|
The Neurobiology of Alcoholism: A Dysregulated Neuroadaptational View. |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Douglas C |
| Area: BPH; Domain: Basic Research |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
| Chair: Corina Jimenez-Gomez (Utah State University) |
| GEORGE KOOB (The Scripps Research Institute) |
 Dr. George F. Koob, Ph.D. is Professor and Chairman of the Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders at The Scripps Research Institute and Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. An authority on addiction and stress, his research interests include the neurobiology of emotion, with a focus on the theoretical constructs of reward and stress. He has made contributions to our understanding of the anatomical connections of the emotional systems and the neurochemistry of emotional function. His current research is focused on exploration of the neurobiological basis for the neuroadaptation associated with drug dependence and stress. He has published over 630 scientific papers, is the United States Editor-in-Chief of the journal Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Alcohol Research Center at The Scripps Research Institute, Director of the Pearson Center for Alcoholism and Addiction Research, and Consortium Coordinator for NIAAA's multi-center Integrative Neuroscience Initiative on Alcoholism. His awards include being honored as a Highly Cited Researcher from the Institute for Scientific Information, and the Distinguished Investigator, Mark Keller, and Tharp Awards from the Research Society on Alcoholism. |
| Abstract: Addiction has been conceptualized as a chronic relapsing disorder with roots in impulsivity and compulsivity, and neurobiological mechanisms change as the individual moves through the stages of the addiction cycle. Animal models of excessive drinking include binge models and models that focus on interactions with stress and dependence and include abstinence-induced drinking, drinking following abstinence and withdrawal, and drinking during protracted abstinence in animals with a history of dependence. Key neurochemical elements involved in reward and stress within a basal forebrain macrostructure termed the extended amygdala are hypothesized to be dysregulated in addiction to convey the vulnerability for compulsive drug intake. During intoxication, elements in the extended amygdala are activated. During the development of dependence, the reward systems become compromised, but there is also dysregulation of the brain stress systems such as corticotropin releasing factor, and norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y. In addition, critical neurocircuitry in the basal forebrain for cue-induced reinstatement are providing clues to the neurobiological basis of craving. Neurocircuitry involving separate components for craving, reward deficits, and compulsivity provide a heuristic framework for the study of individual differences in the vulnerability for addiction. |
| Target Audience: none |
| Learning Objectives: none |
|
| |
| |
|
| Verbal Behavior at Fifty: Past, Present, and Future |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Douglas C |
| Area: VBC/TPC; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Mark L. Sundberg (Sundberg and Associates) |
| CE Instructor: Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D. |
| Panelists: JOHN L. MICHAEL (Western Michigan University), A. CHARLES CATANIA (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), TERRY J. KNAPP (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) |
| Abstract: Fifty years ago B. F. Skinner published the book Verbal Behavior. The book contains behavioral analyses of the most complex aspects of human behavior such as language, private events, thinking, epistemology, memory, and logical and scientific verbal behavior. In many respects, the core of Skinners radical behaviorism is presented in this book. The members of this panel will discuss the significance of Verbal Behavior in terms of past contributions and controversies, its current usage, and its potential for the field of behavior analysis. |
| JOHN L. MICHAEL (Western Michigan University) |
 Dr. Jack Michael was born in 1926 in Los Angeles. He entered the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1943 as a chemistry major, served two years in the army, and returned to UCLA in 1946. He obtained a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. at UCLA, finishing in 1955. As a graduate student, his main interests were statistical methodology, physiological psychology, and learning theory. During his first teaching job (in the Psychology Department at Kansas University), he was much influenced by reading B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior, and since then has been primarily involved in teaching behavioral psychology; at Kansas University, the University of Houston, Arizona State University, and Western Michigan University. At Houston in 1957, as a result of influence by the rehabilitation psychologist, Lee Meyerson, Dr. Michael began to apply Skinner's behavior analysis in the areas of mental retardation, mental illness, and physical disability. During the next several years, as behavior modification went through a period of rapid expansion, Dr. Michael contributed with his teaching, writing, and public presentations. At Arizona State as a result of contact with Fred S. Keller, he became interested in college instructional technology from a behavioral perspective. Most recently, he has been concerned with the technical terminology of behavior analysis, basic theory regarding motivation, and verbal behavior.
