Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

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  • AAB: Applied Animal Behavior

    AUT: Autism

    BPN: Behavioral Pharmacology and Neuroscience

    CBM: Clinical/Family/Behavioral Medicine

    CSE: Community Interventions, Social and Ethical Issues

    DDA: Developmental Disabilities

    DEV: Behavioral Development

    EAB: Experimental Analysis of Behavior

    EDC: Education

    OBM: Organizational Behavior Management

    PRA: Practice

    TBA: Teaching Behavior Analysis

    TPC: Theoretical, Philosophical, and Conceptual Issues

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42nd Annual Convention; Downtown Chicago, IL; 2016

Program by B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Events: Monday, May 30, 2016


 

B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #177
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

The Cognitive Consequences of Children's Exposure to Lead Revealed by Behavior Analysis

Monday, May 30, 2016
8:00 AM–8:50 AM
Grand Ballroom AB, Hyatt Regency, Gold East
Area: SCI; Domain: Basic Research
Instruction Level: Basic
CE Instructor: M. Christopher Newland, Ph.D.
Chair: M. Christopher Newland (Auburn University)
DEBORAH CORY-SLECHTA (University of Rochester Medical Center)
Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta is a Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester Medical School, Acting Chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and PI of its NIEHS Core Center Grant. Her research, which includes both animal models and human studies, has focused largely on the behavioral consequences of developmental exposures to environmental chemicals. This work has examined the effects of developmental exposures to metals, pesticides and air pollutants in animal models and human cohort studies. Current efforts include development of animal models of behavioral toxicology that better simulate the context of the human environment, including assessment of behavioral consequences of the interactions of lead with prenatal stress, and with early behavioral adversity. A newer focus of the laboratory has been on the adverse impacts on the central nervous system of exposures to air pollution during development. These efforts have resulted in over 155 peer-reviewed publications. She previously served as Dean for Research at the University of Rochester Medical School, and as Director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Rutgers University. Dr. Cory-Slechta has served on advisory panels of the NIH, the FDA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and on the editorial boards of the journals Environmental Health Perspectives, Neurotoxicology, Toxicology, Toxicological Sciences, Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology and Neurotoxicology and Teratology.
Abstract:

Years of using lead in paint and gasoline resulted in widespread environmental contamination and human exposure. The particular vulnerability of the developing brain to lead puts children at particular risk for detrimental effects and numerous studies have documented the association of elevated blood lead in children with reduced IQ scores. Behavior analysis (BA)has been critical to the delineation of the specific cognitive deficits that underlie the IQ loss.BA hasrevealed deficits in learning/reversal learning that appear to result from increases in response perseveration and disruption of attention-related behaviors, particularly the ability to wait for reward. In the human environment, lead exposure occurs with many other risk factors for cognitive deficits, particularly in low socioeconomic status communities where lead levels are highest. Two such risk factors—high levels of maternal stress and early behavioral adversity in children—share pathways of brain mediation with lead, and thus could enhance or alter its behavioral toxicity. Indeed, studies in animal models show that lead-induced deficits in cognitive behaviors can be enhanced by, or even unmasked, in the presence of prenatal stress. Further, early behavioral adversity can further exacerbate the adverse effects of lead on learning.

Target Audience:

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the event, the participant will be able to: (1) describe the specific behavioral deficits that underlie the reductions in IQ associated with exposure to elevated levels of lead in children; (2) cite examples of the cumulative neuro- and behavioral toxicity produced by combined exposures to gestational lead exposure, prenatal stress and early behavioral adversity; (3) describe a biological algorithm for understanding the potential for the cognitive deficits produced by lead to be enhanced by other environmental risk factors for cognitive deficits.
 
 
B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #194
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

Novel Behavioral Economic Approaches to Measuring Substance Abuse Severity and Motivating Change

Monday, May 30, 2016
9:00 AM–9:50 AM
Crystal Ballroom B, Hyatt Regency, Green West
Area: CBM; Domain: Applied Research
Instruction Level: Basic
CE Instructor: Steven R. Lawyer, Ph.D.
Chair: Steven R. Lawyer (Idaho State University)
JAMES MURPHY (University of Memphis)
Dr. James Murphy is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Memphis and the Director of the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. He completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Auburn University in 2003 and a clinical internship and NIAAA-sponsored postdoctoral research fellowship at Brown University. Dr. Murphy has published over 100 papers related to young adult drinking and drug use and behavioral economics. He has conducted numerous clinical trials of brief motivational interventions for young adult drinkers and drug users. He has also developed and evaluated a novel behavioral economic supplement to brief motivational interventions that attempts to increase engagement in constructive alternatives to drinking. His research also explores novel behavioral economic predictors of substance abuse problem severity, treatment outcome, and mechanisms of behavior change. Dr. Murphy’s research has been funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Alcohol Research Foundation. He is an Assistant Editor for the journal Addiction and a Consulting Editor for Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, and Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.
Abstract:

