Rule-governed Behavior Research Articles

Commas and coordinating conjunctions: Too many rules or no rules at all?

Although it is unclear why punctuation should be pushed to the sidelines, it generally continues to be a neglected research area in mainstream contemporary linguistics. Common sense and empirical evidence both suggest that punctuation is so much more than a stylistic device, its presence or absence creating new strata and shades of meaning. Punctuation is also a matter of some controversy, all too often employed as a symbol of confrontation between linguistic conservatives and their more permissive colleagues. An already difficult situation is made even more difficult with different sources (e.g. course and reference books, online blogs and articles, etc.) supplying contradictory information with a rigor that does not tolerate disagreement, obsessing over rules for the sake of rules themselves and disregarding the real stories behind them. Shifting focus from a rulegoverned behavior and identifying a relatively limited context of punctuation, the smallscale research addresses the issue of comma usage before the coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, nor, so, yet and for. In addition to a sketchy overview of this complex relationship illustrative of significant differences of opinion, the paper touches upon regional and generic factors influencing comma usage before coordinating conjunctions, utilizing the massive database of the Contemporary Corpus of American English (COCA). The main idea behind the paper is to observe and account for tendencies and discrepancies by providing critical commentary on authentic examples taken from the corpora rather than seek confirmation for rules and take the prescriptive norm for granted.

Research on re-searching: interrupted foraging is not disrupted foraging

In classic visual search, observers typically search for the presence of a target in a scene or display. In foraging tasks, there may be multiple targets in the same display (or “patch”). Observers typically search for and collect these target items in one patch until they decide to leave that patch and move to the next one. This is a highly rule-governed behavior. The current study investigated whether these rules are disrupted when the foraging is interrupted in various manners. In Experiment 1, the foraging was briefly interrupted and then resumed in the same patch. In Experiments 2 and 3, the foraging in each patch either ended voluntarily or compulsorily after a fixed amount of time. In these cases, foraging resumed in a patch only after all patches were visited. Overall, the rules of foraging remained largely intact, though Experiment 2 shows that foraging rules can be overridden by the demand characteristics of the task. The results show that participants tended to perform approximately consistently despite interruptions. The results suggest that foraging behavior in a relatively simple foraging environment is resilient and not easily disrupted by interruption.

The impact of functional class and depressive symptomatology on rule-based insensitivity

Rule-governed behavior (RGB) is important for accounting for complex human behavior, as well as informing clinical practice. In line with Relational Frame Theory, RGB is divided into functional classes including pliance, which is rule-following under the control of apparent arbitrary social consequences, and tracking, which is rule-following under the control of apparent natural non-arbitrary consequences. In theory, pliance should produce lower levels of contingency sensitivity compared to tracking, but how this effect relates to nonclinical populations is unclear. This study (n = 134) tested the relationship between contingency sensitivity in pliance and tracking through a Matching-to-Sample task, while incorporating a measure of depressive symptomatology to test if a distinction in insensitivity would be seen in nondepressed participants. Results indicated that pliance was associated with lower levels of contingency sensitivity relative to tracking overall, and that depressive symptomatology did not influence this. Results are discussed in relation to prior inconsistencies in the experimental literature on RGB, and potential methods for operationalizing pliance in experimental settings.

Remediating rigid rule-following in subclinical obsessive-compulsive disorder using a brief mindfulness task: A case-control pilot study

A pioneering experiment by Hayes et al. (1986a, b) demonstrated the influence of instructional control and rule-governed behaviour on sensitivity to alternating reinforcement schedules. Hassoulas et al. (2017) replicated the same experimental design in a sample of participants exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behavioural (OCB) traits, supporting the results reported by the original study but also providing further insights into the maintenance of rigid rule following in OCB. The current pilot study replicated the same experimental design and procedure once again, however in considering whether a brief mindfulness-based intervention would facilitate contact with schedule contingencies in a group of participants exhibiting OCB traits. A total of 78 participants were recruited, 38 of whom exhibited OCB traits as measured using the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI). The results revealed a significant difference in sensitivity to changing schedules between the group of participants exhibiting OCB traits and those with few such traits (n = 40), dependent on the degree of instructional accuracy they were provided with. The findings of the current study provide insights into the proposed concomitant administration of mindfulness-based interventions, alongside traditional first-line therapeutic modalities currently administered in the management of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Phencyclidine-Like Abuse Liability and Psychosis-Like Neurocognitive Effects of Novel Arylcyclohexylamine Drugs of Abuse in Rodents.

