THE EFFECTS OF FIXED-TIME REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES ON FUNCTIONAL RESPONSE CLASSES: A TRANSLATIONAL STUDY

• Published in: Journal of applied behavior analysis Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 511 - 526
• Main Authors: Heinicke, Megan R, Carr, James E, LeBlanc, Linda A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012; Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior; The Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Subjects: Behavior; Behavior disorders; Behavior Modification; Behavior Problems; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Developmental disabilities; Developmental Disabilities - rehabilitation; Developmental psychology; Extinction; Extinction, Psychological; Families & family life; Female; fixed-time reinforcement; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Intellectual disabilities; Intervention; Male; noncontingent reinforcement; Positive Reinforcement; Preschool Children; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time - physiology; Reinforcement; Reinforcement (Psychology); Reinforcement Schedule; response class; response covariation; Responses; Schedules; Self Destructive Behavior; Studies; Teenagers; Topography; translational research; Preschool age; Human; Positive reinforcement; noncontingent reinforcement; Instrumental conditioning; Behavioral disorder; response covariation; Acquisition process; response class; Covariation; fixed-time reinforcement; translational research; Child; positive reinforcement
• ISSN: 0021-8855; 1938-3703
• DOI: 10.1901/jaba.2012.45-511

Research on functional response classes has applied significance because less severe forms of problem behavior have been found to co‐occur with more severe forms. In addition, the most severe forms of problem behavior are sometimes targeted for intervention without monitoring other less severe forms. In such cases, it is unknown whether and how untreated forms of problem behavior covary with the targeted behaviors. The present study employed a translational procedure (with button presses as the target behavior) to investigate response covariation under noncontingent reinforcement with typically developing preschoolers. The results indicated that noncontingent reinforcement was generally effective in decreasing all response class members when only one member was targeted.