Search Results

open access

A Comparison of the Effects of Errorful and Errorless Teaching Methods on the Acquisition, Generalization, and Retention of Letter Sound Discriminations in Young Children.

Description: The present study compared the effects of an errorless stimulus shaping procedure to an errorful fluency based procedure for teaching difficult letter sound discriminations using a counterbalanced multielement experimental design. For 2 participants, letters fsteai were taught using the errorless procedure and letters bpdvou were taught using the errorful procedure. For the other 2 participants the conditions were reversed. All participants had considerably fewer errors and fewer trials to crit… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Doucette, Jessica
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Conditional Discrimination and Stimulus Equivalence: Effects of Suppressing Derived Symmetrical Responses on the Emergence of Transitivity.

Description: Symmetry suppression was conducted for five subjects who demonstrated a tendency to derive equivalence relations based on conditional discrimination training in a match-to-sample procedure. Symmetry suppression was applied in three consecutive sessions in which symmetrical responses were suppressed for one stimulus class in the first condition, two stimulus classes in the second condition, and all three stimulus classes in the final condition. Symmetry suppression slowed the emergence of transi… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Jones, Aaron A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Analysis of Sample Duration in a Parent Training Program.

Description: Although several guidelines are available for designing observational procedures in both basic and applied settings, few researchers have experimentally examined and compared different direct observation methods. Such methods may have a direct impact on practitioners' ability to effectively assess strengths and challenges, set treatment goals, adjust intervention procedures, and monitor progress. The current study compared 1 and 5 min observations to 10 min observations throughout baseline and … more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Laino, Kathleen S.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Analyzing the Effects of a Performance Pay Plan on Manager Performance in an Accounting Firm

Description: This study examined the effect of a score card¬-based performance pay plan in a professional services firm. The plan was implemented in response to a decreasing trend in productivity and a desire for a formal incentive compensation plan. Performance of manager and senior manager accountants were analyzed across two departments over a five year period. A definitive account of the effects of the intervention is limited by the case-¬study design, but the data does suggest that the performance pay … more
Date: May 2007
Creator: McDaniel, Sarah Curran
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Combining Positive and Negative Reinforcement During Training.

Description: The purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of combining negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement during teaching with the effects of using positive reinforcement alone. A behavior was trained under two stimulus conditions and procedures. One method involved presenting the cue ven and reinforcing successive approximations to the target behavior. The other method involved presenting the cue punir, physically prompting the target behavior by pulling the leash, and deliverin… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Murrey, Nicole A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Click + Continuous Food Vs. Click + Intermittent Food on the Maintenance of Dog Behavior.

Description: There is disagreement among clicker trainers on whether or not food should be delivered every time the clicker (conditioned reinforcer) is used. However, presenting a conditioned reinforcer without food can weaken the strength of the conditioned reinforcer and also disrupt its discriminative stimulus function. A within subjects reversal design was used with 2 dogs to compare the behavioral effects of continuous pairings (C+F condition) vs. intermittent pairings (C+C+F condition) of the clicker … more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Wennmacher, Pamela L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Multiple-respondent anecdotal assessments for behavior disorders; An analysis of interrater agreement and correspondence with treatment outcomes.

Description: The current study was designed to further evaluate the usefulness of anecdotal assessments. The goal of this study was to evaluate the overall agreement between multiple respondents on the primary function of aberrant behavior using the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) and the Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST) and, if agreement was obtained, to assess the effectiveness of treatment based on the outcome of the assessments. Results showed that anecdotal assessments were able to identify … more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Wolf, Roxanne
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Evaluating a positive parenting curriculum package: An analysis of the acquisition of key skills.

Description: With the increase in survival for children with cancer, part of the focus of current research is aimed towards evaluating how these children are adapting psychosocially. Neurocognitive deficits have been well established. However, there are multiple facets encompassing quality of life, including general mental health, lifestyles and health behaviors, and academic and cognitive functioning. The relationship between neurocognitive and psychosocial functioning has yet to be thoroughly evaluated. T… more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Berard, Kerri P.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Toward a systematic evaluation of evaluating favorable conditions in a parent training program: The pursuit of happiness.

