Treatment relapse, defined as the reemergence of problem behavior after treatment, is a serious difficulty faced by clinicians. Failures of treatment integrity (i.e., failure to implement interventions as intended) are often invoked to explain the reemergence of problem behavior. Basic studies suggest that the prevailing stimulus context might also contribute. We conducted 2 experiments in which reinforcement for a target response was followed by 2 phases of extinction with different or identical stimulus contexts relative to baseline (ABA renewal). In Experiment 1, pigeons served as subjects using procedures typical of those used in basic behavioral research. Experiment 2 was designed as a translational replication of Experiment 1, and children who had been diagnosed with autism served as participants. Returning to the previously reinforced stimulus context in both species produced a clear and immediate increase of extinguished responding. These findings are consistent with previous studies that have suggested that both reinforcement contingencies and stimulus context influence the reemergence of extinguished behavior.

Following reduction, behavior may recur when organisms are exposed to new or different environments. Such recurrences, called treatment relapse, are characterized by an increase of a previously reduced behavior. Renewal is a type of treatment relapse resulting from changes in stimulus contexts despite the ongoing maintenance of treatment. Renewal types include varying arrangements, such as ABA and ABC renewal, where each letter represents a different context. In the present series of translational analyses, we evaluated both ABA and ABC renewal and assessed whether these two renewal arrangements may be present in a single participant's behavior. Results produced evidence of both ABA and ABC renewal, and both types of renewal were detected in an individual participant's behavior.

Individuals diagnosed with dementia often emit disruptive inappropriate vocalizations, and functional analyses of inappropriate vocalizations in this population have produced inconclusive results. One reason may be that researchers have not presented the relevant antecedents or delivered consequences that were qualitatively similar to those typically delivered in the individual's environment. The purpose of this study was to identify environmental events that may be related to inappropriate vocalizations emitted by individuals with dementia. A 2-part descriptive assessment was conducted (narrative and structured). Conditional and unconditional probabilities were calculated to determine antecedent and consequent events that were correlated with inappropriate vocalizations. Results showed that at least 1 antecedent event was correlated with inappropriate vocalizations, and attention was likely to follow the occurrence of inappropriate vocalizations for all participants.

2016-12-23T18:44:59

No abstract