Behavior Analysis Research Research Articles

Rigorous Assessment of Social Validity: A Scoping Review of a 40-Year Conversation

For the last 40 years, special education and applied behavior analysis researchers have discussed the notion of social validity, particularly those researchers who conduct single-case research. A substantial part of this discussion has involved critiquing the rigor of methods used to assess social validity. We conducted a scoping literature review focused on describing and integrating different critiques and recommendations about social validity assessment. In a multi-pronged search, we identified 47 articles addressing rigor in social validity assessment. We used inductive content analysis to chart data about specific critiques and identify a framework of seven key questions that organize these critiques across theoretical and methodological dimensions. We describe the key questions, including examples from the reviewed literature that led to their development. The framework may have practical utility for researchers and reviewers in guiding rigorous social validity assessment in intervention research. Implications are discussed for researchers, reviewers, and journal editors.

Some Dimensions of Mand Variability and Implications for Research and Practice.

Since Skinner's conceptualization of the mand, applied behavior analysis researchers have used the concept to develop stimulus control transfer procedures effective for addressing manding deficits. More recently, researchers have explored the clinical utility of reinforcing mand variability during mand training and functional communication training. However, limitations in the conceptual analysis of mand variability may have limited the kinds of questions addressed in this research and our understanding of the findings. The current article reconceptualizes mand variability as consisting of eight distinct dimensions and provides operational definitions of the dimensions that may be useful for more precisely characterizing the effects of reinforcement on mand variability in future research. The article concludes with a brief discussion of potential clinical and research implications.

Leveraging applied behavior analysis research and practice in the service of public health.

Human behavior plays a central role in all domains of public health. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) research and practice can contribute to public health solutions that directly address human behavior. In this paper, we describe the field of public health, identify points of interaction between public health and ABA, summarize what ABA research has already contributed, and provide several recommendations for how ABA research and practice could continue to promote public health outcomes. A clearer focus on behavior and widespread adoption of research designs and interventions informed by the ABA literature could lead to better public health outcomes. Reciprocally, better integration of public health goals and strategies into ABA research, harnessing of technology, and more collaboration would help diversify and disseminate our applied science and could yield more effective and scalable interventions to prevent and treat public health problems.

Framing territorial regeneration decisions: Purpose, perspective and scope

Territorial planning has been recognized as an inherently wicked problem situation or ill-defined problem, with also an intrinsic spatial nature (i.e. a non-homogeneous spatial distribution of territorial characteristics, impacts associated to alternative solutions and stakeholders).The first and most important phase of any planning and decision making process consists in framing the project/decision situation, which should lead to a clear understanding of the problem/opportunity that needs to be addressed, as well as a clear understanding of what needs to be achieved. This paper proposes and tests an integrated and spatially explicit framework based on the three key components of purpose, perspective and scope to support the framing stage of territorial planning and regeneration processes. While this framework represents a consolidated approach for decision aiding across different domains of applications, it constitutes a novel approach for territorial regeneration processes. The proposed framework has been deployed to support the planning and regeneration process in a World Heritage site in Northern Italy. Results show that an integrated, spatially explicit and collaborative framework, based on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), SWOT analysis, Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and stakeholders’ analysis, can effectively support the identification and definition of (i) the top priority for a certain territorial context (i.e. purpose of the intervention), (ii) who to involve in the process and when (i.e. perspective) and the geographical boundaries of the subsequent decision efforts (i.e. the scope of the planning and decision making process). By borrowing cutting edge approaches from the decision analysis domain and introducing them in the field of territorial regeneration processes, this work bridges together urban planning, behavioral decision analysis and multi methodology research.

Analysis of learning behaviour based on edX open data

Since 2012, the continuous development of MOOC has triggered new thinking and research in many aspects, and the massive data it generates provides a foundation for learning behaviour analysis and education data research. edX is a new field of Web education jointly developed by Harvard University and MIT integrating educational resources. Based on the first MOOC open data set released by edX, through the use of data analysis methods, the learners in edX are studied from the three aspects of learner type, learner characteristics, and learner behaviour to show the actual situation of MOOC learning.

Semiotic Stalemate: Resisting Restraint and Seclusion through Guattari’s Micropolitics of Desire


 
 
 This article explores the semiotic relationships between Applied Behavior Analysis research, special education practice and restraint and seclusion policy by tracing the evolution of the concept of “self-restraint,” —a term from Behavior Analytic literature for a variety of “behaviors” in which a person restricts their own movement. I trace how “self-restraint” emerges as a new class of behaviors eligible for intervention, and how this marks certain bodies for restrictive practices such as restraint, seclusion and the use of aversives. I explore how rhetorical moves shape the educational landscape of disabled students and expose mechanisms of control that are shaped by scholarship. By using “self-restraint” as an example, I respond to the taxonomies of deficit disseminated through Applied Behavioral Analysis in schooling for neurodivergent students and make critical links between special education practice and Disability Studies in Education.
 