Description: Research has shown that parents of children with disabilities, such as autism, experience significantly higher stress levels than parents of typically developing children. It has been suggested that parent education programs, in particular naturalistic communication training, will reduce parental stress. Most of the literature in this area has relied on parental reports and has only focused on decreasing stress and has not directly addressed increasing alternate feelings, such as happiness. In … more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Broome, Jessica L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Topographical analysis of reinforcement produced variability: Generalizations across settings and contingencies.

Description: This study evaluated the effects of programming a variability contingency on one object and the generalization of variability across other objects and contingencies when the defining features of the variable responses were topographical differences. A dog's interactions with five different objects were measured under both ANY (where any physical contact with the object would be reinforced on a fixed ratio schedule) and the VAR contingencies (where only the novel responses per trial would be rei… more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Gomez, Francisco
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Developing a Function-based Treatment for Problem Behavior Using a Structured Descriptive Assessment.

Description: This study evaluated the utility of structured descriptive assessment (SDA) to generate a hypothesis regarding the operant function of problem behavior when the analogue functional analysis (FA) failed to evoke problem behavior for an adult with developmental disabilities. The effectiveness of interventions based on that hypothesis was evaluated in the natural environment. The SDA succeeded in producing a relatively controlled baseline of problem behavior where the FA and direct observation cou… more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Harris, Curtis Joe
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Biofeedback and Verbal Feedback on the Training and Maintenance of Diaphragmatic Breathing

Description: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a computer program on the training and maintenance of diaphragmatic breathing. The biofeedback portion was visual computer training and the results were displayed concurrently with participants' breathing responses to monitor display. The verbal feedback portion was praise that was given and recorded when participants responded with predominantly diaphragmatic breathing at the scheduled moment and response instruction that was given when … more
Date: May 2003
Creator: Armstrong, Earl E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Monitoring and Incompatible Contingencies on Say/Do Correspondence.

Description: This study investigated effects of monitoring on correspondence between nonverbal responding and verbal descriptions of those contingencies, when verbal descriptions and contingencies were compatible and when incompatible. In the Nonverbal Component, the contingency for key pressing was either on a 0.8 s IRT or a 3.4 s IRT. In the Verbal Component, subjects made responses to a statement about the contingency for reinforcement in the Nonverbal Component. Shaping was used to establish targets of … more
Date: May 2003
Creator: Crye, Amy Arthur
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An 8-Step Program: Shaping and Fixed-Time Food Delivery Effects on Several Approximations and Undesired Responses in Goats.

Description: This study investigated the effects of a shaping program for halter training across 8 steps in the program and 4 trial-terminating, or "undesirable," responses. Three La Mancha goats (Capra hircus) located at the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, Texas were used for the study. A fixed-time 15 s (FT-15 s) was used during the baseline conditions, to examine the effects of response contingent and response-independent food deliveries, as well as to examine what preliminary steps might not necessarily … more
Date: May 2003
Creator: Fernandez, Eduardo J.
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Effects of Response Restriction on Non-Socially Maintained Self-Injury

Description: This study examined the effects of response restriction (blocking and protective equipment) on subsequent durations of self-injury with two female participants with developmental disabilities. First, a functional analysis was conducted with each participant to identify potential maintaining variables of the self-injury. Second, access to the response was systematically restricted in a multiple schedule restriction paradigm. A baseline extended alone was conducted without the restriction compone… more
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Date: May 2003
Creator: Blevins, Travis
Partner: UNT Libraries

Suppressive effects of a stimulus correlated with reprimands for automatically-maintained eye poking.

Description: A functional analysis, conducted to assess the variables maintaining the chronic eye poking of a female diagnosed with profound mental retardation, indicated that the behavior persisted in the absence of social contingencies. A procedure was initiated in a training environment in which a punisher (mild reprimand) was delivered contingent on eye poking in the presence, but not in the absence, of a neutral stimulus (wristbands). Using a combination of multiple baseline and multielement experiment… more
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Date: May 2003
Creator: McKenzie, Scott Daniel
Partner: UNT Libraries

The Effects of Alternative Contingencies on Instruction Following.

