On the Role of Attention in Naturally Occurring Matching Relations

Abstract

Prior researchers have evaluated the efficacy of using the matching law to describe naturally occurring behavior-environment interactions. However, spurious matching could be obtained if the response and environmental event were correlated, even if the event did not reinforce the response. To assess the likelihood of obtaining spurious matching when relating attention and problem behavior, we evaluated the problem behavior of 3 participants for whom attention did not serve as a reinforcer for problem behavior in a functional analysis. Both the simple and generalized matching equations were used to examine matching relations extracted from descriptive observations that were conducted in the participants' classrooms. The results of aggregated matching analyses showed that the proportional rate of responding approximately matched the proportional rate of contiguous adult attention. Matching analyses conducted for all participants showed correlations between attention and problem behavior. These results demonstrate that spurious matching can be obtained, and they highlight the role of functional analyses in the analysis of naturally occurring matching relations.DESCRIPTORS: behavior disorders, descriptive observations, functional analysis, matching law _______________________________________________________________________________Descriptive analyses are often conducted to infer the operant function of problem behavior (e.g., Anderson & Long, 2002). If it is accepted that a functional analysis is most appropriate for identifying the operant function of behavior, then a different application of descriptive methodology becomes available. Once a reinforcer is identified via functional analysis, descriptive data can be used to learn more about how behavior and reinforcers interact in natural environments. That is, descriptive observations can be used as an assay instead of as an assessment tool. Borrero and Vollmer (2002) used this approach to investigate the phenomenon of matching. They showed that stimulus events that functioned as reinforcers in a functional analysis were related to aberrant behavior in ways predicted by the matching law.The matching law is a quantitative formulation stating that the relative rate of responding should approximately equal, or match, the relative rate of reinforcement provided for those responses (Herrnstein, 1961). The simple matching equation can be expressed as follows:In this equation, R 1 represents the rate of responding for Response 1, R 2 represents the rate of responding for Response 2, r 1 represents the rate of reinforcement obtained for Response

A Comparison of Descriptive and Functional Analyses of Inappropriate Mealtime Behavior

“…High frequency caregiver responses may frequently follow IMB simply because of the frequency with which these events occur (see Thompson & Borrero for a review, 2011). If such an outcome should arise, spurious relations (correlations) may be unrelated to meaningful functional relations (St. Peter et al, 2005). Unconditional probability analyses should address this concern, as they provide information on the overall probability of events occurring, and are a source of comparison for conditional probabilities.…”

Matching in an Undisturbed Natural Human Environment

“…Although there is overwhelming evidence that these kinds of social responses in fact act as reinforcers (e.g., O'Leary & O'Leary, 1977), it would nevertheless be ideal to demonstrate that this was the case for each study of naturally occurring behavior in an undisturbed environment. This could be accomplished after the naturalistic data were collected, by making the putative reinforcers contingent on behavior in experiments with a subset of subjects using, perhaps, a reversal design to show control of behavior by the putative reinforcer (Snyder & Patterson, 1995; St. Peter et al, 2005).…”

Concurrent Reinforcement Schedules for Problem Behavior and Appropriate Behavior: Experimental Applications of the Matching Law

“…Alice engaged in problem behavior reinforced by adult attention, and escape from demands, and Amy engaged in problem behavior reinforced by access to tangibles and escape from demands. Functional analysis results have been published previously for Greg and Alice (Samaha et al, 2009), and Amy (Samaha et al; St. Peter et al, 2005).…”

“…Descriptive studies that have assessed the matching law generally have focused on severe problem behavior such as self‐injurious behavior (SIB), aggression, and property destruction (Borrero & Vollmer, 2002; Hoch & Symons, 2007; Martens & Houk, 1989; McDowell, 1982; Oliver, Hall, & Nixon, 1999; St. Peter et al, 2005; Symons, Hoch, Dahl, & McComas, 2003).…”