Behavioral treatments for severe problem behavior are often derived from basic behavioral principles initially evaluated in the nonhuman operant laboratory. It is less common to see laboratory experiments conducted for the specific purpose of addressing nuances of behavioral treatments. Because of functional analysis/ assessment methods that are now commonly used in applied behavior analysis, integrated basic and applied research is more feasible and bidirectional. This is true because a functional analysis identifies reinforcers for problem behavior and, thus, control of those reinforcers is possible in a way that is similar to controlling access to reinforcers in basic research. Because of our enthusiasm for the possibility of conducting basic research on common behavioral treatments, we initiated a rat laboratory for that purpose. In this paper, we describe some early work from the laboratory. Keywords: behavioral treatment, severe problem behavior, functional analysis, basic and applied research, rat laboratory. ********** Applied behavior analysis has benefited significantly from laboratory findings involving nonhuman subjects (Branch & Hackenberg, 1998). Treatments designed to decrease severe problem behavior have included various forms of differential reinforcement (e.g., differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior [DRI], differential reinforcement of alternative behavior [DRA], or differential reinforcement of other behavior [DRO]; Vollmer & Iwata, 1992), extinction (EXT; Lerman & Iwata, 1996); positive and negative punishment (Lerman & Vorndran, 2002); and time-based schedules, or noncontingent reinforcement (NCR; Vollmer, Iwata, Zarcone, Smith, & Mazaleski, 1993). All of these procedures were initially evaluated in the nonhuman operant laboratory. For example, the basic parameters of delivering punishing stimuli (e.g., immediacy, intensity, schedule, and motivation) in applied settings are to this day based on the pioneering work of Azrin and colleagues in the 1950s and 1960s involving nonhumans as subjects (e.g., Azrin, 1956; Azrin, 1960; Azrin & Holz, 1966). Historically, the relationship between basic and applied research has been largely unidirectional (Vollmer & Hackenberg, 2001). That is, findings from nonhuman animal laboratories have been utilized by applied researchers and incorporated into behavioral treatments designed to reduce behavioral excesses or increase behavioral deficits among a wide range of populations (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987; Miltenberger, 2004). The reverse, however, (nonhuman animal research designed to answer questions of applied significance) has been the subject of appreciably less research. This unidirectional course may seem pragmatic to some, and as Mace (1994) noted, its proponents may suggest that in the absence of effective technologies designed to address problems of social significance, nonhuman animal research may yield limited tangible outcomes. Although this unidirectional relationship has been effective in the majority of instances, several nuances encountered in application have not been addressed by nonhuman animal research. In addition, as suggested by Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968), the difference between applied and basic research is not simply that which discovers and that which applies. Applied researchers may venture back to the nonhuman animal laboratory to investigate problems analogous to those of social significance encountered in more typical applied settings. This approach is common in other scientific fields, such as genetics and pharmacy. The purpose of this paper is to first detail the logic of studying behavioral treatments in a laboratory context. We contend that the approach is useful because: (a) laboratory research lends a degree of control over specific nuances of treatments that could not be controlled in applied situations, and (b) the advent of functional analysis methods allows applied researchers to control and manipulate specific reinforcers for problem behavior; therefore, control and manipulation of reinforcers are more analogous to that in basic research than it would be if arbitrary reinforcers were used to treat behavior disorders. …