UNT Theses and Dissertations - 411 Matching Results

Search Results

prev Results: 231 - 254 next
open access

Exploring Fundamental Principles in the Study of Derived Relational Responding in Pigeons

Description: A persistent challenge for behaviorally-based accounts of learning has been providing an account of learning that occurs in the absence of systematically programmed contingencies of reinforcement. Symmetry, one type of emergent behavior, has been repeatedly demonstrated with humans, but has been considerably more difficult to demonstrate with non-humans. In this study, pigeons were exposed to a go/no-go procedure in which hue stimuli were presented full screen on a touchscreen monitor. Pigeons … more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Hinnenkamp, Jay Evan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Training History on Retention and Reacquisition of Stimulus Control

Description: The purpose of this experiment was to study the effects of training history on retention and re-acquisition of stimulus control of previously learned behaviors. In Phase I, two pairs of behaviors were alternately trained. Circle and touch behaviors were trained concurrently until two consecutive errorless sessions were run. Spin and down behaviors were trained together in the same manner. Probe sessions, in which all four cues were presented, were conducted each time a pair of behaviors reached… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Tucker, Kathryn Lynn
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Dance: a Training Package Utilizing Videotaped Self-observation to Teach Parents to Enhance Social Interactions with Children At-risk for a Developmental Delay

Description: Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of programs that include a videotaped self-observation component. The self-observation protocols, however, have not been clearly specified within programs that teach and report parents’ use of general teaching strategies. The current study investigates the effects of a training package with a self-observation component to teach parents to improve teaching interactions with their children at-risk for a developmental delay using an AB design re… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Townley-Cochran, Donna
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Sucrose on Ethanol Consumption in Ethanol Naïve and Non-naïve Rats

Description: Sucrose fading and intermittent access are two common procedures that induce alcohol consumption in rodents. Sucrose fading procedures involve exposing ethanol naïve rats to a mixture of ethanol and sucrose and gradually reducing the concentration of sugar. Intermittent access procedures involve providing rats with access to ethanol on alternating days. Given that rats will consume ethanol without sucrose, the role of sugar in the sucrose fading procedure is unclear. Rats must be ethanol naïve … more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Dove, Rachel Jolene
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Analysis of the Value-altering Effect of Motivating Operations

Description: Motivating operations (MOs) may affect behavior in two ways; A) an MO momentarily alters the frequency of behavior for which a particular consequence has served as reinforcement (evocative-effect) and B) an MO momentarily alters the behavioral effects of the relevant consequence (value-altering effect). Many studies have empirically demonstrated the evocative function of MOs, however, few if any studies have attempted to systematically manipulate and measure the value-altering effect. The focu… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Devine, Bailey
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Improving the Quality of Hotel Banquet Staff Performance: a Case Study in Organizational Behavior Management

Description: The banquet staff at a north Texas hotel were responsible for setting up 11 different functions (e.g., buffet dinners) for conferences and meetings. The functions were often set up late and items were often omitted. An analysis suggested that performance problems were the result of weak antecedents, inefficient work procedures, inadequate training and a lack of motivating consequences. An intervention consisting of task checklists, feedback, goal setting, monetary bonuses, training and job aids… more
Date: May 1994
Creator: LaFleur, Tobias C. (Tobias Christopher)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Experimental Analysis of Preference Problems in a Self-Control Choice Procedure by Adults with Mental Retardation

Description: The original purpose of this study was to determine if Tegretol has an effect on the impulsive behavior exhibited by people with mental retardation. This was to be accomplished through a replication of the self-control choice procedures used by Ragotzy, Blakely, and Poling (1988). The procedure involved three stages. First, subjects chose between stimuli that provided either one or three edibles. Then the stimuli associated with the smaller and larger edibles were reversed. Following this, the … more
Date: December 1993
Creator: Koppekin, Amy L. (Amy Lynn)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Evocative and Repertoire-Altering Effects of Contingency-Specifying Stimuli

