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| EAB 1 |
| Monday, May 31, 2004 |
| 3:30 PM–4:20 PM |
| Beacon D |
| Area: EAB |
| Chair: Leigh Ann S. Wheat (University of Rochester) |
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| Revealed Operants as Lines Drawn on a Graphics Tablet: New Data |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| FRANCIS MECHNER (The Mechner Foundation), Laurilyn Dianne Jones (The Mechner Foundation) |
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| Abstract: The revealed operant technique makes it possible to address research questions that cannot be addressed with operants recorded merely as instantaneous all-or-none events. The new technique consists of lines drawn on a touch-sensitive graphics tablet by a human subject. The computer records each line’s length, slope, duration, average speed, and pressure applied by the stylus. Some of these attributes of the operant occurrences were used to set the criteria for the occurrence or non-occurrence of an operant class, and other attributes were recorded as the non-criterial properties of the operant occurrences for each line drawn. Experiments were conducted to examine: the non-criterial properties of the operant occurrences in a fixed interval schedule, as a function of distance from the time of the scheduled reinforcer (consisting of money); the effect of number of prior repetitions on the characteristics of an operant class on resurgence during conditions of imposed stress; and the effect of recency and sequence in which various response classes were learned and practiced. Other experiments examined the effects of non-contingent reinforcer presentations during streams of operants maintained by other contingencies. Additional research questions that can be addressed with this technique are discussed. |
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| Maintaining a Target Response with a Previously Neutral Stimulus as the Consequence |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| LEIGH ANN S. WHEAT (University of Rochester Medical Center), Shahla S. Ala'i-Rosales (University of North Texas), Jose Rosales (University of North Texas) |
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| Abstract: Few studies have investigated methods for establishing neutral stimuli as conditioned reinforcers in human subjects. Conditioned reinforcers, however, can alleviate some of the problems encountered in using reinforcers, such as satiation and suitability of a reinforcer for a specific environment. In this study, a series of reversals evaluated the effects of a conditioning procedure involving pairing a neutral stimulus, the remote control tactile stimulus (RCT), with an identified reinforcer. The RCT is a device composed of a transmitter and a receiver. When the transmitter is activated from a distance of several feet the receiver vibrates. Two male subjects under the age of six with a diagnosis of autism participated in the experiment. Phase 1 demonstrated that the RCT was a neutral stimulus. In Phase 2, alternating pairing and testing conditions were run. During testing the effects of pairing were evaluated by the effectiveness of the RCT in maintaining a response in the absence of a previously available reinforcer (extinction test) and in increasing a new response over baseline level (learning test). Results from the extinction tests suggest that under some pairing conditions the RCT can acquire properties of a reinforcer. |
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