Description: The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of alternative contingencies on instruction following by an ABA design. Three college students consistently pressed keys 1-5-3 and 4-8-6 in the presence of the written instruction "Press 153" or "Press 486." During condition A, the contingencies for following and not following the instruction were the same: CON FR5 FR5 and CON FR20 FR20. During condition B, the contingencies for following and not following the instruction were different… more
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Date: May 2003
Creator: Patti, Nicole
Partner: UNT Libraries

A parametric analysis of the immediate and subsequent effects of response restriction on hand mouthing.

Description: The immediate and subsequent effects of different durations of response restriction were evaluated in a multiple schedule design. Response restriction components of 15, 30, and 60 minutes were conducted between 15 minute alone components. Levels of responding subsequent to the termination of response restriction procedures were compared to free operant levels prior to the implementation of response restriction. Responding during response restriction components reduced to near zero levels. Subse… more
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Date: May 2003
Creator: Soderlund, Michael J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Teaching Children with Autism Three Different Questions

Description: Children with autism often exhibit deficits in question-asking. This study replicated and extended Williams, Donley, and Keller.s (2000) training package: a modeling and reinforcement procedure to teach the use of 3 different questions about hidden objects. Two boys, aged 13 and 12, with primary diagnoses of autism, participated. A multiple baseline design across questions was used. Both children learned to ask all three questions: .What.s that?. .Can I see (item name)?. and .Can I have (item n… more
Date: December 2003
Creator: Cramer, Heather
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Assessment of Resident and Staff Activity in a State Residential Setting

Description: Previous studies have demonstrated the use of momentary time-sampling methods for the objective measurement of naturally occurring events (Zarcone, Iwata, Rodgers & Vollmer, 1993; Shore, Lerman, Smith, Iwata & DeLeon, 1995). These studies have provided information about observed levels and characteristics of direct care services, supervision, resident activity and facility conditions. The present study evaluated the utility of these assessment procedures in a residential facility for developmen… more
Date: December 2003
Creator: Galletta, Katharine Lena
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of Rate Contingent Consequences and Charting on Response Rates for Two Children with Autism.

Description: This study investigated the effects of a precision teaching package on response rates of children with autism. Prior to both experiments a preference assessment was conducted to identify high preference activities for each participant. Experiment 1 investigated whether response rates would shift as a function of rate-contingent consequences during an academic task. Different activities were associated with different rates of responding. The experimental package of 1 minute timings, rate conting… more
Date: May 2004
Creator: Berman, Christine M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Transfer of Mand Topographies to Tact Relations and Vice Versa in Two Vocal-Verbal Children with Autism

Description: Skinner (1957) suggested that verbal responses learned as mands are not necessarily emitted in tact relations and vice versa. Previous empirical research has found that newly acquired mands and tacts can be functionally independent. The present study investigated 1) whether novel responses taught in mand relations would be emitted as tacts when opportunity for tacting was presented; 2) whether novel responses taught in tact relations would be emitted as mands when opportunity for manding was pr… more
Date: May 2004
Creator: Castellani, Jill E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Mediated Generalization of the Effect of Reprimands Across Two Topographies of Self-Injury

Description: This study sought to assess the effects of pairing a neutral stimulus with a reprimand contingent on occurrences of two topographies of problem behavior. Using a multiple baseline withdrawal with a nested multi-element design, contingencies were first applied to eye poking and, subsequently, to a second behavior, skin picking. In each case, the participant wore wristbands (a previously neutral stimulus) during treatment sessions. Results indicated that the reprimands were effective in decreasin… more
Date: May 2004
Creator: Kliethermes, Lana L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Order effects of variability-contingent and variability-independent point delivery: Effects on operant variability and target sequence acquisition.

Description: Previous research has shown that variability is a reinforceable dimension of operant behavior. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that learning is facilitated when variability in responding is high. In this research, variability was observed within an operant composed of any sequence of six left and right key presses. Variability was either a requirement for point delivery (VAR conditions) or points were delivered independent of variability (ANY conditions). Two groups of college undergradu… more
Date: May 2004
Creator: Lee, Coral Em
Partner: UNT Libraries
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