Description: The effects of deadlines in contingency-specifying stimuli among nine 4 to 5 year old children were investigated. Each child was given verbal statements differing in the specified deadline, the delivery of the reinforcer, and the opportunity to respond. The results indicated: (a) statements not specifying deadlines or reinforcers failed to control the children's behavior reliably, (b) specifying deadlines, either immediate or delayed, and immediate reinforcers exerted reliable control over the … more
Date: August 1992
Creator: Mistr, Kathryn N. (Kathryn Noel)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Interresponse Intervals on Behavioral Variability in Humans

Description: The present experiment studied the relationship between interresponse intervals and behavioral variability. Subjects emitted sequences of 4 keypresses on two keys on a variability schedule that delivered points when the current 4-response sequence differed from the previous 5 sequences. Three experimental conditions were studied; no interresponse interval, 4-s interresponse interval and 8-s interresponse interval. Interresponse intervals followed each of the first three responses in each sequen… more
Date: December 1993
Creator: Reilly, Mark P. (Mark Peter)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effect of Verbal and Graphic Feedback on Direct Care Trainers' Data-Tecording Behavior

Description: This study investigated the effects of verbal and graphic feedback alone and in combination with praise on the data-recording behavior of 12 direct care trainers (DCTs) who recorded their reinforcer deliveries as they interacted with mentally retarded clients. An additional variable examined was the effect of time of delivering feedback on subsequent data-recording behavior. Feedback was delivered by the experimenter. Correspondence checks were conducted and a three-phase multiple condition exp… more
Date: May 1994
Creator: Morris, Timothy Jewlon
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Single VI History on Human Concurrent VI VI Choice

Description: Two groups of human subjects pressed buttons on five different variable-interval (VI) reinforcement schedules presented for seven minutes each for 15 sessions. At session 16, the same VI schedules were programmed concurrently in each session either with or without a 5 s changeover delay (COD). The same schedule-correlated stimuli were employed in single and concurrent conditions. Two other groups responded on concurrent VI VI conditions from the first session with or without the COD. Response a… more
Date: August 1992
Creator: Madden, Gregory J. (Gregory Jude)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Function-Altering Effects of Contingency-Specifying Stimuli

Description: Three children between the ages of 3 and 3 1/2 were asked to choose a colored object from an array of 5 colors in a baseline condition. After color preferences were established, stickers, small toys and praise were made contingent on choosing the least preferred color. After the first experimental condition resulted in consistent choosing of the least preferred color, a second experimental condition was implemented. At the beginning of each session a contingency-specifying stimulus (CSS) was pr… more
Date: August 1992
Creator: Ford, Victoria L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Physiological Control of Verbal Behavior

Description: The current study sought to investigate whether physiological responses, such as the electrodermographic response (EDG) and/or the frontalis muscle electrical potential (EMG) could be developed as a source of control over verbal responses. Discrimination training procedures using points exchangeable for money were employed to condition verbal responses occasioned by minute interoceptive events with 2 adult human subjects. Specific verbal responses were reinforced in the presence of changes in E… more
Date: August 1992
Creator: Field, Douglas Preston
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Different Percentages of Incentive Pay to Base Pay on Work Productivity

Description: This experiment investigated how different percentages of incentive pay affected performance on a number-entering task. It was hypothesized that the critical factor in incentive pay systems was the absolute amount of money that could be earned in an incentive pay paradigm. A counterbalanced single-subject reversal design was employed to examine effects of incentives on performance. Twelve subjects were used in the experiment with three subjects assigned to one of four experimental paradigms. Tw… more
Date: December 1992
Creator: Gruenberg, Joel S. (Joel Sanborn)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effect of Small Group Incentives on Sales Productivity in Two Retail Shops: A Case Study

Description: To meet global competition many companies have reorganized work process systems, eliminated management levels, formed employee work groups and implemented variable compensation systems. This study investigated the effect of group incentives on individual sales performance in two specialty shops located in a large metropolitan hotel. Two questions were addressed: What effect would adding a group bonus plan have on individual employee's sales performance who had previously received hourly wages … more
Date: May 1994
Creator: Bohrer, Kathleen
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of a Performance Improvement Strategy in a Work Team Setting: a Case Study

