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open access

Why Dance? The Effects of a Group Dance Period on Social Attending, On-Task Behavior, Affect, Stereotypical Behavior, and Disruptive Behavior of Clients of an Autism Treatment Program

Description: Dance is an enjoyable activity that children can engage in across the lifespan. Many children with autism have limited leisure activity, such as dance, and also have challenges in terms of overall health related to physical activity. Previous research suggests that there are both immediate and prolonged benefits of exercise. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a group dance period on on-task behavior, social attending, affect, stereotypic behavior, and disruptive beh… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Allen, Emerald Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Differential Outcomes on Audio-Visual Conditional Discriminations in Children with ASD

Description: The differential outcomes effect (DOE) refers to an observed increase in rates of acquisition of simple or conditional relations when the contingencies of reinforcement arrange for reinforcers to be uniquely correlated with a particular stimulus or response relative to conditions where the reinforcers are not uniquely correlated with either stimulus or response. This effect has been robustly documented in the literature with nonhuman subjects. This study asked whether the DOE would be observed … more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Wiist, Catherine E. C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

How You Correct Matters

Description: Feedback is used in a variety of contexts to train staff and to teach individuals new skills. Despite its popularity, there is no consensus on how to deliver it. Different measures have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of feedback, such as accuracy of responses and the sequencing of feedback delivery. The purpose of this study was to compare two feedback procedures and to explore new ways to measure the effectiveness of feedback. Four undergraduate students were exposed to two conditions… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Winne, Jessica Kay
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Development of a Three Minute Realtime Sampling Method to Measure Social Harmony during Interactions between Parents and their Toddlers with Autism

Description: Training parents of a child with autism to increase the frequency of their child's social behavior may improve the quality of parent-child interactions. The purpose of this methodological study was to develop a direct observation method for rapidly sampling social harmony between parents and their toddlers with autism during parent training interactions. The current study used a pre and post probe design, with benchmark comparisons to test the discriminability of the measurement protocol across… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Cunningham, Isabel L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Contingency Management of Physical Rehabilitation: The Role of Feedback

Description: Modern advances in technology have allowed for an increase in the precision with which we are able to measure, record, and affect behavior. These developments suggest that the domains in which behavior analysis might contribute are considerably broader than previously appreciated, for instance the area of behavioral medicine. One way the field of behavior analysis can begin to address problems in behavioral medicine is with biosensor technology, like surface electromyography (sEMG). For sEMG te… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Armshaw, Brennan P
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Decision Making in a Miniature Market

Description: Although behavior analysts have studied the effects of motivation on preference assessments, consumer behaviorist have not. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the temporary removal of a choice on the order and frequency of purchases after the candy returned. Seventy percent of the time the participant purchased the removed candy first and 60% of the time the participant purchased more than in the baseline.
Date: August 2018
Creator: Barnes, John
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Assessment of Caregiver Generalization of Reinforcement to the Natural Environment in a Large Residential Facility and Use of Prompting and Feedback to Improve Performance

Description: Behavioral skills training (BST) is often used to train caregivers to implement various behavior management procedures; however, additional strategies are sometimes required to promote the generalization of skills from a contrived setting to the natural environment. Generalizing skills to the natural environment requires that the caregiver's behavior transfer from control of stimuli in the contrived setting to stimuli in the natural environment, and the skill continues to be performed with high… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Licausi, Ashley
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Contingency Type on Accuracy and Reaction Time

Description: Positive and negative reinforcement contingencies have been compared in terms of preference, but the differential effects of positive and negative reinforcement on reaction time and accuracy with other variables controlled remain unclear. Fifteen undergraduate students participated in a sound discrimination task that involved random mixed-trial presentations of positive and negative reinforcement contingencies. The participants' goal was to correctly identify whether the tone was shorter or lon… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Adams, Owen James
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Increasing the Quantity and Quality of Caregivers' Use of Social Reinforcement in a Large Residential Facility

Description: Behavior-specific praise has been shown to increase rate of desired behaviors for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, though it is rarely used by caregivers in residential facilities for adults with disabilities. Prompting in the form of tactile stimulation has been demonstrated to increase rate of behavior-specific praise delivered by teachers and caregivers. The purpose of the current study was to increase the quantity and quality of behavior-specific praise statemen… more
Date: December 2018
Creator: Brown, Madison McMurray
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Development and Disruption of Collateral Behavior and DRL Performances: A PORTL Exploration

Description: One schedule of reinforcement that is used to decrease the rate of a target behavior is differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL). During this schedule, reinforcement is delivered for a target response if it occurs after a certain amount of time has passed since the last instance of this target response. The current study used a table-top game called PORTL and college student participants to investigate how collateral patterns develop and are disrupted during DRL schedules. After the partic… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Herzog, Leah
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Evaluation of a Waiting Period and DRL on Reducing Mands serving as Precursors to Self-Injurious Behavior

Description: Extensive research has been conducted demonstrating the utility of differential reinforcement as an effective intervention for self-injurious behavior. However, the majority of this literature requires teaching an alternative response to access reinforcement. Further evaluation of treating self-injurious behavior in individuals that already possess the repertories to contact reinforcement appropriately. Prior to initiating the study, functional assessments were completed for both participant th… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Baak, Sara Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of D.A.N.C.E. Training on Staff Teaching Interactions, Child Goal Responding, and Staff-Child Harmonious Engagement in an Autism Intervention Organization

Description: This study was conducted at a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide responsive, caring, and effective services to children with autism. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of D.A.N.C.E. training on teaching interactions, harmonious engagement, instructional engagement, and progress on child goals for two early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) staff and the children in their care. A multiple baseline design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of t… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Tavera, Marlene Lucy
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Shaping Procedure for Introducing Horses to Clipping