He contributed to the founding of the Association for Behavior Analysis in 1974 and served as president of that organization in 1979. In 2002 he received the ABA Award for Distinguished Service to Behavior Analysis, and the American Psychological Association Division 25 Don Hake Award for research that bridges the gap between experimental and applied behavior analysis. He is author of a laboratory manual and a number of articles and chapters dealing with basic and applied behavior analysis. He retired from Western Michigan University in 2003. |
| A. CHARLES CATANIA (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) |
 Dr. A. Charles Catania began his career in behavior analysis in fall 1954, when he enrolled in Fred Keller’s course in introductory psychology at Columbia. That course included a weekly laboratory on the behavior of rats, and Catania continued working with rats and pigeons and other nonhuman organisms over subsequent decades. In Spring 2004, having closed down his pigeon laboratory the previous summer, he celebrated his half century of animal lab activity with a classroom rat demonstration in a learning course. He regards the study of nonhuman behavior as essential to our understanding of verbal behavior, because verbal behavior is necessarily supported by a nonverbal scaffolding. That lesson too came from Columbia, where, as a senior, Catania took a seminar on verbal behavior jointly taught by Fred Keller, Nat Schoenfeld, and Ralph Hefferline. Ever since, Catania has been addicted to the field of verbal behavior, teaching courses in it whenever possible. One function of his text, Learning, is to integrate the topics of nonverbal and verbal behavior, which have too often been given separate treatments. |
| TERRY J. KNAPP (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) |
 Dr. Terry J. Knapp is Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His interest in B. F. Skinner’s book, Verbal Behavior, stems from the 1960s, when he was in speech-communication and completed a Master’s thesis on “Communication and Privacy: A Critical Explication of B. F. Skinner’s Analysis.” After Knapp stopped being critical, he took up Skinner’s analysis and sought his doctoral degree under the late Willard Day because of Day’s contributions on the topics of privacy, verbal behavior, and behaviorism. |
|
| |
| |
|
| Standards of Evidence across Areas of Practice |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 2:30 PM–3:50 PM |
| Douglas B |
| Area: EDC; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Teri Lewis (Oregon State University) |
| Discussant: Robert H. Horner (University of Oregon) |
| Abstract: N/a |
| |
| Standards of Evidence for Prevention Research |
| ANTHONY BIGLAN (Oregon Research Institute) |
| Abstract: This presentation will describe the development of the standards of evidence of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR). SPR created the standards in response to concerns that numerous federal agencies were identifying “research-based” programs, but standards for such a designation were lacking. A task force of prevention scientists therefore created standards that we believed would give greatest weight to programs that had been shown in multiple experimental evaluations to affect an important public health outcome. The standards recognize both randomized controlled trials and interrupted time-series designs. This presentation will discuss the importance of both of these types of designs and will indicate the influence that these standards appear to be having on efforts to identify empirically supported practices. |
 Dr. Anthony Biglan has been conducting research on the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior for the past 23 years. His work has included studies of the risk and protective factors associated with tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use (e.g., (Biglan & Smolkowski, 2002; Biglan, Duncan, Ary, & Smolkowski, 1995), high-risk sexual behavior (e.g., Biglan et al., 1990; Biglan, Noell, Ochs, Smolkowski, & Metzler, 1995), and anti-social behavior (Biglan, 1995). He has conducted numerous experimental evaluations of interventions to prevent tobacco use both through school-based programs (Biglan, Severson, Ary, Faller, Gallison, Thompson, Glasgow, & Lichtenstein, 1987) and community-wide interventions (Biglan, Ary, Smolkowski, Duncan, & Black, 2000). He has also performed evaluations of interventions to prevent high-risk sexual behavior (Metzler, Biglan, Ary, & Noell, 2000), antisocial behavior (Barrera, Biglan, Ary, & Li, 2001), and reading failure (Gunn, Biglan, Smolkowski, & Ary, 2000). During the 2000-2001 school years, Dr. Biglan led a team of scholars in a review of what is known about the development and prevention of youth problem behaviors. A book summarizing the evidence and defining next steps for research and practice is forthcoming (Biglan, Brennan, Foster, & Holder, 2005). |
| |
| The National Standards Project: Standards of Evidence in Autism |
| SUSAN WILCZYNSKI (National Autism Center/May Institute) |
| Abstract: The number of unproven treatments offered for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) proliferates. The National Standards Project was developed in response to this urgent need for information. The National Standards Project is a collaborative effort to systematically review educational and behavioral treatment research involving individuals under the age of 22 in order to determine the strength of evidence supporting these approaches. In this way, parents and educators can weigh the quality and quantity of research supporting an intervention into their decision-making.
