Unit 5 Flashcards
Emily, a BCBA, began working with Jeb about four months ago, but has been unable to obtain much information on his past. Jeb has responded to several treatment efforts in unpredictable ways. Which of the following may be the best explanation?
An idiosyncratic reinforcement history
Which of the following best conceptualizes reinforcement history?
Influence of past events on current behavior
A behavior analyst doing research on reinforcement history can fully control the extra-experimental history of the research subjects only by using:
Non-human animals
Which of the following reinforcement schedules has been most commonly used in studies on reinforcement history?
Correct!
The fixed-interval schedule
Carl suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident, and soon began to demonstrate severe aggression. His parents inadvertently reinforced his assaultive behavior, resulting in an increase in both its rate and intensity. He was placed in a temporary residential facility with intensive behavioral services, and Carl’s assaults decreased significantly. After his parents were trained in the behavior program procedures, Carl was eventually sent home. In spite of his parents accurately and consistently following the program procedures, Carl’s assaultive behavior immediately returned after he got home. Which of the following rationales most likely explains this return Carl’s assaultive behavior?
Stimulus conditions at home were correlated with a past DRH schedule
In several studies, Weiner (1962, 1964, 1965, 1969) demonstrated that when an organism is exposed to an FR schedule, versus a DRL schedule, prior to exposure to an FI schedule:
There is a clear differential effect between schedules in the FI condition
Alleman & Zeiler (1974) found that the presentation of a response dependent schedule of reinforcement (an FR or DRL) followed by a time-based schedule (FT) will likely have which of the following effects on response rates?
Low response rates in FT following a DRL
Extinction procedures can only be used on responses that have
A previous history of reinforcement
Classroom teacher Mr. James was not able to provide each of his students reinforcement after every 5th correctly spelled word (as had been suggested by a BCBA), because he could not keep track of every student’s completion of every spelling word. What might Mr. James do to maintain his students “correct spelling of words” behavior in class?
Begin with an FR schedule, then switch to an FI schedule
Which of the following is an example of operant extinction?
Satoru smiles at Cain but Cain never smiles back, so he stops smiling at Cain
Presenting a conditioned stimulus repeatedly in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus leads to:
Respondent extinction
When Billy whispers to his Dad in the library, Dad does not answer him. Billy then begins to speak louder and louder until his Dad answers him and tells him to keep his voice down. The increase in Billy’s volume may be best explained as an effect related to which of the following behavioral processes?
Punishment
Extinction
The ______ of extinction is the reduction in the response rate following a discontinuation of the response-reinforcer contingency
Process
Charlotte’s yelling at the grocery store appeared to be maintained by receiving candy. The BCaBA instructs mom to stop providing candy when Charlotte yells. Over the next month, Charlotte’s yelling in the store gradually declines, and finally stops. Mom no longer providing candy to Charlotte when she yells would be an example of the ______ of extinction.
Procedure
Extinction used in combination with reinforcement is best used to:
Reduce one behavior while building another behavior
What is the main effect of extinction?
Response reduction
Typically during the extinction phase of treatment, responding initially ______, and is followed by a gradual ______ in response rate across time.
Increases; decrease
Response-generative effects are typically known as ______ of extinction.
Side effects
artin engaged in skin picking throughout the day. Owen, the BCBA on the case, put Martin’s skin picking on extinction. Martin then began to engage in skin scratching, nail biting, and even scraping his skin on sharp objects. Owen had never previously observed these responses. The emergence of Martin’s scratching, biting, and scraping is most likely due to which extinction effect?
Response variation
All of the following may cause treatment relapse to occur,
- Inconsistent implementation of treatment procedures
- Return to setting/context in which problem behavior was previously reinforced
- Delivery of reinforcers previously associated with problem behavior
Which of the following is considered a primary response-generative effect of extinction?
Emotional outbursts
A form of treatment relapse associated with increased exposure to extinction is referred to as:
Resurgence
Which treatment procedure is most likely to produce a potential reduction in extinction bursts?
Extinction with reinforcement
Which of the following is described as a way to plan for extinction bursts?
Gradually thin the reinforcement schedule
Interviewing caregivers and reviewing possible response-class hierarchies are ways to plan for:
Response variation
Katie’s client Andrew constantly yelled out answers in class without being called on by the teacher. Katie, a BCBA, put Andrew’s “yelling out” behavior on extinction, and only provided reinforcement by calling on Andrew when he quietly raised his hand. Katie began training a new behavioral technician on the procedures in place for Andrew. As Katie was observing, she noticed that the technician was ignoring “yelling out” but was not consistently delivering reinforcement for appropriate hand raising. This is an example of what type of treatment integrity error?
Omission
Stu hits and screams when his mother asks him to clean up his toys. Sarah, a BCBA, implements a treatment procedure to eliminate this problem behavior. When treatment is implemented following baseline, Stu’s hitting/screaming immediately reduces to zero instances. Stu never once engaged in a hitting/screaming response in the treatment condition. Therefore, this immediate response reduction is LEAST likely due to:
Extinction
Which of the following is a good way to examine partial reinforcement extinction effects (PREE)?
