Delay discounting describes the tendency to devalue delayed consequences or future prospects. The degree to which an individual discounts delayed events appears trait-like in that it is stable over time and across functionally similar situations. Steeply discounting delayed rewards is correlated with most substanceuse disorders, the severity of these disorders, rates of relapse to drug use, and a host of other maladaptive decisions affecting human health. Longitudinal data suggest steep delay discounting and high levels of impulsive choice are predictive of subsequent drug taking, which suggests (though does not establish) that reducing delay discounting could have a preventive health-promoting effect. Experimental manipulations that produce momentary or long-lasting reductions in delay discounting or impulsive choice are reviewed, and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie these effects are discussed. Shortcomings of each manipulation technique are discussed and areas for future research are identified. Although much work remains, it is clear that impulsive decision making can be reduced, despite its otherwise trait-like qualities. Such findings invite technique refinement, translational research, and hope.

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Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) may encounter situations, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, that preclude them from providing traditional in-person applied behavior-analytic services to clients. When conditions prevent BCBAs and behavior technicians from working directly with clients, digital instructional activities designed by BCBAs and delivered via a computer or tablet may be a viable substitute. Google applications, including Google Slides, Google Forms, and Google Classroom, can be particularly useful for creating and sharing digital instructional activities. In the current article, we provide task analyses for utilizing basic Google Slides functions, developing independent instructional activities, developing caregiver-supported instructional activities, and sharing activities with clients and caregivers. We also provide practical recommendations for implementing digital instructional activities with clients and caregivers.

Delay-exposure (DE) training consistently and robustly reduces impulsive choice in rats, but the behavioral mechanisms behind this effect are not yet understood. The present study evaluated if DE training works by mitigating aversion to delay-signaling stimuli—those encountered when rats chose the larger–later reward in impulsive choice assessments. Fifty-seven rats were randomly assigned to 120 days of training with delayed reinforcement, training with immediate reinforcement (IE), or to a no-training Control group. Consistent with prior experiments, DE rats made significantly fewer impulsive choices than IE or Control rats. Subsequently, in a separate assessment of delay aversion, rats were given the opportunity to press a lever to temporarily escape from stimuli correlated with long or short time-intervals to food. When these escape opportunities terminated delay-signaling stimuli in the impulsive-choice task, DE rats escaped significantly less than IE and Control rats. When escapes terminated FI-signaling stimuli (a procedure in which there is no response-reinforcer delay), the difference only approached significance. These results support the hypothesis that DE training reduces impulsive choice, in part, by reducing aversion to delay-signaling stimuli.

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Rats responded under a procedure in which relatively short lever-press durations produced 1 food pellet and longer presses produced 4 food pellets. Because duration is a continuous dimension of behavior, it was possible to arrange conditions in which a smaller reinforcer was available up until the moment that criterion for earning a larger reinforcer was satisfied. The difference in reinforcement criteria for the 2 reinforcer options adjusted during the session based on the rats' performance. Although strong conclusions were limited by a lack of stability in some phases, response durations appeared to be sensitive to both reinforcer magnitude and duration criteria. Median durations decreased for all rats when 4-pellet deliveries were no longer available, and they increased when 4-pellet deliveries were reintroduced. In addition, median durations decreased for all rats exposed to probe sessions in which 4 pellets were available immediately after lever depression. We propose that this assay provides a measure of impulsivity that may complement existing delay-discounting procedures.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many insurance companies approved the funding of telehealth-based behavior analytic services for both training and direct-care purposes. Activity schedules are a simple and effective intervention that can be used in the home environment to improve independence for children with ASD. Recent efforts have shifted the format of activity schedules from paper-based schedules to digital platforms that make the schedules more portable and provide easier access for both the caregiver and the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Google Slides® is a readily available web-based platform that has been used to design and deliver behavior analytic instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three child-caregiver dyads was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a caregiver-implemented digital activity schedule intervention on the independent play behaviors of children with ASD. The activity schedule was created and shared on the Google Slides® platform and caregivers received bug-in-ear (BIE) coaching from practitioners to implement the intervention. Regardless of some minor treatment implementation difficulties attributed to the remote service delivery and the digital format, the digital platform and coaching intervention were effective in increasing independent schedule following with minimal training on the part of the caregiver. We hope that the results of this study provide BCBAs with additional guidance on effective interventions and procedures for remote service delivery.