This presentation will use the National Standards Project as a backdrop for discussing the importance of (a) transparency in developing evidence-based guidelines, (b) organizing the literature in a meaningful way for consumers, (c) receiving input from a broad range of professionals representing multiple theoretical orientations, and (d) using a continuum to describe strength of evidence so that consumers understand the quantity and quality of research available for the large number of interventions they are likely to be offered. In addition, integrating the value of evidence-based practice and research findings with clinical judgment and patient values will be addressed. |
 Dr. Susan Wilczynski is the Executive Director of the National Autism Center. In this role, she oversees the National Standards Project, updates public policy makers about evidence-based practice related to educational and behavioral interventions, develops assessment clinics specializing in the evaluation of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, and establishes the parent education and professional training agenda of the National Autism Center.
Dr. Wilczynski has authored numerous articles on the treatment of autism spectrum disorders. Prior to her position at the National Autism Center, she developed and directed an intensive early intervention program for children with autism spectrum disorders at the Munroe-Meyer Institute. She has held academic appointments at the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Wilczynski holds a joint appointment with May Institute, where she serves as Vice President of Autism Services. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Wilczynski is a licensed psychologist and a board certified behavior analyst |
| |
| A Review of the What Works Clearinghouse |
| WILLIAM R. SHADISH (University of California, Merced) |
| Abstract: The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was established in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to provide educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education.
The WWC promotes informed education decision making through a set of easily accessible databases and user-friendly reports that provide education consumers with high-quality reviews of the effectiveness of replicable educational interventions (programs, products, practices, and policies) that intend to improve student outcomes. To do this, the WWC uses standards for reviewing and synthesizing research. The WWC is currently conducting systematic reviews of existing research, and producing intervention and topic reports. A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) composed of leading experts in research design, program evaluation, and research synthesis works with the WWC to ensure the quality and integrity of its efforts. The TAG helps establish and validate the standards for reviewing research, informs the methodological aspects of the evidence reviews, and provides guidance to the WWC contractors.
This paper will describe the standards for acceptable evidence developed for the WWC and discuss the rationale for these standards. |
 Dr. William R. Shadish is Professor and Founding Faculty at the University of California, Merced. He received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Santa Clara University in 1972, and his M.S. (1975) and Ph.D. (1978) degrees from Purdue University in clinical psychology. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in methodology and program evaluation at Northwestern University from 1978 to 1981. His current research interests include experimental and quasi-experimental design, the empirical study of methodological issues, the methodology and practice of meta-analysis, and evaluation theory. He is author (with T. D. Cook & D .T. Campbell, 2002) of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference and ES: A Computer Program and Manual for Effect Size Calculation, co-editor of five other volumes, and the author of over 100 articles and chapters. He was 1997 President of the American Evaluation Association, winner of the 1994 Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for Evaluation Theory from the American Evaluation Association and the 2000 Robert Ingle Award for... |
|
| |
| |
|
Evolutionary Theory is the Proper Framework for Behavior Analysis. |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 2:30 PM–3:20 PM |
| Douglas C |
| Area: DEV; Domain: Theory |
| CE Instructor: William M. Baum, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Jacob L. Gewirtz (Florida International University) |
| WILLIAM M. BAUM (University of California, Davis) |