Young adults report greater levels of drug and alcohol misuse than any other age or demographic group yet they rarely report significant substance dependence or any desire to participate in formal substance abuse treatment. Dr. Murphy's presentation will focus on novel behavioral economic approaches to understanding risk, quantifying severity, and motivating change in substance use in high-risk young adult populations. Dr. Murphy has developed and evaluated a brief behavioral economic intervention approach that attempts to increase engagement in patterns of goal-directed substance-free activities that are associated with delayed reinforcement and will describe the treatment elements and outcomes. He has also developed and evaluated demand curve and relative behavioral allocation indices of reward value and will present data on their clinical relevance in the prediction of substance abuse severity and treatment response.

Target Audience:

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals in psychology and behavior analysis

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant will be able to: (1) develop familiarity with behavioral economic theories of addiction; (2) develop familiarity with demand curve and relative reinforcing efficacy assessment approaches based on behavioral economic theory; (3) develop familiarity with behavioral economic brief intervention approaches to reduce alcohol and drug misuse.
 
 
B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #197
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

Neuroscience of Self, Mindfulness Meditation, and Neuropsychiatric Applications in Traumatic Brain Injury and Intellectual Disabilities

Monday, May 30, 2016
9:00 AM–9:50 AM
Grand Ballroom EF, Hyatt Regency, Gold East
Area: DDA; Domain: Service Delivery
Instruction Level: Basic
CE Instructor: Andrew W. Gardner, Ph.D.
Chair: Andrew W. Gardner (Northern Arizona University)
RANDALL BUZAN (Learning Services Neurobehavioral Institute)
Dr. Buzan graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan with a BS in Psychology, Alpha Omega Alpha from U-M Medical School, and completed his psychiatry residency at the University of Colorado and analytic training at the Denver Institute. He completed a fellowship in psychopharmacology at the University of Colorado and another mini-fellowship in electroconvulsive therapy at Duke. Randy had 6 additional years of training in psychotherapy at the Denver Institute for Psychoanalysis, and now serves on their faculty. He joined the psychiatry faculty at the medical school and did psychopharmacology and neuropsychiatry research for 9 years, also serving as Director of the Psychiatric Emergency Services at University Hospital, Co-Director of the Electroconvulsive Therapy service, and Director of Psychiatric Outpatient Services. Randy served as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Neuropsychiatry, is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and has published 25 papers and book chapters and presented nationally on treatment of brain injury and developmental disabilities. Randy consulted for 24 years at two Colorado’s Regional Centers for ID individuals, and continues to consult at Craig Hospital and Learning Services on TBI and spinal cord injury.
Abstract:

Western dualistic conceptions of "mind" and "self" create unrealistic behavioral expectations of patients for themselves, for their families, and for professionals alike. An alternative neuroscience-based conceptualization of the self allows a deeper and ultimately more forgiving model of human behavior. This lecture presents emerging perspectives on the neuroscience of self and reviews the accumulating data on the science of mindfulness meditation. Specific application of these concepts and of mindfulness training in traumatic brain injury and intellectual disorders is also discussed.

Target Audience:

Behavior analysts and clinicians treating behavior issues in individuals with traumatic brain injuries or intellectual disabilities.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the event, the participant will be able to: (1) discuss the Mind:Body dilemma in Western philosophy and the solution proposed by the Embodiment Theory; (2) understand the location of the default network and possible neuroanatomic location of the Self; (3) appreciate the growing empirical evidence supporting the utility of mindfulness meditation in a variety of disorders; (4) perform a brief Mindfulness, Metta, and gratitude meditation procedure.
 
 
B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #204
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

Adaptive Memory: Remembering With a Stone-Age Brain

Monday, May 30, 2016
9:00 AM–9:50 AM
Grand Ballroom AB, Hyatt Regency, Gold East
Area: SCI; Domain: Basic Research
Instruction Level: Basic
CE Instructor: Peter Urcuioli, Ph.D.
Chair: Peter Urcuioli (Purdue University)
JAMES NAIRNE (Purdue University)
James S. Nairne, Ph.D., is the Reece McGee distinguished professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He received his undergraduate training at the University of California at Berkeley and his PhD in psychology from Yale University. His original training was in Pavlovian conditioning, but his current research specialty is human memory. He is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Midwestern Psychological Society. His editorial positions have included Editor-in-Chief of Memory & Cognition, Associate Editor for the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review and the Journal of Memory and Language, and he has served on numerous editorial boards. He was the recipient of the 2000 Excellence in Education Award from Purdue University and the 2001 Charles B. Murphy award. In 2003 Dr. Nairne was inducted into the Book of Great Teachers. He is also the author of a popular introductory textbook, Psychology: The Adaptive Mind (now in its sixth edition), as well as many influential articles and book chapters in his research specialty.
Abstract:

