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International Paper Session - Special Topics in EAB |
Sunday, May 25, 2008 |
4:00 PM–5:20 PM |
El |
Area: EAB |
Chair: Kennon A. Lattal (West Virginia University) |
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A Missing Link in the Evolution of the Cumulative Recorder? |
Domain: Basic Research |
TOSHIO ASANO (Aichi University), Kennon A. Lattal (West Virginia University) |
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Abstract: In the course of researching a cumulative recorder that was manufactured in Japan in the early 1970s, the first author found in a storeroom at Keio University in Tokyo what is believed to be a precursor to the highly successful series of models manufactured by the Ralph Gerbrands company between the early 1950s and 1994. This recorder was sent to Japan from Harvard University in the early 1950s. A recorder similar to this one was described in general terms by Lattal in his 2004 history of the cumulative recorder (JEAB, 82, 329-355), but no actual instrument was known to still exist. This presentation will present photographs of the actual device, describe it in detail, and place it in historical context, both as a scientific instrument and in terms of its role in the history of the experimental analysis of behavior. |
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What Behavior Analysts Can Learn from Neuroscience. |
Domain: Basic Research |
FRANCIS MECHNER (The Mechner Foundation) |
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Abstract: B.F. Skinner wrote, “The physiologist of the future will tell us all that can be known about what is happening inside the behaving organism. His account will be an advance over a behavioral analysis.”
How can behavior analysis continue to move forward as an empirical science? Eric Kandel suggests that answers to such questions lie at a field’s boundaries with neighboring disciplines, where the knowledge, questions, and conceptual frameworks of one are brought into interplay with those of the other.
We now know that habituation, sensitization, and classical conditioning involve the release of glutamate into a synapse. Modulatory interneurons regulate the amount released and thereby the duration of synaptic transmission. The conversion of a short-term into a long-term memory involves new growth at the same synapses.
Also discussed will be the roles of certain mammalian brain structures and some of the important biochemical mechanisms and neurotransmitters. Empirical evidence will be cited for the neurological, anatomical, and biochemical reality of such measurable behavioral phenomena as short-term and long-term memory, working memory, imagery, and attention, and the neurological underpinnings of the various types of visual perception, visualization, hearing, sensory perception, perception of space, reinforcement, and fear. |
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Effect Size Indices for Single-Subject Experimental Designs: An Overview and Comparison. |
Domain: Basic Research |
OLIVER WENDT (Purdue University) |
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Abstract: This presentation will address current methodological issues related to effect size estimates in single-subject experimental designs (SSEDs). Controversy exists as to which techniques are most appropriate to analyze between-phase differences in SSEDs and derive meaningful effect size estimates for synthesizing studies. Two general types of statistical-summary strategies have been proposed for assessing the magnitude of effect, non-regression approaches (e.g., Olive & Smith, 2005) and regression approaches (e.g., Parker & Bossart, 2003). This paper will focus on the applicability of non-regression based techniques including Mean Baseline Reduction (MBLR) (Lundervold & Bourland, 1988), Percentage of All Non-Overlapping Data (PAND) (Parker et al., 2007), Percentage of Data Points Exceeding the Median (PEM) (Ma, 2006), Percentage of Non-Overlapping Data (PND) (Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Casto, 1987), Percentage of Zero Data (Scotti et al., 1991), and Standard Mean Difference (Busk & Serlin, 1992). These metrics will be compared relative to their performance in detecting treatment effects in behavior increase studies versus behavior reduction studies. Data sets from recent meta-analyses of single-subject research related to augmentative and alternative communication (behavior increase) and Functional Communication Training (behavior reduction) will be used to illustrate performance differences, advantages and disadvantages of each technique and the relationship among the different metrics. |
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