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| BPN Monday Poster Session: Odd-Numbered Posters |
| Monday, May 30, 2022 |
| 1:00 PM–2:00 PM |
| Exhibit Level; Exhibit Hall A |
| Chair: Sally L. Huskinson (University of Mississippi Medical Center) |
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| 1. Amnestic Aphasia and ABA: Naming Intervention in a Patient With Mild Neurocognitive Disorder and Amnestic Aphasia after Cardiac Arrest and Cerebral Anoxia |
| Area: BPN; Domain: Applied Research |
| Valentina Catania (OASI Research Institute - IRCCS Troina, Italy
), GUIDO D'ANGELO (DALLA LUNA - BARI), Simonetta Panerai (OASI Research Institute - IRCCS Troina, Italy
) |
| Discussant: Sally L. Huskinson (University of Mississippi Medical Center) |
| Abstract: Aphasia is a verbal communication disorder that results as a consequence of a brain injury and affects one or more components of the complex process of understanding and producing verbal messages. This damage significantly decreases individuals’ quality of life. Specifically, the main symptom of amnestic aphasia is the anomie, which consists of a marked difficulty in producing names both in denomination tasks and in the context of spontaneous speech. The main therapeutic treatments for post-stroke aphasia consist of approaches based on deficit and functional communication training, which may be combined with pharmacological treatment and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques. In the realm of deficit-based approaches, there seem to be no studies describing interventions on this type of disorder based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. The aim of the present study is to test the effectiveness of a naming protocol (Miguel, 2016) in a patient with Amnestic Aphasia, resulting from brain injoury. The results indicate that the participant was able to regain the ability to name common stimuli, across six different categories. These data represent a preliminary effort in outlining strategies based on Applied Behavior Analysis in the context of recovering impaired communication functions following brain damage. |
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| 3. Interest in and Perceived Effectiveness of Contingency Management Among Alcohol Drinkers Using Behavioral Economic Purchase Tasks |
| Area: BPN; Domain: Applied Research |
| HAILY TRAXLER (University of Kentucky), Brent Kaplan (University of Kentucky), Mark Justin Rzeszutek (University of Kentucky), Mikhail Koffarnus (University of Kentucky College of Medicine) |
| Discussant: Sally L. Huskinson (University of Mississippi Medical Center) |
| Abstract: Contingency management (CM), one of the most effective and empirically supported treatments for substance use disorders, is not yet widely available. The current experiment integrates behavioral economics and CM to address barriers to widespread dissemination. Behavioral economic purchase tasks were developed to assess interest in CM as a function of treatment cost and perceived effectiveness as a function of abstinence incentive size. Alcohol drinkers recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk completed behavioral economic purchase tasks measuring demand for CM based on targeted abstinence intervals, treatment effectiveness, and alcohol use disorder severity assessments. Nonlinear mixed effects modeling was used to assess the relationship between individual characteristics and demand for CM. Required abstinence period to earn the financial incentive significantly predicted demand intensity (p < .05) and change in demand elasticity (p < .001). Longer abstinence durations were associated with lower demand intensity and decreased rate of change in elasticity (p < .001). Higher treatment efficacy was significantly associated with lower rate of change in demand elasticity (p < .001). These purchase tasks are currently being assessed for clinical utility in an ongoing clinical trial aimed at reducing alcohol use through remotely implemented CM. These preliminary predictive clinical data will also be reported. |
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| 5. The Effects of Caffeine on Pausing in Multiple Fixed Ratio Schedules |
| Area: BPN; Domain: Basic Research |
| JONATHAN W. PINKSTON (Western New England University), Caitlin Tedeschi (Western New England University), Lucias Garcia (Western New England University), Yanella Pallo (Western New England University), Molly McLaughlin (Western New England University), Lliam Christiano (Western New England University), Abigail Bahl (Western New England University), Delilah Hubney (Western New England University) |
| Discussant: Sally L. Huskinson (University of Mississippi Medical Center) |
| Abstract: Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world. Caffeine has a number of positive effects on mood and additionally appears to have behavioral activating effects. Humans, for example, often report caffeine produces feelings of increased energy. Laboratory studies in effort-related choice also show that caffeine can facilitate the choice of high effort options. In the present study, we examine caffeine’s effects on multiple fixed-ratio schedules. Performance on these schedules is characterized by extended pausing. Pausing, moreover, has been shown to be a joint outcome of both prior and impending schedule control. To date, the impact of different sources of control on caffeine’s behavioral activating effects have been unappreciated. Eight rats earned food on a multiple fixed ratio (FR) 4 FR 40 schedule, which yielded four transitions between “rich” and “lean” reinforcement schedules: rich-rich, rich-lean, lean-rich, and lean-lean. The features of the test environment also allow for the recording of several kinetic and temporal properties of behavior, such as force and its integral. In predrug conditions, we replicated the well known finding that rich-lean transitions produce the most extensive pausing. Additionally, kinetic properties of behavior appear due only to current schedule requirements once the pause ends. At present, caffeine tests are ongoing and too preliminary for comment. These will be discussed. |
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