Human memory evolved subject to the constraints of nature's criterion: differential survival and reproduction. Consequently, our capacity to remember and forget is likely tuned to solving fitness-based problems, particularly those prominent in ancestral environments. Do the operating characteristics of memory continue to bear the footprint of nature's criterion? Are there mnemonic "tunings" rooted in the remnants of a stone-age brain? Work from the presenter's laboratory suggests that: (1) processing information for its survival relevance leads to superior long-term retention, better, in fact, than most known learning techniques; (2) animate (living) stimuli are remembered much better than matched inanimate (nonliving) stimuli; and (3) stimuli that have been potentially contaminated by disease are remembered especially well. Understanding how memory is used to solve adaptive problems relevant to fitness, the presenter argues, provides critical insight into how and why human memory systems formed, and why they work the way they do.

Target Audience:

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the event, the participant will be able to: (1) describe the basic tenets of an evolutionary approach to human memory; (2) discuss whether "survival processing" is best characterized as an adaptation or an exaptation; (3) describe the empirical evidence that supports a mnemonic “tuning” for animacy and contamination.
 
 
B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #217
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

The Role of Nutrition in Medicine: Dietary and Other Behavioral Interventions for the Management of Significant Health Conditions

Monday, May 30, 2016
10:00 AM–10:50 AM
Grand Ballroom AB, Hyatt Regency, Gold East
Area: PRA; Domain: Applied Research
Instruction Level: Basic
CE Instructor: John M. Guercio, Ph.D.
Chair: John M. Guercio (Benchmark Human Services)
TOM CAMPBELL (University of Rochester Program for Nutrition in Medicine)
Thomas M. Campbell II, MD is the co-founder and clinical director of the University of Rochester Program for Nutrition in Medicine. A board certified family physician, he has an active primary care practice in Rochester, NY. In addition, Dr. Campbell is medical director of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, a leading provider, in partnership with eCornell, of online education in plant-based nutrition. A graduate of Cornell University, Thomas is author of The Campbell Plan and co-author, with his father T. Colin Campbell, PhD, of The China Study, a worldwide bestseller. Dr. Campbell got his medical degree from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and completed residency training in Family Medicine at the University of Rochester, Highland Hospital. He has published in the Israel Medical Association Journal and in CME publications Primary Care Reports and Integrative Medicine Alert. He has completed several marathons.
Abstract:

Dr. Campbell has conducted extensive research into the influence of dietary and other behavioral interventions as they relate to cardiovascular health, longevity, cancer and diabetes prevention, and a host of other medical benefits. He is a leading scholar and authority on the role of diet and lifestyle changes in the prevention and treatment of disease. He and his father published The China Study in 2005. The book details the groundbreaking work that he has completed with his father in the area of the prevalence of cancer and its relation to our dietary habits.

Target Audience:

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant will be able to: (1) characterize a healthy, plant-based diet; (2) identify the most common diseases that are affected by nutrition; (3) understand the barriers and promises of integrating nutrition with behavior change in the traditional medical setting.
 
 
B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #261a
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

Unraveling Brain Circuits for Drug Seeking and Demand

Monday, May 30, 2016
2:00 PM–2:50 PM
Grand Ballroom AB, Hyatt Regency, Gold East
Area: BPN; Domain: Applied Research
Instruction Level: Intermediate
CE Instructor: Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D.
Chair: Matthew W. Johnson (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
GARY ASTON-JONES (Rutgers University)
Gary Aston-Jones is the Inaugural Director of the Brain Health Institute at Rutgers University and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, and the Murray and Charlotte Strongwater Endowed Chair in Neuroscience and Brain Health. He earned his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the California Institute of Technology with James Olds and Floyd Bloom, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow with Bloom at the Salk Institute. Dr. Aston-Jones’s research focuses on the neural mechanisms of reward-motivated behavior, and examines the roles of ascending brain monoamine and peptide systems in addiction and cognitive processes. His studies use neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and behavioral neuropharmacology techniques in anesthetized and behaving rats. Recently his lab has also implemented optogenetics, DREADD synthetic designer receptors, and behavioral economics methods to advance the study of these systems in behavior. He and his colleagues have described a role for the brain noradrenergic locus coeruleus system in arousal, decision and behavioral flexibility, as well as a key role for the neuropeptides orexin/hypocretins in motivation and addiction. Dr. Aston-Jones has directed a well-funded lab for more than 25 years, chaired the Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior study section at NIH, and received a MERIT award for his addiction research from NIDA. He has been a keynote speaker at many national and international meetings, and was recently a Presidential Lecturer at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) meeting. He serves as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the journal Brain Research, and co-organized (with Karl Deisseroth) the annual Brain Research Conference in October 2013 on Optogenetics and Pharmacogenetics in Mental Health and Disease as a satellite meeting before the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting. He has published more than 240 journal and review articles, and has trained 45 postdoctoral fellows and graduated 17 Ph.D. students, many of whom now hold faculty positions including department and endowed chairs.
Abstract:

