Instruction that purposefully develops emergent learning is inherently efficient and is well-supported in behavior science research. This type of instruction is underpinned by two contemporary theories of human language and learning - Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and Stimulus Equivalence. Unfortunately, RFT is not widely taught in higher education in research and practice. Consequently, the adoption of these teaching methodologies at a meaningful scale is out of proportion with their potential benefits for learners across many populations (Dixon, et al., 2018). Most research that does make use of these theories in computer-based instruction involves proprietary or costly software and is therefore unlikely to be replicable. Few low-cost solutions have been proposed to date to address barriers to adoption and application, and the solutions that have been proposed are missing critical features (e.g., Blair & Shawler, 2020). This project 1) determined specific barriers to implementing computer-based derived stimulus relations research and practice, 2) attempted to fill this gap, by developing instruction and training for researchers and practitioners to code their own web-based RFT/equivalence-based instruction tasks, and 3) demonstrated the effectiveness of the above web-based solution via training on derived stimulus relations key concepts and terms. This project supports the methods of behavior science researchers to align with open science standards and provide a tool for researchers and instructors to efficaciously deliver instruction to meet the needs of their learners.

Children on the autism spectrum often demonstrate little variability in their use of language and interaction in social situations. Some of these difficulties have historically been attributed to weak or absent perspective-taking abilities. Relational Frame Theory has recently emerged as a framework for understanding complex social behavior and cognition, including perspective-taking, from an ecological viewpoint. Previous studies have illustrated the applicability of such a framework with children from ranging from pre-school to school-age, with and without an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Despite early support for these approaches, researchers have strived to deliver these intervention protocols in more naturalistic and naturally-occurring contexts. The purpose of this study was to further extend a relational training protocol into naturalistic contexts (e.g., social situations free of adult prompting). This study utilized a novel protocol in which a same-aged peer delivered an intervention to improve the relational responding thought to underpin perspective-taking abilities. Through developing software specific to relational responding and child-use, school-age children appropriately delivered a multiple exemplar teaching protocol across multiple levels of difficulty. Results indicate that a relational training protocol delivered using technology was effective in improving relational repertoires (e.g., perspective-taking), could be implemented by a school-age student and was preferred over traditional teaching methods. / School Psychology

Cognitive performance is a central part of a range of daily activities. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions may improve cognitive performance by enhancing psychological flexibility. Previous research has found correlations between the constructs of psychological flexibility and cognitive flexibility (Whiting et al., 2017). However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the idea that enhancing psychological flexibility could enhance cognitive performance. The current study investigated whether a defusion exercise ‘The Observer’ could enhance cognitive performance in a nonclinical sample of adults (N=71). In addition, the study also sought to investigate whether a defusion exercise could have an effect on experienced levels of stress and also one’s evaluation of one’s own performance in comparison to others. Results indicated that there was no significant difference between the Defusion condition and Control condition regarding cognitive performance. Both conditions performed slightly worse post-intervention. No significant difference was found regarding the evaluations of one's own performance in comparison to others. However, the results showed that the defusion exercise had a positive effect in reducing experienced levels of stress for the Defusion condition compared to the Control condition.

This basic study was designed to explore the conceptualization of prejudice as a form of contextually controlled, derived, and arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Basic studies utilizing RFT methodologies have yielded examples of how stimulus functions of one set of stimuli, such as a stereotyped group, can transform the functions of another stimulus, such as an individual. Priming procedures, as contextual cues, have been used to affect prejudicial responding. Stimuli participating in relational frames have been shown to be sensitive to such priming procedures; however, the role of context in the priming of derived relational responses has not yet been established. In the present study, 11 participants were trained to respond to four 3-member equivalence classes, consisting of word-like stimuli, under the contextual control of two background colors. Participants then completed a single-word lexical decision task in which prime/target pairs, consisting of related and unrelated pairs, were presented with and without contextual cues. For participants who successfully completed the training phase, response latencies to identify related pairs were generally shorter than for pairs involving a neutral word. However, response latencies between related pairs and unrelated pairs, consisting only of previously trained stimuli, failed to meet statistically significant differentiation. Responses were also similar between contextually related and contextually unrelated word pairs. The results failed to indicate the presence of a contextually controlled semantic priming effect at a statistically significant level; however, these results do suggest the possible presence of an episodic priming effect.

