Association for Behavior Analysis International

Basic differences in dogs’ and wolves’ propensity to bond with humans were already detected by early researcher such as Zimen and Klinghammer, especially in relation to the early human exposure needed as puppies to establish stable intraspecific social bonds. Building on this early work, the Wolf Science Centre (Austria) raises wolves and dogs from puppyhood providing intensive human socialization, thereby allowing animals to build strong bonds with their human companions, which last their entire life. Here I will present results investigating wolf-dog similarities and differences in their preferences, contact-seeking behaviours and cooperative inclination with humans. Results will include both behavioural and hormonal aspects, with a particular focus on oxytocin and cortisol, which have been hypothesized to play an important role in the domestication process.

dog research scientists, dog trainers, educators, general interested public

Sarah Marshall-Pescini graduated in Psychology from St. Andrews University and then went on to do her Ph.D. at the same university working with Andy Whiten on social learning in children and chimpanzees. Most of the work was carried out in Uganda, with both sanctuary and wild chimps. After the Ph.D. she returned to Italy, her home country, and worked at Milan University for 8 years, setting up, together with Emanuela Prato-Previde, a small (but lively) dog cognition lab. Since 2013 she has joined the team at Wolf Science Centre and the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (Veterinary University of Vienna) as a senior scientist. Her research focuses on the social behaviour of wolves and dogs. Since 2016 she co-supervises a fieldsite studying free-ranging dogs in Morocco and another studying wild wolves in the Italian Apennines. She has published over 50 scientific papers in top journals in her field, and co-edited a volume for Elsevier (Kaminski, J, Marshall-Pescini, S. The Social Dog: cognition and behavior).

Increasing attention has been focused on students who have adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and the impact on academic achievement. To address students’ intense emotional and learning needs, trauma informed practices are being implemented in hopes of changing the trajectory of their lives. This presentation will provide an overview of ACES and trauma informed practices that are also culturally responsive that can be implemented in a classroom setting. Special attention will be given to students living in poverty in which ACEs are more prevalent.

The formation of conditional associations among stimuli and actions in neural animals is based on molecular processes within and between neurons, which partially determine which associations can be formed, stored or dissolved. In the last two decades it has been discovered that epigenetic cellular mechanisms are involved in the encoding, storage and retrieval processes that constitute learning, and that these epigenetic mechanisms are sensitive to environmental conditions that induce changes in the epigenetic profile of neurons and affect how learning occurs. Taking a developmental approach to learning, I shall describe these epigenetic mechanisms, discuss their role in neural plasticity and point to the biases and affordances that they uncover, which can contribute to our understanding of learning and memory dynamics at different stages of development. Focusing on studies of long-term ontogenetic and transgenerational epigenetic changes, I will consider the effects of stress on epigenetic memory and explore what the understanding of the epigenetics of learning may mean for the study and treatment of learning and memory pathologies.

Psychologists

This talk will review research from the basic learning laboratory on extinction and other methods that weaken or reduce behavior. When a behavior has been suppressed by extinction, punishment, DRO, or DRA, it can recover or “renew” when the context is changed. Behavioral inhibition is thus generally context-dependent. Importantly, there are also many kinds of “contexts:” In addition to physical background cues, drug state, and time, recent experiments have established a contextual role for hunger and satiety states, stress state, recent reinforcers (as in reinstatement and resurgence), and preceding behaviors in a behavior chain. Recent research has also explored what is learned in operant extinction and how it is actually learned. The findings have implications for understanding and preventing lapse and relapse after behavioral inhibition and behavior change.

Researchers and practitioners that want a deeper understanding of extinction and behavior change

Mark E. Bouton, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Professor and the Lawson Green and Gold Professor of Psychology at the University of Vermont. He has been doing research on the effects of context on conditioning and learning, with an emphasis on behavior change, for several decades. He has received a number of awards, including the Gantt Medal from the Pavlovian Society and the Quad-L Award from the University of New Mexico, and he is a Fellow of several organizations, including the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Eastern Psychological Association, of which he is a past president. He is also the author of a well-regarded textbook on learning and behavior theory [Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis (2nd ed.)], published in 2016 by Sinauer Associates, an imprint of Oxford University Press.

