Temporal patterns of behavior from the scheduling of psychology quizzes.

Temporal patterns of behavior have been observed in real-life performances such as bill passing in the U.S. Congress, in-class studying, and quiz taking.

Effects of treatment integrity failures during differential reinforcement of alternative behavior: a translational model.

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is used frequently as a treatment for problem behavior. Previous studies on treatment integrity failures during DRA suggest that the intervention is robust, but research has not yet investigated the effects of different types of integrity failures. We examined the effects of two types of integrity failures on DRA, starting with a human operant procedure and extending the results to children with disabilities in a school setting.

Analyses of response-stimulus sequences in descriptive observations.

Descriptive observations were conducted to record problem behavior displayed by participants and to record antecedents and consequences delivered by caregivers. Next, functional analyses were conducted to identify reinforcers for problem behavior. Then, using data from the descriptive observations, lag-sequential analyses were conducted to examine changes in the probability of environmental events across time in relation to occurrences of problem behavior.

Applied implications of reinforcement history effects.

Although the influence of reinforcement history is a theoretical focus of behavior analysis, the specific behavioral effects of reinforcement history have received relatively little attention in applied research and practice. We examined the potential effects of reinforcement history by reviewing nonhuman, human operant, and applied research and interpreted the findings in relation to possible applied significance. The focus is on reinforcement history effects in the context of reinforcement schedules commonly used either to strengthen behavior (e.

An analysis of vocal stereotypy and therapist fading.

A functional analysis for a boy with Down syndrome and autism suggested that vocal stereotypy was maintained by automatic reinforcement. The analysis also showed that instructions and noncontingent attention suppressed vocal stereotypy. A treatment package consisting of noncontingent attention, contingent demands, and response cost effectively reduced vocal stereotypy.

Practical implications of data reliability and treatment integrity monitoring.

Data reliability and treatment integrity have important implications for clinical practice because they can affect clinicians' abilities to accurately judge the efficacy of behavioral interventions. Reliability and integrity data also allow clinicians to provide feedback to caregivers and to adjust interventions as needed. We present reasons why reliability and integrity measures are paramount in clinical work, discuss events that may result in decreased reliability or integrity, and provide several efficient means for collecting data and calculating reliability and integrity measures.