 

Análise do Comportamento nas Organizações: Dados quantitativos da produção brasileira


 Existem diversas pesquisas sobre Análise do Comportamento nas Organizações desenvolvidas no Brasil, mas esta subárea da Análise do Comportamento ainda carece de maior divulgação e ampliação da produção. Diante disso, o objetivo deste estudo foi realizar uma revisão de literatura sobre a produção analítico-comportamental brasileira nas organizações no período de 1970 a 2017. Foram consultadas as seguintes fontes de informação: (a) dissertações e teses: sites de programas de pós-graduação com orientadores e/ou linhas de pesquisa em Análise do Comportamento e a Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações; (b) artigos: Portal de Periódicos da Capes; (c) ao final das consultas, o banco de dados foi complementado com trabalhos da Biblioteca em OBM. Os descritores utilizados e os procedimentos de seleção de trabalhos variaram a depender da base de dados adotada. Os resultados sugerem que a produção nacional tem crescido na última década, apesar dessa produção estar concentrada no sul e sudeste do país. Verificou-se também, a partir de uma análise das palavras mais frequentes, compatibilidade entre os trabalhos encontrados e conceitos que caracterizam a teoria e a atuação analítico-comportamental. Sugere-se que pesquisas futuras ampliem o presente exame incluindo capítulos de livro e trabalhos apresentados em eventos.

A retrospective 60-year review of Murray Sidman's Tactics of Scientific Research and some of its influence on behavior analysis.

Murray Sidman's book, Tactics of Scientific Research: Evaluating Experimental Data in Psychology, published in 1960, has been called the bible of the experimental analysis of behavior and has been a major influence on basic as well as applied research in behavior analysis. The contents of the early reviews of the book are summarized and the commemoration in The Behavior Analyst at the 30th anniversary of the book is reviewed along with Sidman's comments on updates that he would have made if he were to revise or supplement the book. Included are some later remarks by Sidman regarding specific issues in Tactics. Continuous rates of citations are displayed and show the sustained relevance of the book, and selected themes from the book are discussed. Finally, experiences from using Tactics in lab courses and in graduate-level courses on scientific method are recapitulated, including questions raised by students, and Sidman's answers to those questions. Tactics is a true classic in behavior analysis.

Tutorial: Applying Machine Learning in Behavioral Research.

Machine-learning algorithms hold promise for revolutionizing how educators and clinicians make decisions. However, researchers in behavior analysis have been slow to adopt this methodology to further develop their understanding of human behavior and improve the application of the science to problems of applied significance. One potential explanation for the scarcity of research is that machine learning is not typically taught as part of training programs in behavior analysis. This tutorial aims to address this barrier by promoting increased research using machine learning in behavior analysis. We present how to apply the random forest, support vector machine, stochastic gradient descent, and k-nearest neighbors algorithms on a small dataset to better identify parents of children with autism who would benefit from a behavior analytic interactive web training. These step-by-step applications should allow researchers to implement machine-learning algorithms with novel research questions and datasets.

Applied behavior analysis measurement, assessment, and treatment of sleep and sleep-related problems.

This discussion article considers applied behavior analysis measurement, assessment, and treatment of sleep and sleep-related problems among infants, children, and youth who are typically developing and have neurodevelopmental disabilities. Measurement has concentrated on designing practitioner-implemented methods and improving fidelity of data recording through sleep-monitoring instrumentation. The emphasis of assessment is identifying antecedent and consequence variables that promote sleep and evoke and maintain sleep-related problems. Treatment research has evaluated several effective interventions for problems such as delayed sleep-onset, night and early morning waking, bedtime resistance, and unwanted co-sleeping. Early and contemporary applied behavior analysis research is reviewed relative to function-based treatment formulation, intervention integrity, social validity, and research-to-practice translation.

Methods of Conceptual Research in Clinical Behavior Analysis

This article aims to propose and discuss a set of criteria for conceptual research in clinical behavior analysis. The existing lack of consensus on such criteria hinders advances in conceptual research that is needed for the advancement of clinical treatments. The research criteria proposed here are mindful of and try to manage some of the practical problems inherent in this type of research (e.g., dealing with psychotherapy goals and the potential disadvantages of using middle-level terms). In particular, the article, (1) offers a definition of conceptual research that is consistent with relevant theory and philosophy; and (2) explores five criteria currently used in clinical behavior analysis regarding conceptual developments. These criteria include coherence with basic research; coherence with applied research; coherence with philosophy and the theory of clinical behavior analysis; conceptual precision; and the potential to provide the practitioner with the means to develop and use technology. These five criteria are discussed and offered as a potentially useful basis for conceptual developments in clinical behavior analysis.

