Children with autism often demonstrate less variable behavior than their typically developing peers and those with other cognitive disabilities. A possible reason for lack of response variability emitted by children with autism is that they do not have a variety of response forms in their repertoire. Multiple-exemplar training through the use of…

Non-verbal children with autism are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). One type of AAC device is a voice output communication aid (VOCA). The primary drawbacks of past VOCAs were their expense and portability. Newer iPod-based VOCAs alleviate these concerns. This dissertation sought to extend the iPod-based VOCA…

A series of experiments on operant variability by Neuringer and colleagues (e.g., Neuringer, 1986, 2002; Page & Neuringer, 1985) have been repeatedly cited as showing that behavioral variability can be reinforced by making reinforcement contingent on it. They showed that the degree of variability in pigeons' eight-peck sequences, as measured by U…

The present study assessed the effects of systematically separating the cue from the response in temporally defined schedules of delayed signaled reinforcement. Identical schedules were used to study the effects of the independent variable on response acquisition and response maintenance. In the first experiment, 8 groups of 3 naive rats were…

Observational learning is an important area in the field of psychology and behavior science more generally. Given this, it is essential that behavior analysts articulate a sound theory of how behavior change occurs through observation. This paper begins with an overview of seminal research in the area of observational learning, followed by a…

An operant conditioning situation for the blow fly ("Protophormia terrae novae") is described. Individual flies are trained to enter and reenter a hole as the operant response. Only a few sessions of contingent reinforcement are required to increase response rates. When the response is no longer followed by food, the rate of entering the hole…

The experimental analysis of delay of reinforcement is considered from the perspective of three questions that seem basic not only to understanding delay of reinforcement but also, by implication, the contributions of temporal relations between events to operant behavior. The first question is whether effects of the temporal relation between…

Top-ranked items were identified during 30-min free-operant preference assessments for 9 individuals. Data from each session were analyzed to identify the item (a) that was engaged with first in each session and (b) to which the most responding was allocated after 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, and 25 min had elapsed in each session. The results…

Amid the novel terms and original analyses in Skinner's "Verbal Behavior", the importance of his discussion of multiple control is easily missed, but multiple control of verbal responses is the rule rather than the exception. In this paper we summarize and illustrate Skinner's analysis of multiple control and introduce the terms "convergent…

Examination of responding under various schedule arrangements is a core component of many analyses of operant behavior. Much of the pioneering work in applied behavior analysis was bred from laboratory research involving the exposure of nonhuman subjects to a variety of schedule arrangements. Hodos (1961) described a schedule arrangement in which…

This article reviews evidence from basic and translational research with pigeons and humans suggesting that the persistence of operant behavior depends on the contingency between stimuli and reinforcers, and considers some implications for clinical interventions. (Contains 4 figures.)

Adjunctive or induced behavior is generated during a variety of schedules of reinforcement. Several theoretical conceptualizations suggest that rate of reinforcement is the primary variable controlling the strength or levels of induced behavior. The operant response requirement within the schedule context has not been extensively studied as a…

In this article, I argue that a class of religious behaviors exists that is induced, for prepared organisms, by specific stimuli that are experienced according to a response-independent schedule. Like other schedule-induced behaviors, the members of this class serve as minimal units out of which functional behavior may arise. In this way, there…

Some 80, white, schizophrenic patients were administered the Taylor Personality Scale of Manifest Anxiety (MAS), the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) and were tested on an operant conditioning task. Hypotheses tested were: (1) effectiveness of social reinforcement (verbal approval) on a verbal conditioning task would be enhanced by subjecting…

The rate of habituation to food is inversely related to energy intake, and overweight children may habituate slower to food and consume more energy. This study compared patterns of sensitization, as defined by an initial increase in operant or motivated responding for food, and habituation, defined by gradual reduction in responding, for macaroni…