Stimulus Controlled Research Articles

Relationship between attentional bias and stimulus control: An observational study of real-world eating patterns

BackgroundAttentional bias towards food related stimuli has been proposed as a potential target for dieting intervention, however the evidence supporting a relationship between attentional bias and food intake is mixed. Theory holds that food related attentional bias should be positively associated with measures of stimulus-controlled eating, and that implicit processes such as impulsivity moderate this association. The aim of the present study was to examine whether the proposed relationship between food-related attentional bias and stimulus control exists, and whether it is moderated by impulsivity. MethodA community sample of 68 participants completed a food-related attentional bias task and impulsiveness scale during a laboratory visit, after which they recorded their real-world eating in real-time over 14 days using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). During this time, participants also responded to 4–5 randomly timed assessments per day. Food outlet presence (e.g., fast food restaurants, cafes, corner stores etc.) was assessed during both eating and non-eating assessments. EMA data was then used to determine levels of stimulus controlled eating for each participant. FindingsSubstantial variation was seen in both our measure of both food-related attentional bias (Range: 33.9 to 80.0) and in the degree to which the participant's eating could be categorised as being under stimulus control (Range: 0.50 to 0.93). However, food-related attentional bias scores were not a significant independent predictor of stimulus control and nor was this relationship moderated by impulsivity. ConclusionContrary to theoretical predictions, we found no evidence that of an association between attentional bias, impulsivity, and stimulus control. More work is needed to better understand the implicit processes underlying eating behaviour in the real-world.

Beteendemodifikation—en modifierad behaviorism

SUMMARYBehavior modification (BM for short) is an attempt to apply behavioristic principles to the area of psychotherapy with the purpose to “change deviant behavior”. Two types of problem areas are selected for analysis in this paper: (1) concerning theory of science: the tenability of behavioristic theory and therewith its usefulness as a foundation of BM; (2) concerning ethical issues: the norm system which determines the meaning of “deviant” and the directions in which it ought to be changed.Two different “pictures” of the human being are distinguished: (1) as a passive, stimulus controlled system, and (2) as an active, i. e., a selective and internationally “performing” system. Corresponding to those pictures are two distinct concepts of “behavior””: (1) as movement, and (2) as action. It is argued that behaviorism cannot give an explanation of “action”, but maybe of reflexes, i. e. behavior of type (1).BM uses a sentimantically unclear language—often on the borderlines to a purely metaphoric usage o...

The roles of stimulus control and reinforcement frequency in modulating the behavioral effects of d-amphetamine in the rat.

The behavioral effects of d-amphetamine have been shown to be modulated by stimulus control, with less impairment of performance occurring when control is great. When the fixed-consecutive-number schedule is used (on which at least a specified consecutive number of responses must be made on one operandum before a single response on another will produce a reinforcer), response rate tends to be invariant but reinforcement frequency is not. This study asks whether the differences in reinforcement frequency that usually accompany changes in stimulus control could themselves be responsible for the performance differences. Two versions of the fixed-consecutive-number schedule of reinforcement were combined into a multiple schedule within which stimulus control was varied but differences in reinforcement frequency were minimized by omitting some reinforcer deliveries during the component that usually had the higher reinforcement frequency. In one component, a compound discriminative stimulus was added with the eighth consecutive response on the first lever; a single response on the second lever was then reinforced. In the other component, no such stimulus was presented. With no added stimulus, large decreases occurred in the number of runs satisfying the minimum requirement for reinforcement at doses of drug that produced only minimal changes when an added stimulus controlled behavior. Thus, increased stimulus control diminishes the behavioral changes produced by d-amphetamine even when the possible contribution by baseline reinforcement rate is minimized.