Abuse of novel arylcyclohexylamines (ACX) poses risks for toxicities, including adverse neurocognitive effects. In vivo effects of ring-substituted analogs of phencyclidine (PCP), eticyclidine (PCE), and ketamine are understudied. Adult male National Institutes of Health Swiss mice were used to assess locomotor effects of PCP and its 3-OH, 3-MeO, 3-Cl, and 4-MeO analogs, PCE and its 3-OH and 3-MeO analogs, and ketamine and its deschloro and 2F-deschloro analogs, in comparison with those of methamphetamine (METH), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and two benzofuran analogs of MDMA. PCP-like interoceptive effects for all of these ACXs were determined using a food-reinforced drug discrimination procedure in adult male Sprague Dawley rats. A novel operant assay of rule-governed behavior incorporating aspects of attentional set-shifting was used to profile psychosis-like neurocognitive effects of PCP and 3-Cl-PCP in rats, in comparison with cocaine and morphine. PCP-like ACXs were more effective locomotor stimulants than the amphetamines, PCE-like ACXs were as effective as the amphetamines, and ketamine-like ACXs were less effective than the amphetamines. Addition of -Cl, -OH, or -OMe at the 3-position on the aromatic ring did not impact locomotor effectiveness, but addition of -OMe at the 4-position reduced locomotor effectiveness. Lethal effects were induced by drugs with -OH at the 3-position or -OMe at the 3- or 4-position. All novel ACXs substituted at least partially for PCP, and PCP and 3-Cl-PCP elicited dose-dependent psychosis-like neurocognitive deficits in the rule-governed behavior task not observed with cocaine or morphine. Novel ACXs exhibit substantial abuse liability and toxicities not necessarily observed with their parent drugs. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Novel arylcyclohexylamine analogs of PCP, PCE, and ketamine are appearing on the illicit market, and abuse of these drugs poses risks for toxicities, including adverse neurocognitive effects. These studies demonstrate that the novel ACXs exhibit PCP-like abuse liability in the drug discrimination assay, elicit varied locomotor stimulant and lethal effects in mice, and induce psychosis-like neurocognitive effects in rats.

B - 72 Neuropsychological Problem-Solving Styles on the Tower of London Drexel.

The Tower of LondonDX (2nd Edition TOLDX, Culbertson & Zillmer, 2005) provides a standardized measure of executive planning and problem solving. To enhance the measure's clinical and empirical utility, four contrasting Executive Planning Styles (EPS), were identified based on two different, but moderately related (i.e., rho = -0.37), TOLDX variables, Time to First Move and Total Move Score. The TOLDX normative data (Technical Manual) for participants ranging in age from 7 to 80years (n = 990) were utilized for study. The participants were drawn from sites in the United States and Canada. An individual's assignment to an EPS was based on initiation time and performance scores either one standard deviation above or below the mean for that individual's normative group. Using these criteria, four contrasting EPS were identified. The four Executive Efficiency constructs are labeled as: Q1 Efficient-Fast, exhibiting rapid, advanced planning skills; Q2 Efficient-Slow, suggesting careful, deliberate, and strategic planning; Q3 Inefficient-Fast, indicating pervasive impulsivity, nonstrategic planning, and an increased likelihood of poor rule-governed behavior; and Q4 Inefficient-Slow, suggesting limitations in executive planning, trial-and-error problem-solving, and possible cognitive limitations. The purpose of this analysis was to further differentiate the executive planning process of an established measure of executive function by combing two constructs (initiation time and performance) into four Executive Planning Styles. Executive planning is a dimension of complex human behavior, and the four-quadrant conceptualization of Executive Efficiency expands our understanding of this very important neuropsychological construct.

Instructing via relations: Function transformations of response and consequence functions of upcoming contingencies

One part of the relational frame theory account of rule-governed behavior is relational responses between elements of a rule and the behavioral and consequential components of the upcoming contingency. This study reports two experiments that used a novel task designed to exert contextual control over relational responses involving components of upcoming reinforcement contingencies. The task presents participants with a series of choices between bubble-clicking tasks. Each trial begins by illustrating the number of bubbles to be clicked and points that may be earned for completing a source task, and presents Crel and Cfunc stimuli to indicate how the task options differ from this task in terms of the number of bubbles to be clicked and the amount of points that may be earned. Experiment 1 exposed participants to a version of the task employing natural language Crels and Cfuncs, and task performances were in line with experimenter expectations. Experiment 2 employed the task to establish Crel and Cfunc functions for novel stimuli, and investigated the impact of post-choice feedback on the development of these functions. Results indicated that the task can establish Crel and Cfunc functions for novel stimuli effectively and provides a means for investigating transformations of functions involving components of contingencies.