 Dr. William M. Baum received his B.A. in psychology from Harvard College in 1961. Originally a biology major, he switched into psychology after taking courses from B. F. Skinner and R. J. Herrnstein in his freshman and sophomore years. He returned to Harvard University for graduate study in 1962, where he was supervised by Herrnstein and received his Ph.D. in 1966. He spent the 1965-66 academic year at Cambridge University, studying ethology at the Sub-Department of Animal Behavior. From 1966 to 1975, he held appointments as post-doctoral fellow, research associate, and assistant professor at Harvard University. He spent two years at the National Institutes of Health Laboratory for Brain, Evolution, and Behavior. Dr. Baum accepted an appointment in psychology at University of New Hampshire in 1977 and retired from there in 1999. He currently has an appointment as Associate Researcher at University of California, Davis and lives in San Francisco. His research concerns choice, molar relations in reinforcement, foraging, and behaviorism. He is the author of a book, Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture, and Evolution. |
| Abstract: Like contemporary psychology, behavior analysis developed with the framework of nineteenth-century associationism, which ignored evolution. With minor exceptions, behavior analysis has failed to re-orient itself in the light of modern evolutionary theory. Instead, behavior analysts have adopted an oversimplified view of the dependence of behavior on evolution in which some behavior is set aside as given and other behavior is regarded as modifiable. The result has been a paucity of concepts and over-reliance on conditioning and reinforcement. To grasp the true significance of evolution, one must understand that all behavior depends on genetic inheritance. The reason is that, whether we are talking about cockroaches or humans, behavior exists to promote fitness. It is modifiable by environmental factors only in ways and by means that genes permit or encourage. The explanation and modification of behavioral phenotypes depends on illuminating the effects of natural selection and the effects of environmental factors in development. Genes that promote and constrain development often allow phenotypic flexibility, but within limits imposed by the mechanisms resulting from natural selection. This point may be illustrated by a series of examples. One conclusion is that the events called reinforcers may be understood in the light of natural selection, as phylogenetically important events that do much more than reinforce. |
|
| |
| |
|
| Behavior and Social Issues: Behavior Analysis, Biological Psychiatry, and the Treatment of Severe Behavior Disorders |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 3:00 PM–4:20 PM |
| Douglas C |
| Area: CSE/CBM; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Richard F. Rakos (Cleveland State University) |
| CE Instructor: Richard W. Malott, M.A. |
| Panelists: RICHARD W. MALOTT (Western Michigan University), MARK A. MATTAINI (Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago), KURT SALZINGER (Hofstra University), STEPHEN E. WONG (Florida International University) |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis, once a promising and widely used approach in the understanding and treatment of severe behavior disorders, has been obscured by the rise of biological psychiatry and its biomedical model of mental illness that prioritizes psychotropic drugs as the treatment of choice. The current hegemony of biological psychiatry stems less from reliable empirical data and much more from ideological, political, economic, and disciplinary sources of social and fiscal control. The panelists will discuss this thesis, analyze the ramifications of it, and offer suggestions for increasing the visibility and impact of behavior analysis in the social response to severe behavior disorders. The panelists are drawn from the contributors to a forthcoming issue of Behavior and Social Issues devoted to a discussion of the relative obscurity of behavior analysis in the treatment of severe behavior disorders. |
| RICHARD W. MALOTT (Western Michigan University) |
 Dr. Richard W. Malott received his B.A. in Psychology at Indiana University in 1958 where he was privileged to study with James Dinsmoor. He received his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1963 where he had the additional privilege of studying with William Cumming, W. N. Schoenfeld, and Fred S. Keller. And, like many before and after him, he frittered away a few years of his life doing research on schedules of reinforcement. He taught with the Kantorians at Denison University from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, he helped start the behavior-analysis program at Western Michigan University, where he continues to teach. At WMU, he also helped start an intro psych course that taught behavior analysis to 1,000 students per semester, with the aid of 500 lab rats and 100 Skinner boxes (1,000 lever-pressing rats per year). Now, his students only condition 230 rats per year, but they also do 130 self-management projects and provide 13,500 hours of training to autistic children each year.