DroidPortrait: Android Malware Portrait Construction Based on Multidimensional Behavior Analysis

Recently, security incidents such as sensitive data leakage and video/audio hardware control caused by Android malware have raised severe security issues that threaten Android users, so thus behavior analysis and detection research researches of malicious Android applications have become a hot topic. However, the behavioral portrait of Android malware that can depict the behavior of Android malware is not approached in previous literature. To fill this gap, we propose DroidPortrait, an Android malware multi-dimensional behavioral portrait construction approach. We take the behavior of Android malware as an entry point and extract an informative behavior dataset that includes static and dynamic behavior from Android malware. Next, aiming at Android malware that contains different kinds of behaviors, a behavioral tag is defined then combined with a machine learning (ML) algorithm to implement the correlation of these behavioral tags. Android malware behavioral portrait architecture based on behavior analysis and its design is investigated, as also an optimized random forest algorithm is conceived then combined with Android malware behavioral portrait to detect Android malware. The evaluation findings indicate the DroidPortrait can depict behavioral characteristics of Android malware comprehensive and detect them with high performance.

Developing PC-Based Driving Simulator System for Driver Behavior Analysis Research

Driving simulator is one of important system for driving behavior studies. It offers a replicable virtual driving environment and it has possibility to create a various scenarios to carry out in real environment. The problem in development of this simulator is how to reduce a prices in certain point areas have made it possible to create low-cost driving simulators, but with the features that are usually found only in expensive driving simulators. This article is presented a low cost PC-based driving simulator. The aim is to use the simulator as a platform for studies of the driver’s behavior. The complete simulator is using three 27” LED screen, handle by a standard PC, typically used for computer games. As Input we using steering, pedal and shifter G29, with force feedback. For software we using city car home edition as tools to measure validity user and developing simulator to driver’s behavior study.

Brain Activation for Audiovisual Information in People With One Eye Compared to Binocular and Eye-Patched Viewing Controls.

Blindness caused by early vision loss results in complete visual deprivation and subsequent changes in the use of the remaining intact senses. We have also observed adaptive plasticity in the case of partial visual deprivation. The removal of one eye, through unilateral eye enucleation, results in partial visual deprivation and is a unique model for examining the consequences of the loss of binocularity. Partial deprivation of the visual system from the loss of one eye early in life results in behavioral and structural changes in the remaining senses, namely auditory and audiovisual systems. In the current study we use functional neuroimaging data to relate function and behavior of the audiovisual system in this rare patient group compared to controls viewing binocularly or with one eye patched. In Experiment 1, a whole brain analysis compared common regions of cortical activation between groups, for auditory, visual and audiovisual stimuli. People with one eye demonstrated a trend for increased activation for low-level audiovisual stimuli compared to patched viewing controls but did not differ from binocular viewing controls. In Experiment 2, a region of interest (ROI) analysis for auditory, visual, audiovisual and illusory McGurk stimuli revealed that people with one eye had an increased trend for left hemisphere audiovisual activation for McGurk stimuli compared to binocular viewing controls. This aligns with current behavioral analysis and previous research showing reduced McGurk Effect in people with one eye. Furthermore, there is no evidence of a correlation between behavioral performance on the McGurk Effect task and functional activation. Together with previous behavioral work, these functional data contribute to the broader understanding of cross-sensory effects of early sensory deprivation from eye enucleation. Overall, these results contribute to a better understanding of the sensory deficits experienced by people with one eye, as well as, the relationship between behavior, structure and function in order to better predict the outcome of early partial visual deafferentation.

Improved 3D tracking and automated classification of rodents' behavioral activity using depth-sensing cameras.

Analysis of rodents' behavior/activity is of fundamental importance in many research fields. However, many behavioral experiments still rely on manual scoring, with obvious problems in reproducibility. Despite important advances in video-analysis systems and computational ethology, automated behavior quantification is still a challenge. The need for large training datasets, background stability requirements, and reduction to two-dimensional analysis (impairing full posture characterization), limit their use. Here we present a novel integrated solution for behavioral analysis of individual rats, combining video segmentation, tracking of body parts, and automated classification of behaviors, using machine learning and computer vision methods. Low-cost depth cameras (RGB-D) are used to enable three-dimensional tracking and classification in dark conditions and absence of color contrast. Our solution automatically tracks five anatomical landmarks in dynamic environments and recognizes seven distinct behaviors, within the accuracy range of human annotations. The developed free software was validated in experiments where behavioral differences between Wistar Kyoto and Wistar rats were automatically quantified. The results reveal the capability for effective automated phenotyping. An extended annotated RGB-D dataset is also made publicly available. The proposed solution is an easy-to-use tool, with low-cost setup and powerful 3D segmentation methods (in static/dynamic environments). The ability to work in dark conditions means that natural animal behavior is not affected by recording lights. Furthermore, automated classification is possible with only ~30 minutes of annotated videos. By creating conditions for high-throughput analysis and reproducible quantitative measurements of animal behavior experiments, we believe this contribution can greatly improve behavioral analysis research.

