Association for Behavior Analysis International

Persistent problem behavior with a propensity to relapse poses challenges to behavioral practitioners to develop more effective and durable treatments. Designing better treatments is difficult because a wide range of events contribute to behavioral persistence and relapse. Translational research offers a wide range of tools for isolating the processes involved in recurrent problem behavior and exploiting those processes when developing treatments. Basic research geared toward understanding problems of practical significance offers well-controlled conditions from which to assess systematically and thoroughly the learning and behavioral processes underlying treatment failures and successes. I will discuss how my colleagues and I have used basic research to understand the processes involved in the challenges of treating clinically relevant behavior.

Masters and Doctoral level BCBAs

Skinner's (1957) analysis of language has much to offer clinicians interested in teaching verbal behavior to persons with autism. Much of the research in this area has emphasized the teaching of speaker behavior with less work dedicated to a thorough analysis of the contingencies operating on the behavior of the listener. Possibly due to this lack of attention, cognitive explanations of comprehension, understanding, and word recognition have persisted. A special form of multiple control called joint stimulus control may provide an alternative and cogent behavioral analysis of complex listener behavior. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of the conceptual analysis of joint control and the basic and applied research that has followed. Video demonstrations of the teaching of joint control with participants from a recently published study and additional clinical applications will be presented to illustrate the implementation of joint control procedures in applied settings.

Behavior Analysts, Educators, Psychologists, Speech-Language Pathologists

In instructional texts, response differentiation and stimulus discrimination procedures are usually treated separately, but shaping inherently establishes discriminative control by proprioceptive and other stimuli automatically and differentially produced in the emission of effective and ineffective response forms; antecedent control by response-produced stimuli inheres in shaping. In many cases, effective shaping might not require a specification of the discrimination of response-produced stimuli generated under differential reinforcement; other problems might demand a more fine-grained analysis. One such problem might be that of altering the variability/stereotypy of a response form, in which differential reinforcement may be viewed as establishing the discriminative and conditional reinforcing potency of the stimuli produced in the inchoate emission of acts that are either similar to, or different from, those recently emitted. When control by such stimuli is weak, procedures specifically designed to enhance the SD and S? functions of stimuli produced by repetitive and non-repetitive acts might be of substantial utility. Recent experiments indicate that the differential reinforcement of repetition or non-repetition indeed generates discriminations of the criterion-defining dimensions of response-produced stimuli of effective and ineffective acts, not undifferentiated novelty, and that interventions designed to alter stereotypy/variability might be rendered more effective by the facilitation of such self-discrimination.

Researchers in basic behavioral processes, professional applied behavior analysts, advanced students

Most behavior analysts would agree that new technologies can help advancing behavior analysis. It is certainly appealing to integrate new developments in electronics and manufacturing techniques, such as 3d printing, into the study of behavior. Taking the steps to actually do it, however, can be challenging. Selecting the right tools from the vast array of choices and learning how to use them, aside from consuming time and money, could take behavior analysts away from their main interest: the study of behavior. During the time that I have been working with 3D printing and electronics, I have identified inexpensive electronic devices and have encountered and created free-distribution software that are not only readily available but can also be used with minimum effort. In this talk I will describe such components and software and will show how electronics and 3D printing technologies can be combined in the design of simple inexpensive devices that can be used for recording and reinforcing responses in basic or applied settings. The rationale followed to assemble such devices could be extended to integrate other electronic components that could help behavior analysts identify responses and present stimuli in varied and innovative ways.

Students and scientists with a knowledge of the principles of behavior analysis

Since the resurgence of interest in dog behavior in 1998, many claims have been made for unique social-cognitive skills in dogs. I will briefly review available evidence that dogs are able to respond to human behavior in ways that are not available to other nonhuman species. I conclude there is no well-established finding regarding dog's social-cognitive behavior that cannot be accounted for with species-general learning mechanisms. Notwithstanding an absence of special social-cognitive skills, even the most informal interaction with dogs suggests that there is something remarkable about their motivation to interact with people. I review several lines of evidence that indicate that during domestication dogs became much more motivated to interact with members of other species and more reinforced by that interaction. This started with Pavlov who noted a "social reflex" in his dogs and continues to the present day in a range of studies. I will consider dogs' play behaviors, proximity seeking to a human, and even studies of what behaviors lead dogs to getting adopted. In conclusion, the notion of the dog as "man's best friend" may be a cliche, but it is a stereotype with some observable behavior behind it.