Drug addiction is a pernicious and prevalent problem with little available for clinical treatment. This presentation will review the presenter's recent studies that show roles for the ventral pallidum (VP), ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA), and orexin/hypocretin brain systems in cocaine seeking and demand. A within-session behavioral economic paradigm revealed potent contributions of the VTA DA system to demand for cocaine. The presenter used designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) to show that the projection from VP to VTA DA neurons is critical for cocaine seeking. Additional pharmacologic studies reveal that orexin inputs to VTA interact with glutamate inputs and those from VP to augment cocaine seeking elicited by cocaine-associated cues. The presentation concludes that DREADDs are a promising avenue for novel therapies to treat drug abuse.

Target Audience:

Licensed Psychologists, certified behavior analysts, graduate students.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant will be able to: (1) describe within-session behavioral economics procedures for measuring drug demand in animals; (2) describe roles of orexin, dopamine, and ventral palladium brain systems in cocaine addiction; (3) describe potential use of DREADD designer receptors to treat human addiction.
 
 
B. F. Skinner Lecture Series Paper Session #292a
CE Offered: PSY/BACB

What is Secular Humanism?

Monday, May 30, 2016
3:00 PM–3:50 PM
Lucerne, Swissotel
Area: TPC; Domain: Theory
Instruction Level: Basic
CE Instructor: Edward K. Morris, Ph.D.
Chair: Edward K. Morris (University of Kansas)
PHIL ZUCKERMAN (Pitzer College/Claremount Graduate University/University of Aarhus, Denmark)
Phil Zuckerman is a professor of Sociology and Secular Studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He is also a regular affiliated professor at Claremont Graduate University, and he has been a guest professor for two years at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. He is the author of several books, including The Nonreligious (Oxford, 2016), Living the Secular Life (Penguin, 2014), Faith No More (Oxford, 2012), and Society Without God (NYU, 2008) and the editor or several volumes, including Atheism and Secularity (Praeger, 2010) and The Social Theory of W.E.B. Du Bois (Pine Forge, 2004). His research has also been published in various scholarly journals, such as Sociology CompassSociology of ReligionDeviant Behavior, and Religion, Brain, and Behavior.  In 2011, Phil founded the first Secular Studies department in the nation. Secular Studies is an interdisciplinary program focusing on manifestations of the secular in societies and cultures, past and present. Secular Studies entails the study of non-religious people, groups, thought, and cultural expressions. Emphasis is placed upon the meanings, forms, relevance, and impact of political/constitutional secularism, philosophical skepticism, and personal and public secularity. Phil is also currently the series editor of the Secular Studies book series with New York University Press. He blogs for Psychology Today and the Huffington Post. He lives in Claremont, California, with his wife and three children.
Abstract:

Back in the 1950s, fewer than 5% of Americans were non-religious. Today, nearly 30% define themselves as such. And in many other nations, rates of irreligion are even higher. This recent increase of people who describe themselves as "none" in terms of religious identification is one of the most significant demographic shifts in recent history. Who are these non-religious individuals? Are they all atheists? Agnostics? Secular Humanists? And more importantly: what do these various designations even mean? In this lecture, secular typologies and taxonomies will be covered, and secular humanism -- as a growing worldview, existential orientation, and group identification -- will be defined, explored, and explained. For as the number of non-religious men and women continues to dramatically rise both in the USA and abroad, it is more important than ever to understand those men and women who choose to live without religious affiliation or beliefs, and yet still maintain core values, morals, and convictions which influence and direct so many aspects of their lives.

Target Audience:

Board certified behavior analysts and graduate students.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant will be able to: (1) discuss sociological knowledge concerning the growing rate of non-religious Americans; (2) define a variety of terms, labels, and typologies developed for describing and defining various types of irreligious people and identities; (3) discuss the meaning and core components of secular humanism.
 

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