The use of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes continues to expand as legal barriers are dismantled. This leads to a growing need to assess possible health consequences, including with a focus on specific cannabinoid compounds such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Understanding of the effects of CBD by itself, and in combination with THC, are only recently being explored in well-controlled studies. This talk will discuss the effects of CBD and THC along, and in combination, in animal models. Most pre-clinical models of cannabinoid effects use parenteral injections of cannabinoids, while human use continues to be by inhalation via combusted plant material and, now, e-cigarette devices. Models of vapor inhalation in rats will be discussed with a focus on the differences compared with traditional injection routes of administration.

Our actions often seem spontaneous. Motivation for action seems to come mysteriously from within. But B.F. Skinner argued that social behavior is in fact not spontaneous (Skinner, 1938). We are in reality products of our lived experiences. But what happens when we derive fixed rules about other people in the present based on experiences in the past? Skinner was committed to understanding the relationship between the learned categories we deploy in social interactions and the different social contexts that produce meaning (contingencies of reinforcement). Sociologists have detailed how social encounters are taking place within racialized spaces (Lewis 2003; Haynes 2006; Anderson) that marginalize (Eberhardt 2019) and stigmatize (Hughes 1963; Wacquant 2008; Anderson 2011) Black Americans who are widely perceived to be associated with poverty (Duneier 2016)), crime and criminalization (Muhammad 2019), and cultural and social dysfunction (Moynihan 1965). Stigmatization and marginalization leads to a “deficit of credibility” that devalues black voices (Anderson 2011). In this talk, I will link a functional contextual approach (Hayes 1993) to a fuller understanding of the historical context of racial classification and scripted racial differences, and offer behavioral psychologists new ways to better identify contingencies of reinforcement in a social context. This approach is parsimonious and consistent with a radical behavioral world view.

Behavioral Analysis, Psychologists, Social Workers, Clinical Psychologists, School Counselors, Teachers

Research has shown that parents of children with ASD are among the most stressed as compared to all other parents, including those who have children with other psychiatric conditions and developmental disabilities (Hayes & Watson, 2013). Parents of children with ASD are chronically stressed because the demands of the family environment often exceed the parent’s ability to cope. There are few evidence-based interventions available for professionals to use with parents of a child with ASD: some use cognitive therapies, such as meditation, some use social support to reduce stress and mental health problems, and others use implement parent training to improve child behavior. Few if any combine both mental health and behavioral approaches, and none of these are designed for implementation by school personnel. This presentation describes findings from a multi-year transdisciplinary investigation into the most common stressors for parents of preschool children with ASD attending a CABAS® model school. Specifically, in two studies we surveyed parents to determine their reported levels of stress and common stressors, as well as parents’ mental and physical wellbeing, self-care, and self-efficacy skills. In the first study we also examined mother-child interactions during free-play and demand situations in order to determine possible target behaviors for intervention. Implications of the findings and suggestions for interventions will be discussed.

Those interested in parent education and interventions to help parents cope with the stresses of parenting a child with ASD. These may include practitioners, educators, researchers, or parents themselves.

In 1892, William James brought Hugo Münsterberg from Freiburg to direct the new, Harvard Psychological Laboratory that James had created in the Philosophy Department. Münsterberg had trained under William Wundt in Leipzig, who had pioneered an experimental method to explore the relationship between mental events and physical experience. The New Psychology banished the old method of introspection. Instead, it relied on highly controlled experiments with equipment borrowed from the domains of physics and physiology. Researchers studied the psychology of the senses, the timing of mental acts, judgement, memory, and attention. Starting with these “prism, pendulum, and chronograph philosophers,” as James called them, this talk will conclude with B. F. Skinner and his experiments on operant conditioning, reinforcement, and learning. Special attention will be paid to early apparatus such as reaction keys, prototype operant chambers, cumulative recorders, and teaching machines. The apparatus, laboratory records, memoranda, and correspondence of James, Munsterberg, and Skinner survive at Harvard University and can be accessed by scholars interested in the development of their thought.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.

The developmental skills gained from a behavior therapy program are greatly improved if the child has a nurturing environment in which family members are equipped to continue therapeutic techniques outside the formal sessions. When a parent sees themselves as a valued extension of the therapy team, they are better able to engage in the process and contribute to a child's success. The relationship between therapist and parent is a complex one, and a strong, collaborative partnership is fundamental to the success of any therapy program. This presentation will examine the parent/therapist dynamic and discuss concrete strategies for building a solid, resilient relationship benefitting the child, family and therapy team.

Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students.