Newsletter
Volume 28 | 2005 | Number 3
2006 SABA Fellowship Awardees
2006 Bijou Fellowship
Elizabeth Athens
Elizabeth Athens has been interested in behavior analysis since volunteering as a research assistant her first year as an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Reno. She began her graduate studies in behavior analysis at the University of Florida in 2002, under the supervision of Timothy Vollmer. Elizabeth’s research interests center around the development and implementation of interventions for children who have fallen behind academically or exhibit problem behavior. Elizabeth is specifically interested in the variables affecting learning under a discrete trial format, parametric evaluations of common behavioral treatments, and the development of verbal behavior in young or developmental delayed children. During her graduate school career, Elizabeth has conducted research in several diverse settings, including the laboratory, schools, and homes. She is currently studying the effects of treatment integrity failures on acquisition of complex discriminations, acquisition of verbal behavior, and methods to increase compliance using quantitative shaping procedures. Following graduation, Elizabeth will seek a position allowing her to contribute to the field of behavior analysis through research, teaching, and clinical application. She would like to continue her line of research focusing on acquisition of complex skills with children who exhibit behavior deficits.
Sarah O’Connor
Sarah O'Connor earned her Honours Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology in 1998 at Loyola University, Chicago where she was awarded the Presidential Scholarship for academic excellence. She worked for a time as a research assistant to Dr. Eaaron Hendersen-King and with other psychologists conducting research involving psychometric testing. In 2000 Ms. O'Connor relocated to Ireland where she worked for local Government evaluating psychometric test performances. This work lead Ms. O'Connor to her enquiries into the functional nature of intelligence and the modern behavioral perspective which she now employs to develop behavioral interventions for intellectual deficit. Ms. O'Connor is currently working in the Department of Psychology at National University of Ireland, Maynooth as a Teaching Assistant. Her doctoral research, under the supervision of Dr. Bryan Roche, consists of a systematic investigation into the educational value of multiple exemplar interventions for derived relational skills. A series of such interventions, using a combination of procedures provided by Relational Frame Theory and the precision teaching tradition, have produced very modest but promising increases in relational skills and I.Q scores in a sample of normal children compared to controls. In her on-going research Ms. O'Connor plans to develop an integrated multiple exemplar intervention package that can be used in the educational context with both normal and intellectually challenged children. She hopes to use these developments in her future career as an applied behavior analyst in an educational setting.
2006 SABA EAB Fellowship
Bethany Raiff
Bethany Raiff became interested in behavior analysis as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she worked with Dr. Gregory Madden on choice research, covering current issues in delay discounting and the matching law. After graduating with her B.A., Bethany entered the doctoral program in Behavior Analysis at the University of Florida (UF), under the supervision of Dr. Jesse Dallery. Bethany’s research is centered on a common theme: conditioned reinforcement. In collaboration with Dr. Timothy Hackenberg, Bethany uses tokens, exchangeable for grain, with pigeons. She found that response-dependent removal of tokens suppresses responding, suggesting that token loss is an aversive consequence. This finding provides a framework for using tokens to arrange response-cost with nonhumans, opening up many avenues for future research. Bethany also conducts research on conditioned reinforcement in animal and human behavioral pharmacology laboratories, in collaboration with Dr. Jesse Dallery. Her master’s degree project demonstrated that nicotine exposure increases responses maintained by conditioned reinforcers in rats, and this work might provide important information regarding the variables that maintain smoking. This study is currently in press in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Bethany also developed a laboratory model of voucher-based abstinence reinforcement therapy with smokers. She is interested in using the model to test a range of variables that may improve cessation techniques.
Upon completing her Ph.D., Bethany will pursue a faculty position so that she can continue teaching and conducting research in the areas of basic behavior analysis and behavioral pharmacology.