Relational Frame Theory research involves either of two protocols utilized to establish relational networks and functions for stimuli in those relational networks. Years of research indicate the most prevalent method involves first establishing a relational frame, conditioning one of the stimuli to acquire a particular function, and then providing a test to see if the function trained to one of the stimuli in the network transferred through the relational network to other stimuli. The less common method involves first training a particular function for a stimulus, entering that stimulus in a relational network with at least two other stimuli, and then subsequently providing a test to see if the function transferred. Hayes, Kohlenberg, and Hayes (1991) hypothesized that not only do both procedures work, but there is also no differentiation between the two with regards to transformation of stimulus function. Although both protocols have been used in the RFT literature, a direct comparison has never been made. The current study directly examines that comparison in a within-subject analysis to determine if there may be differentiated results in transformation of stimulus function based on the protocol used. A within-subjects analysis indicates that subsequent probes of transformation of stimulus function probes yielded similar levels of correct responding in both training protocols, and thus supporting the hypothesis put forth by Hayes and colleagues (1991).

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious disorder with long-term consequences for those afflicted. No evidence-based care is available for adults with full or subthreshold AN. The thesis research investigated aspects of emotion and cognition relevant to the maintenance of AN that might inform psychological treatment. In addition, the effectiveness of a recent psychotherapy model of AN was investigated. Study I investigated alexithymia and emotional awareness and their associations with depression, anxiety, and perfectionism among patients with AN compared with a control group. The AN group exhibited the same level of emotional awareness as did the control group and the same level of alexithymia when controlling for depression and anxiety. Alexithymia and emotional awareness were not associated, despite representing an overlapping construct. The results of the present study indicate that those with AN can trust their emotional awareness. Study II explored implicit pro-thin and anti-fat attitudes (towards the self and others), striving for thinness (loosely corresponding to positive reinforcement), and avoidance of fatness (loosely corresponding to negative reinforcement). The AN and the control groups were found to have equally strong implicit pro-thin and striving for thinness attitudes. The AN group exhibited stronger implicit anti-fat and avoidance of fatness attitudes (loosely corresponding to negative reinforcement) than did the control group. There was no association between implicit and explicit measures. The results are in line with the over-evaluation of weight and shape as a core feature of eating disorders. Study III compared the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and treatment as usual (TAU) for adults with AN after day-care. Follow-up measures indicated no difference in improvement or deterioration between the two groups. The level of perfectionism was reduced in the ACT group relative to the TAU group. The study was compromised by a lower inflow of patients than anticipated and by a high drop-out rate, and thus fails to provide evidence of a difference between the two groups. The present thesis demonstrates that emotional awareness is intact in those with AN and that implicit attitudes concerning weight and shape reflect the explicit attitudes, although without association. The treatment study indicates that, when designing treatment, it is important to consider the ambivalence to treatment among those suffering from AN, which is reflected in the high drop-out rate in the present study.