Malott and his students have packaged their teaching/learning efforts in educational systems known as the Student-Centered Education Project (aka The First Fly-by-night Underground College of Kalamazoo), the Behavioral Social Action Program, and the Behavior Analysis Training System. Currently, every summer, he teaches the Behavioral Boot Camp, an intense 18-hour-per-week, 7.5 week, graduate-level, behavior-analysis seminar. He has been actively involved in teaching African-American students and international students behavior analysis and behavior systems analysis at the graduate level. He and his students developed and run the Behavioral Research Supervisory System, a performance-management system to help 30 B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. students per year complete their projects, theses, and dissertations with high quality and in a timely manner. In addition, he and his students developed and run the Behavioral Academic and Career Counseling service, a behavioral-systems approach to helping 100 students per year get into behavior-analytic graduate programs and get behavior-analytic jobs.
Malott helped start Behaviordelia (a publisher of behavioral comic books, etc,), the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), ABA’s Teaching Behavior Analysis Special Interest Group, ABA’s Education Board, ABA’s Behavioral Follies (previously known as the Behavioral Performing Arts), the ABA Social (previously known as the Behavioral Boogie), the Behavioral Bulletin Board on CompuServe, and the Notes from a Radical Behaviorist bulletin board in the Cambridge Center’s Behavioral Virtual Community (http://www.behavior.org). He wrote the newsletter and column Notes from a Radical Behaviorist and coauthored Principles of Behavior (the book previously known as Elementary Principles of Behavior.) He is now (and has been for many years) working on I’ll Stop Procrastinating when I Get around to It and Applied Behavioral Cognitive Analysis. He has presented in 13 countries and has received two Fulbright Senior Scholar Awards. Over the years, he has also worked extensively with multi-media presentations, from seven-projector slide shows to contemporary PowerPoint presentations, but always with jazz and rock and roll lurking in the background and art and behavior analysis sharing the foreground. |
| MARK A. MATTAINI (Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago) |
 Dr. Mark A. Mattaini (M.S.W., University of Utah; D.S.W., Columbia University) is Associate Professor, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago, where he chairs the Community Health and Urban Development concentration and the human behavior division. He has also been on faculty at Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Mattaini is Editor of Behavior and Social Issues; author or co-editor of 10 books, including Finding Solutions to Social Problems: Behavioral Strategies for Change (with Bruce Thyer), Clinical Practice with Individuals, Clinical Intervention with Families, and Peace Power for Adolescents: Strategies for a Culture of Nonviolence; and author of over 75 other publications. He trained with Richard Stuart at the University of Utah in the 1970s, and earlier in his career worked in residential treatment, youth development, substance abuse, autism, and mental health settings. Dr. Mattaini was previously Director of Mental Health Programs for Tanana Chiefs Conference in Interior Alaska, and has particular expertise in the area of mental health treatment and community-level prevention work with indigenous populations. Currently, his research focuses primarily on violence prevention (in particular, the cultural analytic PEACE POWER strategy: www.peacepower.info), and elaborating the cultural analytic science underlying nonviolent social action. |
| KURT SALZINGER (Hofstra University) |
 Dr. Kurt Salzinger has been Senior Scholar in Residence at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. since January 2003. He was Executive Director for Science at the American Psychological Association from 2001 to 2003. He has been President of the New York Academy of Sciences, has served on the Board of Directors of the APA, and has been president of Divisions 1 (General Psychology) and 25 (Behavior Analysis) and of the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology. He also served on the Board of the Cambridge Center as the first Chairman of the Board from 1986 to 1988 and as a Board member from 1988 to 1991, then from 2004 to the present. He is author or editor of 12 books and over 120 articles and book chapters. The most recent book was edited by Rieber, R. W., and Salzinger in 1998: Psychology: Theoretical-Historical Perspectives. He has varied research interests, including behavior analysis applied to human beings, dogs, rats, and goldfish; schizophrenia; verbal behavior of children and adults; and history of psychology. He has both given grants (when a program officer at the National Science Foundation) and received them (when professor of psychology at Hofstra University and Polytechnic University of New York and Principal Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute) for his own research. He received the Sustained Superior Performance Award from the National Science Foundation, the Stratton Award from the American Psychopathological Association, and the Most Meritorious Article Award from the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. In 2002, he was Presidential Scholar for the Association for Behavior Analysis. Kurt probably has contributed tremendously by bringing behavior analysis to national and international attention as well as to that of the broader scientific community. |
| STEPHEN E. WONG (Florida International University) |