Description: The purpose of the current study is to evaluate a procedure that can be used to introduce horses to clipping. Negative reinforcement was used in a shaping paradigm. Shaping steps were conducted by the handler, starting with touching the horse with the hand, then touching the horse with the clippers while they are off, culminating with touching the horse with the clippers while they are on. When a horse broke contact with either the hand or the clippers, the hand or the clippers were held at tha… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Hardaway, Alison K
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Training Behavior Professionals to Use the Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA): Extension

Description: The current investigation replicated and extended previous research on training of behavior professionals to implement functional assessment and analysis procedures. Specifically, the study extended procedures described by Metras to train board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) to administer two components of the Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analyses (IISCA) by: (1) conducting the study in the context of a large residential/training facility for adults with ID, (2) including a p… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Markham, Eric Nicholas
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Variability in the Natural World: An Analysis of Variability in Preschool Play

Description: Children acquire many skills through play. These range from fine and gross motor skills, social skills, problem-solving, to even creativity. Creativity or creative engagement is frequently a component in early preschool curricula. A pivotal repertoire to engage in behaviors deemed creative, such as art, storytelling, problem-solving, and the like, is the ability to vary one's responses regardless of the specific repertoire. Researchers have developed methods to produce response variability. How… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Armshaw, Jared T
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Selecting Variability in Interlocking Behavioral Contingencies

Description: The current study explored how the variability or lack thereof in interlocking behavioral contingencies (IBC) may be brought under contextual control. Four undergraduates (two dyads) students participated in the current study. Dyads were instructed to play a game on a computer screen with the goal to earn as many "Congratulations" as possible. An ABABAB reversal design was used. A Lag 1 schedule of cultural consequence delivery for IBC topography was set in the variability (VAR) condition. Duri… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Urbina, Tomas, III
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Comparative Evaluation of Matrix Training Arrangements

Description: A common goal of instructional techniques is to teach skills effectively and efficiently. Matrix training techniques are both effective and efficient as they allow for the emergence of untrained responding to novel stimulus arrangements, a phenomenon known as recombinative generalization. However, it is unclear which type of matrix arrangement best promotes recombinative generalization. The current study compared two common matrix training approaches, an overlapping (OV) design and a non-overla… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Cliett, Terra N.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Comparative Evaluation of Functional Analytic Methods

Description: The individual functional analysis (FA) is the most widely used method to identify variables that influence the occurrence of problem behavior. Researchers often modify the FA after the analysis reveals undifferentiated responding. The interview-informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) is one of the most substantial variations of the FA that builds upon the FA modifications. We evaluated the use of the two different functional analytic methods, the FA and IISCA, and the subsequent func… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Perkins, Crysta
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Induced “motivation”

Description: In the avian training community, a procedure has been utilized to maintain food reinforcer efficacy at high body weights. Elements of this procedure include limited holds and closed economies. To test this procedure, a baseline performance of keypecking on an FR 15 schedule at 80% ad lib weight for two pigeons was established. By imposing limited holds and a closed economy, rates of responding were increased compared to baseline, even while the pigeons were over 90% of their ad-lib body weights. more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Becker, April Melissa
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Evaluating the Effects of Public Postings on Energy Conservation Behavior at a Public University

Description: This study evaluated the effects of public postings on energy conservation behavior at a public university, using a multiple baseline design across three settings; bathrooms break rooms, and conference rooms. The behavior of building occupants was recorded to assess the frequency at which those individuals would turn lights off upon exiting an unoccupied room. The independent variables implemented by experimenters (light-switch plate stickers and laminated signs) had little to no effects on cum… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Canisz, Eleni
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Capturing and Searching on the Acquisition of a Simple Arm Position

Description: The present experiment compared two methods of training a simple arm position using auditory feedback: capture and search. The participants were four right-handed female college students. During capture, auditory feedback was delivered by the experimenter after the participant moved along a single axis into the target position. During search, auditory feedback was produced by the computer after the participant left clicked a mouse inside the target location. The results of a multi-element desig… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Heth, Travis R.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Conditional Discrimination Training on Symmetry and Semantic Priming

Description: Psychologists interested in the study of language find that people are faster at making decisions about words that are related than they are at making decisions about words that are not related – an effect called semantic priming. This phenomenon has largely only been document in laboratory settings using natural languages as contest and real words as stimuli. The current study explores the relation between the semantic priming effect and a laboratory procedure designed to give rise to performa… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Hudgins, Caleb D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Yummy Starts: A Constructional Approach to Food Selectivity with Children with Autism

Description: Food selectivity exhibited by children with autism creates a myriad of barriers for families and children, ranging from social to nutritional. The typical approach to food selectivity is pathological. The pathological approach attempts to eliminate food selectivity through the use of techniques such as escape extinction. While successful in decreasing aspects of food challenges, such as food refusals, the pathological approach does not necessarily establish desired responses to foods or mealtim… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Cihon, Joseph Harvey
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of a Human Resources Information Technology Intervention on Background Check Processing in a Financial Institution: a Process Level Analysis.

Description: The human resources department of a financial institution implemented a multi-component intervention to replace a paper-based hiring system. Organization-wide impacts included changes in the background check operations. To support changes, training was conducted and procedure manuals distributed. Turn time for background checks decreased, but a combination of factors may be responsible. Other metrics are either inconclusive or suggest a confounding variable, yet quality of work did not suffe… more
Date: August 2008
Creator: Mallari, Alexander David
Partner: UNT Libraries
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