Graduate-level behavior analysts and psychologists

There has been considerable interest in the use of Applied Behaviour Analysis methods as a comprehensive intervention model for children with autism in home and centre-based or school-based settings. Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses suggest positive outcome data, especially for cognitive, language, and adaptive skills. In addition to a focus on social, language and other adaptive skills, ameliorating academic skill deficits (in reading, writing and maths) is often a component of these programs. However, within the research literature on interventions for children with autism, investigating the best methods of teaching academics has received limited attention. In this presentation I will describe an approach for extending what we know about the psychology of learning to the teaching of academic skills to more fully account for the full range of skills that may be lacking in children with autism. I will describe three distinct strands of research that have effectively taught reading, maths and handwriting skills to children with autism. This talk will provide a new framework for developing and evaluating academic programs for children with autism.

PENDING

The responses we call aesthetic are instances of synergetic phenomena�elements interacting with a transformative effect. Such effects are pervasive in nature, as when chemical reagents react to create another substance, DNA creates organisms, or photosynthesis creates leaves. This conceptualization of aesthetic responses as synergetic phenomena puts the spotlight on the behavioral priming histories of audiences (viewers, listeners, etc.) with respect to the interacting elements�sounds, visual stimuli, words, abstract concepts. actions, or sensations. Aesthetic responses are complex, surprise-tinged emotional reactions. Artists, composers, poets, writers, performers, architects, or chefs create aesthetic effects by assembling such elements as ingredients of �synergetic brews.� To create these brews, they use a limited set of concept manipulation devices. Key factors that determine the aesthetic impact of such synergetic brews are prevailing behavioral contingencies and potentiating circumstances that act much like catalysts for the synergetic interaction�for instance, socio-cultural factors. Mechner shows how synergetic effects based on the use of the described concept manipulation devices are manifested in diverse art forms and disciplines�music, visual art, literature, humor, architecture, science, etc. He also shows how some of these devices can be modeled in the laboratory, and proposes research strategies for increasing our understanding of the pervasive behavioral phenomenon we call aesthetics. Dr. Killeen will offer comments following Dr. Mechner's paper.

Intermediate; master's level (BCBA) or master's students.

In this talk I will discuss how we can analyse "mental health" symptoms, the DSM and psychological therapies as behaviours-in-context. The main focus will be on the social, economic, societal and cultural contexts, and showing the historical invention and development of "mental health" metaphors as western societies changed. Along the way I will illustrate with examples drawn from my participatory research on the "mental health" of Indigenous and refugee communities. The discussion will also highlight what needs to be changed within behaviour analysis if it wishes to engage more in social and community research.

Academic and professional behavior analysts

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States with recent surveys estimating over 22 million current (past month) users. However, there is growing acceptance of its recreational use, evident by successful efforts to decriminalize and, in some states like Colorado, legalize use. In addition, although the full medicinal value of cannabis is not yet understood, such cannabinergic effects are of known benefit in the palliative care of anorectic patients undergoing chemotherapy or suffering debilitating conditions such as AIDS or Alzheimer?s disease. This has led to a broadening interest in the clinical utility of drugs that target the endocannabinoid system. In this regard, however, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, is generally acknowledged to produce some unwanted effects in humans. These include deleterious effects on several types of complex behavior, especially related to learning, memory, and vigilance. Employing operant techniques in nonhuman primates such as drug discrimination, self-administration, nociception assays, and touchscreen-based models of learning and memory, this presentation will highlight recent advances in the understanding of THC?s effects on complex behavioral processes and, as well, efforts to develop drugs that engage the cannabinergic system and retain medicinal value, yet produce lesser adverse psychoactive effects.

Behavior analysts interested in the behavioral effects of marijuana and the development of improved cannabis therapeutics.