 Dr. Stephen E. Wong Dr. Stephen E. Wong received his Ph.D. in psychology (Applied Behavior Analysis) from Western Michigan University. His early professional experience included positions as Research Associate with the Department of Psychiatry, University of California at Los Angeles, and program director and researcher in psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment centers in New Mexico, Florida, and Texas. In 1994, Dr. Wong returned to academia and took an appointment as Assistant Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. He is currently employed as Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Dr. Wong has conducted numerous studies in applied behavior analysis teaching interpersonal and independent living skills to persons with severe and persistent mental disorders. He has served on many editorial boards including the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Research on Social Work Practice, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, and Behavior and Social Issues, and he is currently on the governing board of Behavior Analyst Online. Dr. Wong has published widely in psychology, psychiatry, and social work journals and books. Some recent works are: Wong, S. E. (2006). Behavior analysis of psychotic disorders: Scientific dead end or casualty of the mental health political economy? Behavior and Social Issues, 15(2), 152-177.; Wilder, D. A., & Wong, S. E. (in press). Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. In P. Sturmey (Ed.), The handbook of functional analysis and clinical psychology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.; Wong, S. E. (in press). Operant learning., and Pelaez, M., Gewitz, J. L., & Wong, S. E. (in press). A critique of stage theories of human development : A pragmatic approach in social work. The last two chapters both in B. A. Thyer (Ed.), Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare, volume 2: Human behavior in the social environment. New York: John Wiley and Sons. |
|
| |
| |
|
| Improving Homeland Security Using Behavior Analysis: Basic and Applied Research Examples |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 4:00 PM–5:20 PM |
| Douglas B |
| Area: OBM/CSE; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Jon S. Bailey (Florida State University/Florida Association for Behavior Analysis) |
| CE Instructor: Jon S. Bailey, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: N/a |
| |
Human Vigilance during Luggage Screening Tasks: Signals Function as Reinforcement for Observing Responses |
| RYAN B. OLSON (Oregon Health & Science University), Matthew C. Bell (Santa Clara University), Lindsey Hogan (Santa Clara University) |
| Abstract: A 2x2 factorial design tested the effects of signal schedule (extinction or VI 6-min) and visual field and signal context (DIAL with needle deflections or BAGGAGE with knives) on the rate of observing responses in a visual screening task. During 30-minute sessions, participants (n=24) pressed the spacebar to briefly view a BAGGAGE or DIAL image (two seconds) and pressed a hit key when a signal was present. Cumulative records of spacebar presses were approximately 30% steeper during VI 6-min conditions. Statistical analyses showed a main effect for target schedule [F (1,20)=12.4, p<.05], no main effect for visual context (F<1), and no interaction (F<1). The results highlight the importance of signal schedules in maintaining vigilant performance during visual screening tasks. |
 Dr. Ryan B. Olson completed undergraduate studies at Utah State University and earned his M.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and his Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis at Western Michigan University. Dr. Olson has published papers on the topics of occupational health and safety, performance improvement, work motivation, and aviation psychology and has served as a guest reviewer for the International Journal of Stress Management, the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. He has consulted with aviation, auto parts and paper products manufacturing, higher education, and pharmaceutical organizations on safety, training, psychological assessment, and performance improvement issues. Dr. Olson’s co-authored paper on work motivation became the feature article in a special issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (Olson, Laraway, & Austin, 2001). His work in transportation settings has opened new areas of occupational health and safety research, including the first experimental evidence that self-monitoring (SM) procedures can improve the safe driving of bus operators (Olson & Austin, 2001). He also developed a descriptive measurement system for beginning flight student landings, which resulted in the first published profile of landing errors for a cohort of novice pilots (Olson & Austin, in press). |
| |
Improving Human Performance in an Advanced Security System Environment: Vigilance Data from an Airport Communications Center |
| JON S. BAILEY (Florida State University/Florida Association for B), Marco D. Tomasi (Florida State University), Sara M. Olsen (Florida State University), Kimberly Erin Clark (Florida State University) |
| Abstract: In a post-9/11 world, airport security has become a national priority. In 2005, the Department of Homeland Securitys (DHS) budget set aside $5.2 billion for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and $851 million to improve aviation security. The current study was carried out within the operations division of a regional airport. The operations division is responsible for the airports communication center, safety, security, oversight of general aviation, ground transportation, compliance with FAA regulations, and coordination with police and fire services. We defined and measured vigilance behaviors in the communications center and evaluated the effects of naturally-occurring and specially designed behavioral intervention. |
 Dr. Jon S. Bailey is Professor of Psychology at Florida State University where he has been on the graduate faculty for 37 years and serves as Director of the Applied Behavior Analysis doctoral program and the undergraduate Performance Management Track and is Co-Director of the Master’s Program in Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Bailey is President of Behavior Management Consultants, Inc., is a licensed psychologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in the State of Florida, has served on the Florida Behavior Management Peer Review Committee, and has been an Expert Witness for the U.S. Department of Justice. He is a Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and the American Psychological Association (APA), as well as the American Psychological Society. He has served on the Executive Councils of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and Division 25 of APA. He is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis, which he founded in 1980. Dr. Bailey is the past-Editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and is co-author of four recent books, all co-authored with Dr. Mary Burch: Research Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis, How Dogs Learn, Ethics for Behavior Analysts, and, in 2006, How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst. |
