Baseline Contingencies Research Articles

A Scoping Review of the Healthcare and Hygiene Literature for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

ObjectivesPrevious reviews highlight the similarities in teaching healthcare and hygiene routines to individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally, similar interventions are used when interfering behaviors occur. Although these routines are topographically distinct, there are enough similarities to suggest effective procedures for one routine may be used to inform another. This scooping review aims to identify effective teaching and intervention procedures for healthcare and hygiene routines specifically for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We also evaluated the extent to which functional analyses were conducted; a dimension not included in previous reviews.MethodsEligible articles targeted compliance or tolerance within the context of a defined healthcare or hygiene routine as a dependent variable and used an experimental design with a demonstration of experimental control. Articles were identified through PsycINFO, PubMed, and Academic Search Premier databases. Additionally, a hand search of five related journals was conducted. Data were collected on dependent variables, functional analyses, baseline contingencies, teaching procedures, and additional experimental components.ResultsA total of 52 articles met inclusion criteria. Most experiments produced positive outcomes. The findings show all experiments involved a treatment package with multiple components. The most common teaching procedures were graduated exposure and DRA. A lack of functional analyses and social validity was noted.ConclusionsComponent analyses are needed to identify the most effective and efficient procedures. Pyramidal training to teach medical professionals how to provide preventative pyramidal training should be explored.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41252-022-00249-7.

Teaching choice‐making within activity schedules to children with autism

AbstractThough the value of choice‐making opportunities in behavioral interventions is well established, specific demonstrations of its applications are limited. In this study, we first taught participants to independently complete two types of activity schedules: a choice activity schedule (i.e., one that allowed the participants to choose the sequence of activities) and a no choice activity schedule (i.e., one in which the sequence was predetermined by the researcher). Then, we evaluated participant preference between the before‐mentioned schedules, and a control activity schedule (i.e., baseline contingencies). Obtained preference was idiosyncratic across participants, highlighting the importance of individualized preference assessments in the context of play. Implications and future directions are discussed, including a refined framework for incorporating choice into independent activity schedule completion.

REORGANIZAÇÃO DE CLASSES DE ESTÍMULOS EQUIVALENTES: ANÁLISE DO NÚMERO DE ESTÍMULOS DE COMPARAÇÃO

A reorganização de classes de equivalência é observada quando as contingências das relações de linha base são alteradas, de modo que as relações entre os estímulos são reorganizadas para formar novas classes. Várias características do procedimento podem afetar a reorganização das classes de equivalência, tendo sido sugerido que o número de estímulos de comparação é uma dessas variáveis. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar essa hipótese. Quatorze estudantes universitários foram distribuídos em dois grupos e submetidos a um procedimento de escolha de acordo com modelo para formar duas classes com cinco estímulos (Grupo 1) e três classes com cinco estímulos (Grupo 2). Após a formação dessas classes, uma relação condicional foi revertida. Apenas um dos 14 participantes não respondeu de acordo com as contingências revertidas no teste de reorganização, demonstrando que não houve efeito do número de estímulos de comparação sobre o desempenho dos participantes. Os resultados deste estudo corroboram os de outros que mostraram que, mesmo quando apenas uma relação condicional é revertida, a reorganização das classes equivalentes é observada. Palavras-chave: classes de estímulos equivalentes, reorganização, número de estímulos de comparação.

Discriminated conditioned suppression in rats.

experiment evaluated the effects of superimposing the Estes-Skinner Conditioned Emotional Response (CER) procedure on one of two components of a multiple schedule. The question was whether CER conditioning occurred under contextual control. The procedure had four experimental phases: (1) baseline of operant responding under a two-component multiple schedule (mult VI 30 VI 30), one component correlated with the house light on and the other correlated with the house light off (light/ dark components), (2) introduction of tone-shock pairings during the light component only, (3) return to baseline contingencies, and (4) reintroduction of the tone (but not shock) in the light component. Three Wistar rats showed robust suppression of responding in the light component, and the suppression also partially generalized to the dark component. The suppression was stronger during the pre-aversive stimulus than during the intervals immediately before and after its presentation. Responding partially recovered under baseline contingencies, but response rates remained lower in the light component than in the dark component. Thus, under the present experimental conditions, the context in which CER conditioning occurred (i.e., the house light-illuminated chamber) also produced conditioned suppression, and contextual control of suppressed responding generalized to another context, one that shared some but not all elements of the first context (i.e., the same chamber not illuminated by a house light). These results have direct implications for our understanding of emotional conditioning produced in the laboratory and for analysis of related phenomena addressed in the clinic. Keywords: conditioned suppression; aversive control; contextual control; tone-shock pairings; rats.

Emergent identity matching after successive matching training. II: Reflexivity or transitivity.

