States

Conditional Discriminations and Derived Relations: Pinpointing the Moment of Emergence (open access)

Conditional Discriminations and Derived Relations: Pinpointing the Moment of Emergence

Four subjects were exposed to the four trial types that define stimulus equivalence from the beginning of the experiment. Procedures were designed to identify acquisition dynamics and relate these observations to responding indicative of equivalence class formation. The data show that, for all subjects, the acquisition of training conditional discriminations was correlated with systematic changes in the subjects' selection responses. The results also indicate that the traditional percent correct measures obscure some important information about the subjects' behavior. The data are discussed in the context of the following statements. 1) Subjects' performances on derived trials are not indicative of relations among stimuli at some other level of analysis but are instances of "equivalencing". 2) "Equivalencing" itself can be characterized as changes in the conditional and conditionally discriminative functions of stimuli involved in the experiment. The potential benefits of this preparation are discussed.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Vaidya, Manish
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of a Point Loss Contingency on Equivalence (open access)

The Effects of a Point Loss Contingency on Equivalence

The effects of point loss for symmetrical probe performances on other performances of an observed equivalence class, on the emergence of equivalence performances, and on performances in other contexts were examined. After training six conditional discriminations in three contexts, probes (symmetry, transitivity, symmetrical transitivity) were introduced in contexts 1 and 2. In context 3, only trained conditional discrimination trials were delivered. After demonstrations of equivalence in contexts 1 and 2, point loss was placed on symmetrical performances in one of these contexts; probe trials and point loss for symmetrical performances were simultaneously introduced in context 3. Point loss for symmetrical performances may disrupt other probe performances of an observed equivalence class in that same context; does not necessarily disrupt the emergence of equivalence performances; and may disrupt probe performances in other contexts.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Peuster, Andrea M. (Andrea Michelle)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Experimental Analysis of Preference Problems in a Self-Control Choice Procedure by Adults with Mental Retardation (open access)

An Experimental Analysis of Preference Problems in a Self-Control Choice Procedure by Adults with Mental Retardation

The original purpose of this study was to determine if Tegretol has an effect on the impulsive behavior exhibited by people with mental retardation. This was to be accomplished through a replication of the self-control choice procedures used by Ragotzy, Blakely, and Poling (1988). The procedure involved three stages. First, subjects chose between stimuli that provided either one or three edibles. Then the stimuli associated with the smaller and larger edibles were reversed. Following this, the procedure required the implementation of successively longer delays to the larger reinforcer. However, none of the subjects who participated was able to make the discriminations necessary to proceed, i.e., the subjects did not systematically select the stimulus associated with the larger magnitude edible choice. The identification and rectification of these errors in discrimination became the focus of this study. Various procedures were used to enhance discrimination, including fading, adjusting the magnitude of the edibles, and stimulus changes. None of these changes was successful in teaching the subjects the necessary discriminations.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Koppekin, Amy L. (Amy Lynn)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Evocative and Repertoire-Altering Effects of Contingency-Specifying Stimuli (open access)

The Evocative and Repertoire-Altering Effects of Contingency-Specifying Stimuli

The effects of deadlines in contingency-specifying stimuli among nine 4 to 5 year old children were investigated. Each child was given verbal statements differing in the specified deadline, the delivery of the reinforcer, and the opportunity to respond. The results indicated: (a) statements not specifying deadlines or reinforcers failed to control the children's behavior reliably, (b) specifying deadlines, either immediate or delayed, and immediate reinforcers exerted reliable control over the children's behavior when the opportunity to respond was immediately available, and (c) specifying delayed deadlines or no deadlines and immediate or delayed reinforcers did not reliably control the children's behavior when the opportunity to respond was delayed.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Mistr, Kathryn N. (Kathryn Noel)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Function-Altering Effects of Contingency-Specifying Stimuli (open access)

The Function-Altering Effects of Contingency-Specifying Stimuli

Three children between the ages of 3 and 3 1/2 were asked to choose a colored object from an array of 5 colors in a baseline condition. After color preferences were established, stickers, small toys and praise were made contingent on choosing the least preferred color. After the first experimental condition resulted in consistent choosing of the least preferred color, a second experimental condition was implemented. At the beginning of each session a contingency-specifying stimulus (CSS) was presented, each CSS specifying a different color to be selected. Both contingency-shaping and CSS presentation resulted in stimulus control over responding. However, CSS presentation resulted in immediate redistributions of behavioral units across CSS sessions.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Ford, Victoria L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Physiological Control of Verbal Behavior (open access)

The Physiological Control of Verbal Behavior

The current study sought to investigate whether physiological responses, such as the electrodermographic response (EDG) and/or the frontalis muscle electrical potential (EMG) could be developed as a source of control over verbal responses. Discrimination training procedures using points exchangeable for money were employed to condition verbal responses occasioned by minute interoceptive events with 2 adult human subjects. Specific verbal responses were reinforced in the presence of changes in EDG with Sl and EDG and EMG with S2. Stimulus control over differentiated verbal responses was demonstrated with both subjects. The results suggest that minute interoceptive events can enter into controlling relations with verbal responses and that this control is partially a function of the size or range of physiological responses as well as conditioning history.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Field, Douglas Preston
System: The UNT Digital Library