| |
| Towards a Program of Behavioral Research for Domestic Preparedness |
| MARK P. ALAVOSIUS (University of Nevada, Reno) |
| Abstract: Analyses of the events of 9/11 and hurricane Katrina reveal many behavioral, organizational, and system variables that thwart effective prevention and containment of such catastrophic events. This paper proposes areas for behavioral research and application in an effort to promote an integrated contribution by behavior analysts to homeland security. |
 Dr. Mark P. Alavosius, Ph.D. received his B.A. in psychology from Clark University in 1976 and earned his M.S. (1985) and Ph.D. (1987) in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Behavior Analysis Program at the University of Nevada, Reno. He held faculty appointments in the Behavior Analysis and Industrial/Organizational Program at Western Michigan University and the Behavior Analysis Program at West Virginia University. As President of MPA & Associates, Inc., Dr. Alavosius works with specialists in instructional design, multi-media interactive systems, software development, business strategy, and performance management to develop and provide behavioral systems to improve performance in business and industry. His interests are in developing behavioral and instructional systems to improve work performance, particularly in the areas of health and safety. Dr. Alavosius has a proven track record with National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as a recipient of Small Business Innovations Research Grants to develop and test behavioral safety technologies. With over twenty years of experience in behavioral approaches to work performance and occupational health and safety, Dr. Alavosius has over 100 publications and conference presentations to his credit. |
| |
| Challenges to Security and Human Factors Research Efforts at the Department of Homeland Security |
| JOSHUA RUBINSTEIN (Transportation Security Laboratory, Department of Homeland Security) |
| Abstract: Dr. Rubinstein is a member of the Transportation Security Laboratory (TSL) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The TSL is the key government laboratory resource in the United States, responsible for research, development, engineering, and test and evaluation activities related to explosives and weapons detection for all modes of transportation security. Dr. Rubinstein will discuss the role of research and development within the DHS and emerging priorities for the human factors research program at the TSL. He will also report results from selected human factors studies related to transportation security. |
 Dr. Joshua Rubinstein received a B.A. in Psychology from Swarthmore College in 1984, an M.A. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Illinois in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1993. He was post-doctoral research fellow at the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis, where he conducted research on several aspects of attention, including human executive control processes. Dr. Rubinstein joined the FAA’s Aviation Security Human Factors Program in May 2000 as an Engineering Research Psychologist. He developed the X-ray Screener Selection Test currently used by TSA as the X-ray aptitude test for screener hiring. One of his current responsibilities is long-term research of a technical monitor of human factors. Starting in 2001, Dr. Rubinstein developed a program for funding academic scientists in the areas of attention, target detection, object recognition, training, learning, and fatigue as they relate to the X-ray screener task. Currently, he is acting lead of the Human Factors Program at the Transportation Security Laboratory. He is also responsible for usability analyses and designing and conducting the qualification tests for human in-the-loop security systems. |
|
| |
| |
|
Using Behavior Analysis to Teach Behavior Analysis Across Learner Populations |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 4:30 PM–5:20 PM |
| Douglas C |
| Area: TBA; Domain: Applied Research |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Chair: Pamela G. Osnes (Behavior Analysts, Inc.) |
| BETH SULZER-AZAROFF (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) |
 Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff An early career in public education launched Beth Sulzer-Azaroff's quest for methods to promote behavior change in socially important directions. While pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota she discovered the promise of the field of behavior analysis toward that objective. Since then she has been engaged in scholarship, research, consulting and teaching in the field. First at Southern Illinois University, later at the University of Massachusetts, she addressed challenges facing students, clients, instructors, care providers, supervisors, managers and executives in the community, schools, factories, offices, health care organizations and elsewhere. Currently she is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Massachusetts, Adjunct Professor at Florida International University and the University of North Texas, Director of Quality Assurance for the Pyramid Educational Consultants and President of the Browns Group of Naples, a training and performance management consulting organization. In these capacities her work today emphasizes doing research, teaching and writing about behavioral systems for promoting quality Internet-based and direct educational services and healthy performance on the job.