Gender Is the Name of the Frame: Understanding Gender through the Lens of Relational Frame Theory

While researchers continue to develop their understanding of gender as a complex and multifaceted concept, the detrimental impact of gender-related inequity and social injustice persists. This conceptual paper describes the potential benefits of incorporating Relational Frame Theory (RFT) as a contextual and pragmatic approach to gender. An RFT lens might enhance our understanding of gender as a language-based phenomenon, involving patterns of derived relational responding and rule-governed behavior. Such an understanding might then facilitate the development of assessments and context-sensitive interventions that support flexible and expansive experiences of gender that promote thriving. Despite the potential utility of an RFT approach, RFT has rarely been applied to gender-related concerns. This paper aims to provide a starting point for exploring gender from an RFT perspective, highlight relevant RFT studies, acknowledge limitations of current lines of research, and provide recommendations regarding future research. We hope that the paper will also act as a call to action for contextual behavioral scientists, as well as demonstrate how an RFT perspective might both align with, as well as add to, existing perspectives from other disciplines.

Observing the Behavior of Organisms in Organizational Behavior Management

ABSTRACT Observation and replication of observed behavior are two key components to organisms surviving and flourishing. In a corresponding manner, people observe the behavior of others in organizations, replicating adaptive while avoiding detrimental behaviors. Learning by observation allows workers to develop repertoires in which adaptive behaviors are reinforced while maladaptive behaviors undergo extinction or are socially and financially punished. Moreover, observers often improve their own performance when monitoring and recording the behavior of others. However, observers also might replicate inappropriate behavior. Imitation, observational learning, observational performance, and rule-governed behavior are discussed in these contexts. Finally, being viewed by others frequently enhances worker responding and accomplishments. These behaviors occur at the individual, group, and organizational levels, allowing some workers, teams, and organizations to flourish.

The Polish adaptation of the measurements of rule-governed behaviors: Generalized Pliance Questionnaire, Generalized Tracking Questionnaire and Generalized Self-Pliance Questionnaire.

In some circumstances rule-governed behavior, a behavior that is governed by verbal rules instead of environmental consequences, may be beneficial for human beings. At the same time, rigid rule following is associated with psychopathology. Thus measurement of rule-governed behavior may be of special use in a clinical setting. The aim of this paper is to assess the psychometric properties of Polish adaptations of three questionnaires measuring generalized tendency to engage in various types of rule-governed behaviors: Generalized Pliance Questionnaire (GPQ), Generalized Self-Pliance Questionnaire (GSPQ), Generalized Tracking Questionnaire (GTQ). A forward-backward method was used for translation. Data was collected from two samples: general population (N = 669) and university students (N = 451). To measure the validity of the adapted scales the participants filled in a set of self-assessed questionnaires: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale- 21 (DASS-21), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ), Valuing Questionnaire (VQ) and Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ). The exploratory and confirmatory analyses confirmed the unidimensional structure of each of the adapted scales. All of those scales presented good reliability (internal consistency measured with Cronbach Alpha) and item-total correlations. The Polish versions of questionnaires presented significant correlations in the expected directions with relevant psychological variables in line with the original studies. The measurement occurred invariant across both samples as well as gender. The results provide evidence that Polish versions of GPQ, GSPQ and GTQ present sufficient validity and reliability to be used in the Polish-speaking population.

Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice in Colleges and Universities: An Internal Researcher/Practitioner Model

Behavior analysis often operates at the level of individual behavior depending on reinforcement contingencies. Here, a behavior analytic perspective addresses the challenge of connecting research to organizations’ policy and practice in order to improve performance regarding the organizations’ strategic objectives. In colleges and universities, three potentially overlapping approaches are plausible: (a) applying published scholarly research literature, (b) contracting external vendors of predictive analytics, and (c) integrating internal researchers/practitioners. This article discusses a model that emphasizes the third approach—internal researcher/practitioners—and that focuses on fundamental concepts related to contingencies (consequences) and rule-governed behavior. The model's use is illustrated in a case study: Florida International University, a large, public, metropolitan, Research I university, located in Miami, Florida. The application of the model appears to relate to significant and rapid improvement in the university's targeted performance metrics (e.g., student success as measured by variables such as students’ retention and on-time graduation).