Three experiments evaluated whether the apparent reflexivity effect reported by Sweeney and Urcuioli (2010) for pigeons might, in fact, be transitivity. In Experiment 1, pigeons learned symmetrically reinforced hue-form (A-B) and form-hue (B-A) successive matching. Those also trained on form-form (B-B) matching responded more to hue comparisons that matched their preceding samples on subsequent hue-hue (A-A) probe trials. By contrast, most pigeons trained on just A-B and B-A matching did not show this effect; but some did--a finding consistent with transitivity. Experiment 2 showed that the latter pigeons also responded more to form comparisons that matched their preceding samples on form-form (B-B) probe trials. Experiment 3 tested the prediction that hue-hue matching versus hue-hue oddity, respectively, should emerge after symmetrically versus asymmetrically reinforced arbitrary matching relations if those relations are truly transitive. For the few pigeons showing an emergent effect, comparison response rates were higher when a probe-trial comparison matched its preceding sample independently of the baseline contingencies. These results indicate neither a reflexivity nor a transitivity effect but, rather, a possible identity bias.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF CONSEQUENTIAL FUNCTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RELATIONAL FRAMES OF SAME AND OPPOSITE

Although the literature on reinforcement in behavioral psychology is extensive, few studies have examined the derived transformation of reinforcing functions in accordance with equivalence classes, and no published research has yet examined the derived transformation of consequential functions in accordance with nonequivalence relations. In the present study, which consisted of four experiments, the basic preparation was as follows. First, an arbitrary stimulus, B2, was established as a conditioned punisher, using direct stimulus pairing. Following nonarbitrary relational training, designed to establish SAME and OPPOSITE contextual cues, subjects were exposed to arbitrary relational training using these contextual cues to establish A1 as the same as B1 and C1, and as opposite to B2 and C2. Subsequently, C2 (based on its Same relation with B2) functioned as a punisher and C1 (based on its Opposite relation with B2) functioned as a reinforcer in a simultaneous discrimination task. Critically, the C1 stimulus acquired reinforcing functions, based on the derived relation of Opposite, although no such function had actually been established for any member of the network. Furthermore, these effects were observed across ABA reversals in the baseline contingencies.

Perinatal lead exposure and relapse to drug-seeking behavior in the rat: a cocaine reinstatement study.

Intravenous self-administration of cocaine at low doses is increased by chronic low-level exposure to lead during gestation and lactation (perinatal lead exposure). Insofar as drug potency is increased by early lead exposure, it must be considered that cocaine-seeking and relapse after periods of withdrawal similarly may be enhanced by perinatal lead exposure. Employing an animal model, the present study examined the effects of lead exposure during gestation and lactation on cocaine-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking, when animals were tested as adults. Adult female rats were gavaged once daily with 0 or 16 mg lead for 30 days prior to breeding with non-exposed males. This exposure regimen continued until offspring were weaned at postnatal day (PND) 21. At PND 120, male offspring were trained to self-administer cocaine intravenously (IV) [0.50 mg/kg cocaine per infusion on a fixed-ratio schedule where two lever presses resulted in drug delivery (FR-2 schedule)]. After steady-state responding was established, cocaine reinstatement responding was assessed for each group within an extinction paradigm. During the initial 1 h of reinstatement testing, the previous baseline contingencies were in place, i.e. animals operated under an FR-2 schedule for an infusion of 0.50 mg/kg cocaine. During the 2 h, 3 h, and 4 h of testing saline infusions were substituted for cocaine infusions. After responding extinguished during hour 4, reinstatement of responding was tested by administering an intraperitoneal (IP) priming injection of 0.00, 5.00, 10.00, or 20.00 mg/kg cocaine. Following these injections, lever responding for saline infusions was monitored during hour 5. The number of saline infusions self-administered during hour 5 increased in a dose-dependent fashion for both controls (group 0-mg) and lead-exposed (group 16-mg) animals. However, lead-exposed animals self-administered significantly more saline infusions than controls at the 5.00 mg/kg and 10.00 mg/kg doses. This apparent metal-related increase in sensitivity to cocaine was evident with blood lead in metal-exposed test animals returning to control levels. However, brain lead levels remained elevated in lead-exposed test animals, relative to controls. The results of this investigation suggest that low-level lead exposure during gestation and lactation increases sensitivity to the relapse phase of drug abuse. It is further apparent that this increased sensitivity to the reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior is long-lasting.

Aversive Properties of Time-Out From Maximal fr Schedules of Positive Reinforcement

In one stimulus component of a multiple fixed-ratio schedule of water reinforcement, rats could produce or prevent time-out by respectively lengthening or shortening the post-reinforcement pause. In a second component, Ss could similarly initiate or avoid periods of stimulus change. The Ss consistently shortened their pauses and maintained the baseline contingencies whether time-out was equivalent to extinction or was signalled by retraction of the response lever. No positively reinforcing effects of stimulus change were observed, although some generalization from the time-out contingencies was noted.