The products of her individual and collaborative efforts have included over a dozen books and monographs, and about a hundred published papers. Sulzer-Azaroff has presented extensively at regional, national and international conferences and has received substantial research and training grant funding. Currently, in addition to consulting in education, human services plus other forms of performance management, she continues to conduct research, teach and write.
Sulzer-Azaroff has served her field and the public in a number of capacities, including: President of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy and Division 25 of APA; chair (APA Board of Scientific Affairs; Committee on Continuing Education) trustee (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies), and board member of various national committees; Associate Editor (JABA) and editorial board member of behavioral journals, member of research panels for national funding agencies and in numerous other capacities.
Recognition for Sulzer-Azaroff’s achievements include her election to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and being named Fellow in six divisions of the American Psychological Association, also the Academy of Behavioral Medicine, the Association for Behavior Analysis, and the American Psychological Society. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the OBM Network of the Association for Behavior Analysis, the Fred S. Keller Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and the Outstanding Contributions Award from California ABA. |
| Abstract: As a science and technology, behavior analysis shows us what, how and why to teach ABA for successful student learning and performance. As the beneficiary of the information derived from the field, my colleagues, our students and I have enjoyed the opportunity to capitalize on and witness the payoff accorded by following the procedural guidelines inherent in the discipline. By applying fundamental concepts of learning and behavior, such as differential reinforcement, shaping, fading, generalization and fluency training, we have been able to guide students towards heightened competency.This presentation will illustrate how we have carried those features into action in our teaching and training of: university undergraduate and graduate students in the classroom, on-line,and on-site; supervisory and managerial personnel in for-profit and non-profit organizations; specialized staff such as safety personnel and professionals as well as workers in on-the-job training. Some short and long-term results also will be described. |
| Target Audience: no |
| Learning Objectives: no |
|
| |
| |
|
Professional Development Series: Introductory Series on Quantitative Analysis of Behavior |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 7:00 PM–7:50 PM |
| Madeleine CD |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Chair: Corina Jimenez-Gomez (Utah State University) |
| RANDOLPH C. GRACE (University of Canterbury) |
| Abstract: Like any science, behavior analysis relies on quantification the use of numbers to represent phenomena in the natural world. In this tutorial, I present a simple framework for understanding how quantitative analyses may be helpful for behavior analysis. According to this framework, there are two major types of questions for which quantitative analyses are employed. First, is an observed effect the change in a variable studied under two or more conditions real and not due to chance; and second, can the relationship between a variable and its possible causal factors be represented economically in terms of a model? Inferential statistics are often used to answer questions of the first type, whereas techniques of exploratory data analysis and parameter estimation are necessary for developing models. Practical examples are given to illustrate these ideas. A major theme of the tutorial is that given the widespread availability of powerful spreadsheet software, even students with fairly minimal backgrounds in mathematics can successfully develop and test quantitative models. |
| Target Audience: no |
| Learning Objectives: no |
|
| |