Does it apply to me: Using Relational Frame Theory to examine anaesthetists' approach to safety behaviour and human factors

Healthcare must provide safe and effective treatment while being cost-effective and ethical in its delivery. Anaesthesia is particularly prone to production pressure, which can lead to compromises in patient safety through risky decision-making. Australian anaesthetists (N=192), trainees, and specialists were asked to complete an electronic survey asking whether they would proceed with surgery in 11 clinical elective scenarios involving a violation of a standard or practice guideline. They were also asked how confident they were in their decisions and provided an opportunity to explain. Across all scenarios, anaesthetists would have proceeded ranging from 8.3% to 89.6. The likelihood to proceed and confidence in the decision in some scenarios was influenced by the decision made, gender, age, and level of expertise. Although not originally designed to investigate rule-governed behaviour using Relational Framework Theory, we found evidence of the influence of plys, tracks and augments, in the explanations which participants provided. Relational Framework Theory may provide insights into individual beliefs, values, motivators, and the influence of culture-behavioural systems in anaesthetists attitudes towards safety practices and human factors.

Rule-Governed Behavior and Climate Change: Why Climate Warnings Fail to Motivate Sufficient Action.

Climate scientists warn of dire consequences for ecological systems and human well-being if significant steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are not taken immediately. Despite these warnings, greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, indicating that current responses are inadequate. Climate warnings and reactions to them may be analyzed in terms of rules and rule-governed behavior. The literature on rule-governed behavior in behavior analysis has identified a variety of factors that can reduce rule following, including insufficient rule exposure, insufficient learning history and rule complexity, incomplete rules, instructed behavior not sufficiently learned, rules having weak function-altering effects, conflicting rules, lack of speaker credibility, rule plausibility and inconsistency with prior learning, and insufficient reinforcement for rule following. The present paper aims to analyze how these factors might impact responses to climate change, and possible solutions and strategies are discussed. Much of the theory and research on climate-change communication has come from outside of behavior analysis. Thus, the paper also aims to integrate findings from this literature with a behavior-analytic approach to rule control. Interpreting climate warnings and climate solutions in terms of rule-governed behavior may improve our understanding of why such rules are not more effective, and aid in the development of verbal and nonverbal strategies for changing behavior and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Insight in terms of Behavior in the Clinical Context: Transfer and Rule-governed Behavior

A redefinition of insight-type events is presented, an initial attempt to view insight in terms of behavior analysis in the clinical context and relevant variables are suggested for their study. This definition assumes the insight as a novel behavior that involves the search for solutions to psychological problems. Solving a problem is discovering an effective behavior pattern, based on the creation of verbal rules that help the client to reach the solution. In this problem-solving process, a new behavior emerges, explained through the solution of a transfer task. The theoretical proposal exposed allows a better understanding of this phenomenon, overcoming the problems of mentalist conceptions about the term of insight, and contributes to a better understanding of some relevant elements of change process.

Effects of training different levels of operant variability in rats

If high levels of variability are initially trained, responding remains variable even if the criterion for variability is eliminated. This effect, reported in college students, could have resulted from rule-governed behavior. To extend the generality of this finding, this experiment explored the effects of increasing or decreasing the criteria for reinforcing variability in rat subjects. The variability of a sequence of 3 responses distributed on five levers was reinforced using a Lag n procedure. For one group of rats (0−50) the criterion in successive conditions was Lag 0, 2, 10, 25, and 50. For the other group (50−0) the criteria were presented in decreasing order. For both groups, variability, measured as U values was higher with higher Lag values. For Group 50 – 0, U values with Lags 10, 25, and 50 were higher than for Group 0–50. The results suggest that in rats and humans, high levels of variability established early in training produced more variable behavior even if the requirement for variability decreases. Different from human participants in a previous study, rats’ behavior, stop varying when the criterion was markedly reduced (Lag 2) or eliminated (Lag 0).