Student Network Behavior Analysis and Relevance Research Based on Optimal Decision Tree Algorithms

Based on the optimal decision tree algorithm, this paper proposes a student network behavior analysis model. Through training and predicting the academic performance of Beihang Grade 2013 undergraduates, it is found that students’ online behavior has a profound impact on students’ academic performance. To maintain a good learning state, students must strictly limit the time spent on the Internet in idle time, effectively control the time spent on the internet, and ensure that their daily sleep is not affected by the Internet behavior. The regularity of students’ life is positively correlated with their achievement ranking.

Practical Research of Intelligence in Epidemic Prevention Product Design

The epidemic of infectious diseases is a public issue that should be taken seriously. Novel coronavirus pneumonia is sweeping across the world, focus on the related intelligent product design which can play a key role in the epidemic control is urgent and essential. This article based on the intelligent product design, by analyzing the current epidemic situation to find the week-points in the process of epidemic prevention, then using the user behavior analysis research and persona to pitching in, establish a certain resupply vehicle design “Helper” that may inspire the Novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic control and the infectious diseases may happen in the future.

Analysis of User Energy Consumption Patterns Based on Data Mining

The energy use behavior analysis method can dig out the user’s energy use behavior rules from the energy use big data, thereby improving the quality of the grid-side management service in the integrated energy system. Firstly, it summarizes the characteristics of the integrated energy system and constructs the integrated energy system service system; secondly, it summarizes the data-driven electricity consumption behavior analysis research model. Then, it elaborates on the collection and aggregation of electricity consumption information, and refined user classification. Next, the comprehensive application of energy consumption behavior analysis in load forecasting, demand response modeling and other typical scenarios is deeply analyzed. Finally, the challenges that may be encountered in further research are clarified and the follow-up work is prospected.

Contribuições da análise do comportamento para a Educação Especial em periódicos brasileiros no período de 2008 a 2018

A relação da Análise do Comportamento com a Educação Especial é evidenciada por livros, artigos e temas de pesquisa elaborados por pesquisadores internacionais e nacionais. Entretanto, a maioria das revisões de literatura e revisões sistemáticas focam seus objetivos no Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo (TEA). Nesse contexto, o objetivo desse trabalho foi verificar o impacto dos princípios da Análise do Comportamento em intervenções com indivíduos que pertencem ao público-alvo da Educação Especial utilizando uma revisão sistemática em artigos empíricos produzidos em revistas brasileiras da área no período de 2008 a 2018. O método consistiu de pesquisas no campo de busca das revistas nacionais de análise do comportamento com termos chaves, leitura do título e resumo para exclusão e inclusão dos artigos, armazenamento dos artigos incluídos e leitura completa do texto para análise qualitativa e quantitativa. OS resultados apresentam 39 artigos, sendo 18 artigos sobre surdez/deficiência auditiva, 18 sobre TEA e três sobre deficiência intelectual. Os métodos experimentais prevalecem na literatura, principalmente com delineamentos que tem o sujeito como seu próprio controle. Os estudos sobre surdez apresentam dois grupos distintos: implante coclear e uso da Libras. Os estudos sobre TEA apresentam um aumento ao longo dos anos e uma ênfase nos pais como educador da criança. Dessa forma, os pesquisadores de Análise do Comportamento têm se especializado em públicos como deficientes auditivos e TEA, mas há uma lacuna na área com outros públicos, como surdocego e altas habilidades/superdotação, sendo esta análise importante para pesquisas futuras da área.

Participation of Women in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management: An Update and Extension

ABSTRACTA number of articles have examined the participation of women in behavior analysis research. However, most have excluded JOBM from the analysis. For this review, we coded participation of women yearly, since the inception of the journal. We examined participation of women overall, as first authors, as sole authors, and in empirical articles. We also assessed collaborations between genders and identified the ten most published women in JOBM. Next, we examined the current editorial board and associate editors to provide updated information on the participation of women in those roles. Overall, we found an increasing trend of participation of women over the years with participation approaching parity in most categories in the most recent years. Finally, we discussed these results and suggested greater attention be paid to increasing participation of other underrepresented groups.