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| Refining Concepts and Tools in the Analysis of Behavior |
| Monday, May 31, 2004 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Independence East |
| Area: TPC |
| Chair: Gary Wilkes (Click & Treat Training) |
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| From Coyotes in the Mist to Coyotes in our Midst: The Use of Operant Variability as the Establishing Operation to Rehabilitate Geriatric Captive Zoo Animals |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| GARY WILKES (Click & Treat Training), Hilda Tresz (The Phoenix Zoo) |
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| Abstract: Lucky and Bob are 10 year old coyotes who have never been formally trained. They have been informally taught to fear all humans, especially keepers. Because of their active avoidance of humans, gradual desensitization and successive approximation were not possible. Instead, the coyotes were offered simultaneous changes in their environment and reinforcement for deviation from their normal behavior. The unique aspects of a training and enrichment program that does not utilize linear shaping will be discussed. Specific project goals and time-tables will be presented including tangible and rather startling behavior changes in these two "untrainable" animals. |
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| Access to Tangibles as an Abolishing Operation for Escape Maintained Challenging Behavior |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| NORM DAHL (University of Minnesota), Jennifer J. McComas (University of Minnesota) |
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| Abstract: Whereas establishing operations (EOs) increase the effectiveness of consequences to function as reinforcers or punishers, and serve to evoke behavior, abolishing operations (AOs) decrease effectiveness of consequences to reinforce or punish behaviors, and produce an abative effect (Laraway, Snycerski, Michael, & Poling, 2003). While there has been relatively little research on the influence of EOs, there has been even less on AOs. In this study, we used a withdrawal design to identify the controlling variable(s) of an intervention package that effectively reduced instances of escape maintained challenging behavior displayed by a boy with developmental disabilities. The full intervention consisted of (a) choice of task sequence, (b) “picture cards” to present task options, (c) within-task choice, (d) preferred activity contingent on task completion, and (e) 20s escape contingent on challenging behavior. Each component was withdrawn sequentially, with reemergence of challenging behavior only observed when contingent preferred activities were withdrawn. Reductions in challenging behavior were again observed when contingent preferred activities were reintroduced. Inter-observer agreement averaged 80% or better across dependent and independent variables. Results are discussed in terms establishing and abolishing operations. |
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