Exploring the relationships between rule-governed behavior and adherence to guidelines aiming to reduce the spread of COVID-19

Research demonstrates that socially mediated consequences impact adherence to health mandates during pandemics. However, no published research has examined whether adherence varies based on the extent to which an individual relies on arbitrary social approval (i.e., displays generalized pliance). The present study explored the relationships between adherence to COVID-19 public health measures, two types of rule-following (pliance and tracking), and perceived peer behavior in a sample of adults (n = 288). Findings revealed that adherence was negatively correlated with generalized pliance and tracking was unrelated to adherence. Pliance did not moderate the relationship between peer adherence and individual adherence. Findings are discussed with reference to the need to develop easily adaptable and context sensitive measures of types of rule-following, in addition to a measure of social tracking.

Countercontrol: A Relational Frame Theory (RFT) Account and Revival of a 70-Year-Old Skinnerian Term.

Countercontrol is a Skinnerian operant concept that posits that an individual’s attempts to exert control over another person’s behavior may evoke a countercontrolling response from the person being controlled that functions to avoid or escape the potentially aversive conditions generated by the controller. Despite Skinner’s historical concerns regarding the detrimental effects of countercontrol in terms of hindering optimal societal growth and cultural evolution, the concept has not been widely applied within behavior analysis. Drawing from recent developments in rule-governed behavior and relational frame theory, this article seeks to explicate countercontrol from a contemporary behavior analytic perspective and presents several modern-day societal applications. In particular, a relational frame theory account of rule-governed behavior is used as a framework to elucidate the behavioral processes by which rule-following occurs (or fails to occur) in the context of countercontrol. Implications of a renewed focus on countercontrol for understanding pressing societal issues are also discussed.

Variables involved in the acquisition and maintenance of racial aggression and its victims' reactions.

This study aimed to investigate how behavior analysis can contribute to the understanding of some variables and processes involved in the acquisition and maintenance of racial aggressors' behaviors, as well as the victims' reactions. We describe how the concepts of rule-governed behavior and motivating operations may be involved in institutional racism: Individuals belonging to ethnic groups who hold the social administration in a context may keep important reinforcers available for their own group, while other racial groups may have their access to those reinforcers hindered. For these privileges to be perpetuated, the ruling group can arrange contingencies that reinforce the behavior of following certain rules that contribute to the maintenance of relevant reinforcers for the ruling group and exclusion of Black individuals and other people of color. For those underrepresented groups, motivating operations can be manipulated and reinforcers can be provided only when their responses are deemed appropriate by the dominant group. Individual learning through discriminative training, equivalence class formation, transfer of functions, stimulus generalization, and function altering were also discussed. Patterns such as aggression, escape, and avoidance, were identified in the actions of racial aggressors. Finally, the victim's reactions were also identified as escape, avoidance, or aggression of racial aggressors, but also as effects of processes such as learned helplessness, extinction after elimination of benefits, countercontrol, and respondent conditioning. Despite the lack of research in the field, behavior analysis has the power to elucidate some variables related to this theme, aiding, thus, evidence-based intervention proposals.

Policing Insecurity

In environments of seemingly intractable conflict, how should we understand the role of state capacity building and security-sector reform in transitions to peace? Prevailing wisdom suggests that a strong state security apparatus mitigates cyclical violence and aids in transitions to predictable, rule-governed behavior. Yet growing attention to police brutality in institutionalized democracies calls this assumption into question. Drawing on a multiyear study of war making and state making in eastern DR Congo, this article interrogates logics of police capacity building, analyzing how and why reform efforts intended to bolster the state’s monopoly on violence frequently fail to curb the unrest they seek to disrupt. I argue that enhancing the coercive capacity of the police can entrench a wartime political order that makes peace more elusive; when police deploy the image of the state toward destabilizing ends they reinforce the institutions of everyday war, undermining the stability a monopoly on violence is intended to build.

Rule-Governed Behavior: Teaching Social Skills via Rule-Following to Children with Autism

ABSTRACT Rule-governed behavior (RGB) is behavior that is controlled by verbal descriptions of contingencies rather than by direct contact or a history of direct contact with the contingencies. Humans rely on RGB to navigate a multitude of life experiences, and in doing so, we avoid direct contact with destructive or harmful contingencies or contingencies that would be inefficient to contact. However, individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) frequently struggle with RGB, leaving them at increased risk of contacting aversive consequences. As a result, acquiring RGB can be a valuable developmental outcome for individuals with ASD. The current study examined the effectiveness of an intervention program designed to promote acquisition and generalization of rule-governed social skills in children with ASD. Multiple exemplar training (MET) resulted in increased performance of the target behavior as well as successful discrimination.