Perspective taking is a pivotal behavioral repertoire essential for social functioning and is recognized as a hallmark deficit of the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Recent advancements in the Relational Frame Theory have led to the development of a perspective-taking training protocol shown to improve performance on Theory of Mind tasks in typically developing children; however, there has been little research on the generality of these findings in children with ASD. The impact of deictic responding on social interaction is also undetermined. The current study aimed to: a), evaluate the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training of deictic relations on perspective taking abilities in children with ASD, b), assess the impact of deictic relations on naturalistic Theory of Mind tasks, and c), assess generality of the deictic repertoire on pretend play. All three participants acquired deictic repertoires through double reversed complexity. Acquisition of the relational operants was variable and required many sessions for each participant. Two of three participants showed transfer of perspective taking to the Strange Stories test, all three participants showed overall improvement in performance on various Theory of Mind tasks; and lastly, participants showed mixed results on transfer to pretend play. Implications for using multiple exemplar training in supporting social understanding, prerequisite skills for deictic relational responding, and training strategies are discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo Rodrigues Costa Boavista.pdf: 1392154 bytes, checksum: 07f3bfa1630aa7feecb15343ca51e287 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-21 / Relational Frame Theory (RFT) was proposed by Steven Hayes and Aaron Brownstein in 1985. Only in 2001 the first book whose content was exclusively dedicated to present RFT proposal and application fields was released. Inspired by research on stimulus equivalence and operant understanding of language RFT proponents argue that verbal behavior is closely related to a high order operant strengthened since early childhood via multiple exemplars training. This operant - arbitrarily applicable relational responding is defined by the properties of mutual implication, combinatorial implication, and transformation of stimuli function. RFT has received criticism directed to iits philosophical foundations, theoretical assumptions and regarding methodological research practices that guarantee its empirical support. This study aimed to review the empirical literature produced in the light of the RFT analyzing bibliometric aspects (year of publication, authors, affiliation of authors, journals, journals´ relevancy rates), methodological aspects (participants´ age, diagnosis and education, type and site of application, material and equipment used, relational frame employed, experimental task and measurement used) and trials to comprehend phenomena traditionally explore by other areas of knowledge/research lines/theories. 85 articles published between 1991 and May 2013 were reviewed. The Psychological Record led publications (42 articles). Studies majority employed participants from 18 years old onwards. Only 8% considered participants with psychiatric diagnosis. Just one publication was conducted in a group setting. Great part of the studies used computerized tasks. In terms of relational frames 68 studies investigated coordinated relations. 53 publications employed simultaneous matching-to-sample procedure. Between 1991 and 2001 there were nine studies that combined at least two measures but between 2006 and May 2013 there were 35. We found articles in which phenomena traditionally explored by areas such as philosophy, heuristic, clinics, theory of mind, neuroscience, among others, were discussed. Results show that RFT researchers produced empirical data through a variety of methodological conditions. However, we didn´t find evidence on non-human subjects or studies which assessed results in terms of sociodemographic variables or number of training and testing trials / A Teoria das Molduras Relacionais (Relational Frame Theory RFT) foi proposta por Steven Hayes e Aaron Brownstein em 1985. Apenas em 2001 foi lançado o primeiro livro cujo conteúdo era exclusivamente dedicado a apresentar sua proposta e indicar campos para aplicação. Inspirados nas pesquisas em equivalência de estímulos e na compreensão operante da linguagem os proponentes da RFT argumentam que o comportamento verbal está relacionado a um operante de ordem superior fortalecido desde a infância via treino de múltiplos exemplares. Este operante responder relacional arbitrariamente aplicável define-se pelas propriedades de implicação mútua, implicação combinatória e transformação de função de estímulos. A RFT vem recebendo críticas de cunho filosófico, teórico e metodológico. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo revisar a literatura empírica produzida à luz da RFT analisando aspectos bibliométricos (ano de publicação, autores, filiação dos autores, periódico, índices de relevância dos periódicos), metodológicos (faixa etária, diagnóstico e escolaridade dos participantes, tipo e local de aplicação, material e equipamentos utilizados, moldura relacional empregada, tarefa experimental e medida utilizadas) e tentativas de compreender fenômenos tradicionalmente estudados por outras linhas de pesquisa/teorias/áreas do conhecimento. Foram revistos 85 artigos publicados entre 1991 e maio de 2013. Identificou-se que o The Psychological Record liderou o número de publicações (42 artigos). A maioria das pesquisas tinha como participantes indivíduos de 18 anos em diante. Apenas 8% publicações consideraram participantes com diagnóstico psiquiátrico. Apenas uma publicação foi conduzida em contexto de grupo. A maior parte dos estudos utilizou tarefas computadorizadas. No que tange às molduras relacionais 68 estudos investigaram relações de coordenação. 53 publicações empregaram procedimentos de matching-to-sample simultâneo. Entre 1991 e 2001 foram identificadas nove pesquisas que combinavam ao menos duas medidas, já entre 2006 e maio de 2013 havia 35. Foram observados estudos nos quais fenômenos tipicamente abordados pela filosofia, heurística, clínica comportamental, teoria da mente, neurociências, entre outras, foram discutidos. Os resultados mostram que os pesquisadores que trabalham sob a perspectiva da RFT produziram dados empíricos a partir de uma diversidade de configurações metodológicas. Contudo, não foram identificadas evidências empíricas com sujeitos não humanos, estudos que avaliassem os resultados obtidos em termos de variáveis sóciodemográficas e pesquisas em que fossem correlacionados resultados à número de tentativas de treino/teste

The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend recent findings in the functional contextual literature by 1) establishing complex deictic relational responding skills in 3 persons diagnosed with Schizophrenia and mild-moderate Mental Retardation and 2) assessing generalization through pre and post-instructional measures of Social Anhedonia and Theory of Mind functioning. Results suggest that increasingly complex levels of deictic relational responses were acquired and mastered by all 3 participants and that generalization extended to the Deceptive Container Task (ToM levels 4 & 5) and Hinting Task. Support is provided for the notion that perspective taking skills might be shaped through operant conditioning of deictic frames and that acquisition of these skills may generalize to novel stimuli and settings.

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