Inside Behavior Analysis
Volume 1 | 2009 | Number 1
Mid-American ABA
By Adam Derenne
The Mid-American Association for Behavior Analysis (MABA), a regional affiliate of the Association for Behavior Analysis, is a membership organization devoted to promoting scholarly interchange in behavior analysis through its annual convention. The 9th annual Mid-American Association for Behavior Analysis (MABA) convention was held October 3rd-4th in Champaign, Illinois. More than 150 people attended the convention, with graduate and undergraduate students comprising the majority of attendees. The convention began when Dr. Nicole Heal (Southern Illinois University) reviewed social validity assessments of behavior-change procedures and Dr. John Rapp (St. Cloud State University) described factors affecting stereotypes. Later, Dr. Maria Valdovinos (Drake University) spoke about why behavior analysts cannot ignore genetics and neuroscience, and Dr. Christine Hughes (University of North Carolina Wilmington) discussed the role of contingencies in drug tolerance. During the afternoon of the first day, Dr. Jeffery Buchanan (Minnesota State University, Mankato) spoke about how best to achieve compliance among nursing home residents, Dr. Lisa Baker (Western Michigan University) presented new research on the behavioral effects of an opioid agonist, Dr. Dean Williams (University of Kansas) shared insights into translational research, and Dr. Nicole Gravina (Roosevelt University) addressed behavioral safety in the office. The first day ended with poster presentations by students and faculty.
The second day of the convention began when Dr. Mark Dixon (Southern Illinois University) discussed behavioral safety on the farm, Dr. Manish Vaidya (University of North Texas) considered the role of shared stimulus functions in equivalence, and Dr. Thomas Critchfield (Illinois State University) spoke about instruction based on stimulus equivalence. The final talks were by Nicholas Mui Ker Lik (Southern Illinois University), winner of the MABA student paper contest, who presented research on delay discounting with real and hypothetical money, and outgoing president Dr. James Carr (Auburn University), who spoke about understudied interventions for treating autism.
The 2009 convention will be held October 9th-10th in Davenport, Iowa, at the Radisson Hotel. The conference will again include addresses on both basic and applied behavior-analytic research.
MABA holds a business meeting at the annual convention and again at the ABA convention. Persons interested in this organization are welcome to attend either meeting. Current president of MABA is Dr. Kevin Klatt (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire). President-Elect is Dr. Mark Dixon (Southern Illinois University). More information about MABA and the annual convention can be found at the organization website: http://www.uwec.edu/maba/ or by contacting Adam Derenne at adam.derenne@und.edu