Measure the number of experimental sessions required to meet the predetermined extinction criterion
In 1996, the Lerman et al. analysis of PREE utilized:
Continuous and intermittent baselines
Which of the following statements is true in relation to the idea of a partial reinforcement extinction effect?
It is highly variable across studies and may be influenced by several variables
Recent history effects in experimental design may define:
Transition states
When one phase follow another, such that the observed effects in latter phases cannot be separated from history with previous phases, this is referred to as:
Sequential confounding
Using a combination of designs when generalization may be a problem is a way to plan for history effects of which experimental design?
Multiple baseline
Which experimental design may be less prone to extra-experimental history?
Multi-element
Which experimental design is most likely to help avoid ratio strain?
Changing criterion
Which of the following is a key reason why non-human animals, rather than human beings, are often used to study the effects reinforcement history?
Extra-experimental variables with non-human animals can be more easily controlled
Experimenters study the effects of reinforcement history by looking at how past experience with different reinforcement schedules can impact the _____ responding of various experimental subjects.
Current
Each of the following is very likely an effect of a specific reinforcement history,
- Responding that occurs at unpredictably high or low rates
- Behavior that persists in some contexts during extinction
- Rule-governed behavior that does not match current contingencies
Each of the following is a characteristic of a fixed Interval schedule that makes it particularly sensitive to the effects of reinforcement history:
- Responses during the interval do not influence the delivery of the reinforcer
- FI schedules do not select against particular rates or patterns of responding
- Response rates can vary widely without affecting reinforcement rate
Weiner demonstrated which of the following reinforcement history effects on responding during FI schedules?
Exposure to FR schedules before FI dramatically affected FI performance
Alleman & Zeiler (1974) found that response rates tended to exhibit which of the following patterns?
Low during FT after exposure to a DRL
A previous history of reinforcement is necessary in order to utilize a(n):
Extinction schedule
Which of the following tends to be easiest for caregivers to implement?
Interval-based schedule
Operant extinction is, in part, defined by:
Voluntary responses and broken contingencies
Eva appropriately raises her hand. Her teacher responds to the other children yelling out answers in class, but does not call on Eva when she has her hand raised. After several days, Eva stops raising her hand, and begins to yell out her answers in class. The change in Eva’s hand raising is the result of:
Operant Extinction
Which of the following is a difference between operant and respondent extinction?
Each distinct type works on different types of responses
Operant extinction is a component of which of the following procedures?
DRO
The essential feature of the ______ of extinction is discontinuation of the contingency between the response and the reinforcer.
Procedure
Charlotte’s yelling at the grocery store appeared to be maintained by receiving candy. The BCaBA instructs mom to no longer provide candy when Charlotte yells. Charlotte continues to yell for four more weeks with a gradual reduction in duration of this behavior. The gradual reduction in duration of yelling represents ______ of extinction.
The process
In comparison to a target behavior for reduction that is simply annoying or irritating, dangerous or destructive problem behavior is:
Almost always more difficult to consistently treat with extinction procedures
The implementation of extinction procedures typically produces a(n) ______ reduction in responding.
Gradual
What are considered response-generative effects of extinction?
- Aggression
- Emotional outbursts
- Response variation
Which of the following behaviors is most likely respondent behavior elicited by the initiation of extinction procedures?
Extinction-induced aggression
Response variation forms the basis for:
Shaping new behavior
The “response-generative” effects of extinction are also known as the ____ effects of extinction.
Side
When the target behavior treated by extinction returns in a different context, even though extinction procedures are still in effect, this phenomenon is known as:
-Renewal
Which of the following is true regarding treatment integrity? Errors of commission are:
Defined as occurring when a treatment component is inappropriately applied
The reduction in a target response placed on extinction can occur much more quickly when combined with ______ procedures targeting alternative responses.
Reinforcement-based
“PREE” refers to a phenomenon where response reduction typically happens more quickly after ______ reinforcement rather than ______ reinforcement.
Continuous; intermittent
Studies cited in this unit demonstrated that the partial reinforcement extinction effect is:
Unpredictable and potentially influenced by a variety of variables
An unexpected finding in the study of PREE by Lerman and colleagues was the fact that two of the experimental subjects exhibited which of the following?
A reverse PREE effect
The durability of history effects varies significantly across various studies. This is most likely a result of:
Differences in experimental procedures or extra-experimental histories
An extreme case of sequential confounding can be characterized as _____.
Irreversibility
Sequential confounding in the reversal experimental design typically occurs when one phase follows another, and:
The effects of the current phase cannot be separated from the history with the previous phase
Multielement designs may be more prone than other designs to which of the following?
Carryover/alternation effects
According to Dr. St. Peter, multiple baseline designs may be desirable clinically, but can have problems in:
Experimental control
Use of a changing criterion experimental design may help to avoid which of the following problems?
Ratio strain