Description: A popular approach to operating organizations in the 1990s is the implementation of work teams. The current literature offers little information on the use of performance management techniques in work team settings. This case study examined the effects of employing a performance improvement strategy on employee performance in a work team environment comprised of part-time graduate students. The performance improvement strategy included composing job descriptions, job aids (e.g., work organizati… more
Date: May 1994
Creator: McHale, Carrie L. (Carrie Lynn)
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Behavioral Economics of Effort

Description: Although response effort is considered a dimension of the cost to obtain reinforcement, little research has examined the economic impact of effort on demand for food. The goal of the present study was to explore the relationship between effort and demand. Three Sprague Dawley rats were trained to press a force transducer under a series of fixed-ratio schedules (1, 10, 18, 32, 56, 100, 180, 320, and 560) under different force requirements (5.6 g and 56 g). Thus, nominal unit price (responses / f… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Nord, Christina M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Measurement and Enhancement of Rapport Between Behavioral Therapists and Children with Autism

Description: Rapport has been acknowledged as an important variable in therapeutic contexts. The current evaluation defined and assessed rapport quality between children with autism and behavioral therapists based on behavioral correlates. In addition, the author evaluated the effects of an operant discrimination training procedure to enhance rapport levels for therapists with low levels of rapport. More specifically, the current study evaluated: (a) if the discrimination training procedure would establish … more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Lapin, Carly Ilyse
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Evaluation of Ethanol’s Effects on the Biophysical Characteristics of Licking

Description: Alcohol use disorders are a public health issue related to adverse effects for individuals and society. A low level of response, or decreased sensitivity, to alcohol has been identified as a heritable risk factor for development of alcohol use disorders. One method for researching level of response to alcohol is through the use of rodent models, which are developed to mimic human conditions while eliminating barriers to conducting research with people. Current rodent models used to evaluate eff… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Stewart, Daryl Ellen
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Model Prompts on Joint Attention Initiations in Children with Autism

Description: The general purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of minimally intrusive prompting procedures and preferred stimuli on protodeclarative joint attention initiations in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Two boys and one girl diagnosed with ASD participated. The experimenter provided attention and social interaction following protodeclarative initiations throughout all phases of the study. During intervention, a model prompt was delivered every 30 s if the … more
Date: December 2014
Creator: James-Kelly, Kimberly L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Evaluation of Task Preference on Reinforcer Efficacy

Description: Stimulus preference assessments have determined high and low preferred items that increase the rate of frequency of responding for various skills. Within applied settings, high preferred items may not attain the same reinforcing value across tasks which might decrease responding. The preference of the task might have an effect on reinforcer efficacy that is being presented. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate changes in reinforcer efficacy as a function of preference for the task. T… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Lowery, Wesley J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Development and Evaluation of a Large-scale Pyramidal Staff Training Program for Behavior Management

Description: Training and empirically evaluating caregivers’ implementation of behavior management skills is a particularly challenging task in large residential contexts. A pyramidal training approach provides an efficient and effective way to conduct large-scale competency-based behavior skills training. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate a large-scale pyramidal staff training program for behavior management skills. One hundred nine caregivers and 11 behavior service professionals at… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Shivers, Audrey H.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Stimulus Control Analysis of the Misinformation Effect

Description: This paper explores research on the misinformation effect and hypothesizes a new explanation for the occurrence misinformation effect. Current psychological theories states the misinformation effect occurs when memories are skewed by the presentation of new information after an initial event. This effect has been tested in a multitude of ways, including testing words lists, pictures, colors, and change blindness. Socially, the misinformation effect has been used to explain the inaccuracies of e… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Tait, Kelly M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Evaluation of Negative Reinforcement During Error Correction Procedures

Description: This study evaluated the effects of error correction procedures on sight word acquisition. Participants were four typically developing children in kindergarten and first grade. We used an adapted alternating treatment design embedded within a multiple baseline design to evaluate instructional efficacy of two error correction procedures; one with preferred items plus error correction and one with error correction only, and a concurrent chain schedule to evaluate participant preference for instru… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Maillard, Gloria Nicole
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
Back to Top of Screen