Association for Behavior Analysis International

Bridging the basic and applied realms of behavior analysis, translational research seeks to determine the conditions under which basic principles of behavior control the behavior of humans in more typical contexts (e.g., home, school, and community settings), while also suggesting important areas for future basic research. The translational papers in this symposium examine the variables controlling the development, maintenance, and recurrence of target responding. Billie Retzlaff will begin this symposium by sharing the results of a recent translational investigation on the potential for the induction of additional functions of responding following synthesized contingencies of reinforcement. Hank Roane will then present on the role of response variability on the resurgence of problem behavior during challenges to treatment. Brian Greer will then present on strategies to mitigate the resurgence of problem behavior following functional communication training. Finally, Sarah Cowie will present on how reinforcers control behavior due to their ability to signal the immediate future probability of additional reinforcers.

Treatment of challenging behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities often involves withholding reinforcement for problem behavior (i.e., extinction) while simultaneously reinforcing an appropriate alternative behavior (i.e., differential reinforcement). Previous research has demonstrated that if reinforcement of the alternative behavior is reduced or eliminated (i.e., interruption of treatment), resurgence of problem behavior may occur. However, it is also possible that extinction-induced response variability (i.e., emergence of functionally related topographies of behavior) may also occur when reinforcement is withheld for previously reinforced responses. The current study sought to evaluate the occurrence of resurgence of problem behavior and extinction-induced response variability during a human operant arrangement in which an inactive control response was present and during clinical cases in which interruptions to treatment were programmed. Results suggested that resurgence and response variability may have an inverse relation when treatment is interrupted, such that if resurgence of problem behavior occurs, a child is less likely to display response variability and conversely, resurgence of problem behavior may not be as robust when a child engages in greater response variability. Clinical implications regarding the effects of treatment interruptions will be discussed.

The assumption that reinforcers strengthen behavior forms the foundation of many behavior-analytic interventions. However, recent basic research suggests that reinforcers control behavior because of what they signal about events that are likely to occur in the immediate future, rather than because they strengthen the behavior they follow. We extended an experimental paradigm used with non-human animals to study reinforcer control of choice in children. Seven typically developing children and one child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder played a game where opening one of two drawers would result in a reinforcer. The probability of the next reinforcer being obtained for opening the same drawer as had produced the last reinforcer was varied across conditions. Generally, children chose the drawer more likely to produce the next reinforcer, even on occasions when a different response had been reinforced in the preceding trial. This finding suggests that strengthening may be an unnecessary construct, and that a better understanding of how appetitive consequences control behaviour may be achieved using an alternative framework.