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Whereas intertemporal choice procedures are a common method for examining impulsive choice in nonhuman subjects, the apparatus used to implement this procedure varies across studies. The purpose of the present study was to compare impulsive choice between a two‐lever chamber and a T‐maze. In Experiment 1, rats chose between a smaller, immediate reinforcer and a larger, delayed reinforcer, first in a two‐lever chamber and then in a T‐maze. Delay to the larger reinforcer changed in an ascending and descending order (0‐32 s) across sessions. Experiment 2 examined the same between‐apparatus comparison but under steady‐state conditions with the delay fixed at 32 s. In Experiment 1, choice for the larger, delayed reinforcer was generally higher in the T‐maze than in the two‐lever chamber. Similarly in Experiment 2, steady‐state choice for the larger, delayed reinforcer was higher in the T‐maze. Choice for the 32‐s delayed reinforcer was also greater in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1, suggesting that extended exposure to the delay is required for the T‐maze to yield reliable impulsive choice data. While the reasons for the between‐apparatus discrepancies are at present unknown, results from both experiments clearly demonstrate that the apparatus matters when assessing overall level and reliability of impulsive choice data.

The study of delay discounting, or valuation of future rewards as a function of delay, has contributed to understanding the behavioral economics of addiction. Accurate characterization of discounting can be furthered by statistical model selection given that many functions have been proposed to measure future valuation of rewards. The present study provides a convenient Bayesian model selection algorithm that selects the most probable discounting model among a set of candidate models chosen by the researcher. The approach assigns the most probable model for each individual subject. Importantly, effective delay 50 (ED50) functions as a suitable unifying measure that is computable for and comparable between a number of popular functions, including both one‐ and two‐parameter models. The combined model selection/ED50 approach is illustrated using empirical discounting data collected from a sample of 111 undergraduate students with models proposed by Laibson (1997); Mazur (1987); Myerson & Green (1995); Rachlin (2006); and Samuelson (1937). Computer simulation suggests that the proposed Bayesian model selection approach outperforms the single model approach when data truly arise from multiple models. When a single model underlies all participant data, the simulation suggests that the proposed approach fares no worse than the single model approach.

Several reinforcer‐related variables influence a response's resistance to change (Nevin, 1974). Reinforcer type (i.e., conditioned or unconditioned) is a reinforcer‐related variable that has not been studied with humans but may have clinical implications. In Experiment 1, we identified unconditioned and conditioned reinforcers of equal preference. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, we reinforced participants' behavior during a baseline phase using a multiple variable‐interval (VI) 30‐s VI 30‐s schedule with either conditioned (i.e., token) or unconditioned (i.e., food; one type of reinforcement in each component) reinforcement. After equal reinforcement rates across components, we introduced a disruptor. Results of Experiments 2 and 3 showed that behaviors were more resistant to extinction and distraction, respectively, with conditioned than with unconditioned reinforcers. Results of Experiment 4, however, showed that when prefeeding disrupted responding, behaviors were more resistant to change with unconditioned reinforcers than with conditioned reinforcers.

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist–Human Services (PDC‐HS) is an informant‐based tool designed to assess the environmental variables that contribute to poor employee performance in human services settings. We administered the PDC‐HS to 3 supervisors to assess the variables that contributed to poor performance by 4 staff members when securing clients in therapy rooms at a treatment center for children with autism. The PDC‐HS identified a lack of appropriate consequences as contributing to poor staff performance. We then evaluated a PDC‐HS‐indicated intervention as well as an intervention not suggested by PDC‐HS results. The PDC‐HS‐indicated intervention (graphed feedback) was effective to increase performance; the non‐PDC‐HS‐based intervention was ineffective.

We examined whether different durations of exposure to relevant establishing operations (EO) during treatment of problem behavior affected treatment efficacy and response bursting. In Study 1, we compared 2 functional communication training (FCT) interventions. In the first treatment, we used a card touch as the target mand; this was associated with limited exposure to the EO because we could physically guide the mand at prescribed times. In the other treatment, we used a vocal response as the mand; this was associated with longer exposure to the EO because it was not possible to guide the response. In Study 2, we exposed participants to time‐based reinforcement schedules that were yoked to the schedules of obtained reinforcement from the 2 FCT interventions in Study 1. Results indicated that limited exposure to the EO was associated with less response bursting, larger and more rapid reductions in problem behavior, and faster acquisition of the alternative mand.

A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of video modeling with embedded instructions on training teachers to implement 3 preference assessments. Each assessment was conducted with a confederate learner or a child with autism during generalization probes. All teachers met the predetermined mastery criterion, and 2 of the 3 demonstrated skill maintenance at 1‐month follow‐up.

This study extended the findings of Snyder, Higbee, and Dayton (2012) by presenting items via video during a paired‐stimulus preference assessment but without providing access contingent on selection. Subsequently, items identified as highly, moderately, and less preferred were assessed in a concurrent reinforcer assessment, which suggested that these items did indeed function as reinforcers.

Problem behavior exhibited by individuals with autism can be disruptive to family traditions, such as decorating for the holidays. We present data for a 6‐year‐old girl who engaged in automatically reinforced pica and destruction of holiday decorations. Treatment was evaluated within an ABCDCD reversal design. During baseline (Phases A and B), we observed elevated rates of problem behavior. We implemented differential reinforcement of alternative behavior in Phase C to teach a response to compete with problem behavior. Little change in toy play or problem behavior occurred. In Phase D, we added a facial screen to the differential reinforcement procedures, which resulted in increases in toy play and decreases in problem behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of how interventions for problem behavior can promote alternative behavior while they facilitate household activities and traditions.

When self‐restraint and self‐injurious behavior (SIB) co‐occur, self‐restraint might be maintained by negative reinforcement through the removal of SIB. The current study evaluated this possibility with an individual who exhibited hand‐to‐head SIB. Three functional analyses of SIB were conducted: (a) no consequences for self‐restraint, (b) self‐restraint blocked, and (c) hypothesized aversive effects of SIB blocked. The outcomes of the 3 analyses suggested that self‐restraint was maintained by negative reinforcement.

Due to issues of definition and measurement, the heavy emphasis on subjective craving in the measurement of acute motivation for alcohol and other drugs remains controversial. Behavioral economic approaches have increasingly been applied to better understand acute drug motivation, particularly using demand curve modeling via purchase tasks to characterize the perceived reinforcing value of the drug. This approach has focused on using putatively more objective indices of motivation, such as units of consumption, monetary expenditure, and price sensitivity. To extend this line of research, the current study used an alcohol purchase task to determine if, compared to a neutral induction, a personalized stress induction would increase alcohol demand in a sample of heavy drinkers. The stress induction significantly increased multiple measures of the reinforcing value of alcohol to the individual, including consumption at zero price (intensity), the maximum total amount of money spent on alcohol (O max ), the first price where consumption was reduced to zero (breakpoint), and the general responsiveness of consumption to increases in price (elasticity). These measures correlated only modestly with craving and mood. Self‐reported income was largely unrelated to demand but moderated the influence of stress on O max . Moderation based on CRH‐BP genotype (rs10055255) was present for O max , with T allele homozygotes exhibiting more pronounced increases in response to stress. These results provide further support for a behavioral economic approach to measuring acute drug motivation. The findings also highlight the potential relevance of income and genetic factors in understanding state effects on the perceived reinforcing value of alcohol.