was identical to the sample, one S- was the same color as the sample but a different form, and the other S- was the same form but a different color. Sample stimuli for the Two-Sample Test were two alphanumeric characters. The S+ stimulus was identical to one of the sample stimuli, and two S- stimuli were characters different from both samples. Sample stimuli for the Faces Test were six digital images of adult faces. On each trial, the S+ stimulus was identical to the sample, one S- stimulus was a non-matching face to which one sample feature had been added (e.g., an identical hat or scarf), and the other S- stimulus was an unaltered non-matching face. All participants were also tested with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III (PPVT) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Results indicated overselective stimulus control on at least one test for 18 of the 29 participants. Overselectivity (a) was distributed across a range of PPVT mental age equivalent scores from <1.75 to 8.83; (b) was more likely in individuals with higher ADOS scores; (c) was most likely on the Two-Sample Test; and (d) was found in five individuals on more than one of the tests. Thus, overselective stimulus control may occur across a range of characteristics typical for students who attend residential special-education programs.

A sorting-to-matching method to teach compound matching to sample.

Individuals with developmental disabilities may fail to attend to multiple features in compound stimuli (e.g., arrays of pictures, letters within words) with detrimental effects on learning. Participants were 5 children with autism spectrum disorder who had low to intermediate accuracy scores (35% to 84%) on a computer-presented compound matching task. Sample stimuli were pairs of icons (e.g., chair-tree), the correct comparison was identical to the sample, and each incorrect comparison had one icon in common with the sample (e.g., chair-sun, airplane-tree). A 5-step tabletop sorting-to-matching training procedure was used to teach compound matching. The first step was sorting 3 single pictures; subsequent steps gradually changed the task to compound matching. If progress stalled, tasks were modified temporarily to prompt observing behavior. After tabletop training, participants were retested on the compound matching task; accuracy improved to at least 95% for all children. This procedure illustrates one way to improve attending to multiple features of compound stimuli.

Social validation of the New England Center For Children--Core Skills Assessment.

We investigated the social validity of the NECC Core Skills Assessment (NECC-CSA) with parents and professionals as participants. The NECC-CSA is a measurement tool consisting of direct and indirect measures of skills important to all individuals with autism, across the lifespan. Participants (N = 245) were provided with a list of 66 skills, 47 of which were Core Skills from the NECC-CSA, and were asked to indicate which items they considered to be foundational. Participants endorsed items from the NECC-CSA as foundational skills, more than they endorsed the other items. Differences between parents and professionals are described and detailed with respect to individual assessment items. The NECC-CSA consists of socially validated skills that can be taken as a starting point for programs of instruction for individuals with ASDs.

Combinations of response-reinforcer relations in periodic and aperiodic schedules.

Key pecking of 4 pigeons was studied under a two-component multiple schedule in which food deliveries were arranged according to a fixed and a variable interfood interval. The percentage of response-dependent food in each component was varied, first in ascending (0, 10, 30, 70 and 100%) and then in descending orders, in successive conditions. The change in response rates was positively related to the percentage of response-dependent food in each schedule component. Across conditions, positively accelerated and linear patterns of responding occurred consistently in the fixed and variable components, respectively. These results suggest that the response-food dependency determines response rates in periodic and aperiodic schedules, and that the temporal distribution of food determines response patterns independently of the response-food dependency. Running rates, but not postfood pauses, also were positively related to the percentage of dependent food in each condition, in both fixed and variable components. Thus, the relation between overall response rate and the percentage of dependent food was mediated by responding that occurred after postfood pausing. The findings together extend previous studies wherein the dependency was either always present or absent, and increase the generality of the effects of variations in the response-food dependency from aperiodic to periodic schedules.

Observing behavior and atypically restricted stimulus control.

Restricted stimulus control refers to discrimination learning with atypical limitations in the range of controlling stimuli or stimulus features. In the study reported here, 4 normally capable individuals and 10 individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) performed two-sample delayed matching to sample. Sample-stimulus observing was recorded with an eye-tracking apparatus. High accuracy scores indicated stimulus control by both sample stimuli for the 4 nondisabled participants and 4 participants with ID, and eye tracking data showed reliable observing of all stimuli. Intermediate accuracy scores indicated restricted stimulus control for the remaining 6 participants. Their eye-tracking data showed that errors were related to failures to observe sample stimuli and relatively brief observing durations. Five of these participants were then given interventions designed to improve observing behavior. For 4 participants, the interventions resulted initially in elimination of observing failures, increased observing durations, and increased accuracy. For 2 of these participants, contingencies sufficient to maintain adequate observing were not always sufficient to maintain high accuracy; subsequent procedure modifications restored it, however. For the 5th participant, initial improvements in observing were not accompanied by improved accuracy, an apparent instance of observing without attending; accuracy improved only after an additional intervention that imposed contingencies on observing behavior. Thus, interventions that control observing behavior seem necessary but may not always be sufficient for the remediation of restricted stimulus control.