The purpose of this study was to observe the differences in English achievement, critical-thinking ability, and attitude toward subject attributable to two scheduling approaches -- "Concurrent" and "Intensive"--in the teaching of first-semester freshman English composition to community college students. Further, the study was initiated in order to provide factual information as a basis for administrative and instructional judgments affecting future planning for accelerated scheduling at the experimental institution. Two classes of first-semester freshman English composition, meeting three hours weekly for fifteen weeks, comprised the control group (Concurrent); two classes of first-semester freshman English composition, meeting nine hours weekly for five weeks, comprised the experimental group (Intensive). The same form of three criterion instruments was administered to both groups before and after the experimental treatment. The instruments were the Cooperative English Expression Test, the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, and the Purdue Attitude Scale, Part A -- Attitude Toward Any Subject. Three instructors were involved in the experiment during the fall and spring semesters of the 1973-74 school year. Conventional methods of instruction, using the same course of study, were duplicated in all situations. Statistical analyses utilized in the study were analysis of covariance and multiple linear regression. It was felt that Intensive scheduling was superior to Concurrent as a means of promoting student-faculty harmony. Also, the frustrations experienced within the traditional classroom situation could be lessened by granting greater freedom from the constraints of hourly schedules and competing classes. With tensions reduced, English proficiency could be increased. Acting upon these suppositions, three hypotheses--related to each of the criterion measures-- were formulated. All hypotheses stated that the adjusted post-test scores for the experimental groups would be significantly greater than the adjusted post-test scores for the control groups. The results of the experiment, however, showed no significant difference for any of the hypotheses at the . 05 level of confidence; thus, all were rejected. Within the limitations of this study, it was evident that any difference in the effectiveness of the two scheduling approaches for first-semester freshman composition was negligible. But of significance was the observation that a quality instructional program could be effectively adapted to scheduling variations. In general, the successful implementation of any such variation was dependent upon careful course planning and widespread publicity. Furthermore, attitudes toward a subject did not seem to be materially altered as a result of differences in scheduling format. Pertinent to the improvement of the English discipline, the study revealed a strong correlation between critical-thinking ability and skill in English expression. It appeared, however, that class attendance was more important in the improvement of English skill--especially in accelerated classes--than it was in the improvement of critical-thinking ability. In conclusion, the possibilities of an expanded academic program should be fully investigated as a scheduling option for the community college. In this connection, continuing research should examine the effects of various combinations of grouping plans upon learning. Related goals and objectives should be formulated and program particulars transmitted to students. Available data, defining the type of student most likely to benefit from scheduling options, should be utilized in an effort to create a more favorable total situation.

The general purpose of the current study was to evaluate the potency of different categories of reinforcers with young children diagnosed with developmental delays. The participants were two boys and one girl who were between the ages of seven and eight. In Phase 1, we evaluated the reinforcing potency of tokens, edible items, and leisure items by using a progressive ratio (PR) schedule. For two participants, we found that tokens resulted in the highest PR break points. For one participant, edibles resulted in the highest break points (tokens were found to have the lowest break points). In Phase 2, we evaluated the effects of presession access on the break points of edibles and tokens. This manipulation served as a preliminary analysis of the extent to which tokens might function as generalized conditioned reinforcers. During Phase 2, presession access altered the break points of edibles, but not tokens. The findings of the current study suggest that PR schedules may be useful as a means to better assess certain dimensions of tasks and how they affect reinforcer effectiveness (e.g., amount of effort the client is willing to exert, the duration at which the client willing to work, how many responses the client will emit, etc.), and to evaluate to what extent tokens actually function as generalized conditioned reinforcers.

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has gained significant importance due to its potential support for a wide range of applications. Most of the WSN applications consist of a large numbers of distributed nodes that work together to achieve common objects. Running a large number of nodes requires an efficient mechanism to bring them all together in order to form a multi-hop wireless network that can accomplish some specific tasks. Even with recent developments made in WSN technology, numbers of important challenges still stand as vulnerabilities for WSNs, including energy waste sources, synchronisation leaks, low network capacity and self-configuration difficulties. However, energy efficiency remains the priority challenging problem due to the scarce energy resources available in sensor nodes. These concerns are managed by medium access control (MAC) layer protocols. MAC protocols designed specifically for WSN have an additional responsibility of managing radio activity to conserve energy in addition to the traditional functions. This thesis presents advanced research work carried out in the context of saving energy whilst achieving the desired network performance. Firstly the thesis contributes by proposing Overlapped Schedules for MAC layer, in which the schedules of the neighbour clusters are overlapped by introducing a small shift time between them, aiming to compensate the synchronisation errors. Secondly, this thesis proposed a modified architecture derived from S-MAC protocol which significantly supports higher traffic levels whilst achieving better energy efficiency. This is achieved by applying a parallel transmission concept on the communicating nodes. As a result, the overall efficiency of the channel contention mechanism increases and leads to higher throughput with lower energy consumption. Finally, this thesis proposed the use of the Adaptive scheme on Border Nodes to increase the power efficiency of the system under light traffic load conditions. The scheme focuses on saving energy by forcing the network border nodes to go off when not needed. These three contributions minimise the contention window period whilst maximising the capacity of the available channel, which as a result increase network performance in terms of energy efficiency, throughput and latency. The proposed system is shown to be backwards compatible and able to satisfy both traditional and advanced applications. The new MAC protocol has been implemented and evaluated using NS-2 simulator, under different traffic loads and varying duty cycle values. Results have shown that the proposed solutions are able to significantly enhance the performance of WSNs by improving the energy efficiency, increasing the system throughput and reducing the communication delay.

Sometimes, changes in consequences are accompanied by a clear stimulus change explicitly arranged by the experimenter. Other times when new consequences are in effect, there is little or no accompanying stimulus change explicitly arranged by the experimenter. These differences can be seen in the laboratory as multiple (signaled) schedules and mixed (unsignaled) schedules. The current study used college students and a single-subject design to examine the effects of introducing signaled and unsignaled schedules, and the transitions between them. In one phase, a card was flipped from purple to white every time the schedule was switched from VR-3 to FT-10. In another phase, the schedule still changed periodically, but the card always remained on the purple side. Results showed that the participants' responding was controlled by the schedule of reinforcement, by the color of the card, or both. These results suggest that changes in patterns of reinforcement lead to changes in stimulus control. In addition, the stimulus control for a behavior can come from several different sources. During teaching, it may facilitate the development of stimulus control to change the environment when a new behavior is required.

O presente estudo é formado por dois experimentos (Experimento 1 e Experimento 2) que empregaram procedimento de atraso de reforço não sinalizado non-resetting [esquema tandem em que o segundo componente ocorre em tempo fixo (FT)]. Os experimentos tiveram como objetivo geral manipular experimentalmente relações de contingência e contigüidade utilizando diferentes esquemas de reforço (esquema dependente de resposta, esquema dependente da resposta com liberação atrasada do reforço e esquema independente de resposta). Mais especificamente, os experimentos tiveram como objetivo verificar os efeitos produzidos pela introdução do atraso do reforço sobre a taxa e a distribuição de freqüência no tempo das respostas de pressão à barra, emitidas por ratos submetidos a esquemas de intervalo variável (VI) e razão variável (VR).No Experimento 1, os efeitos da introdução de um atraso de 5 s foram comparados à liberação de água independente da resposta (VT). Os resultados do experimento mostraram que, em linha de base (presença de contingência e contigüidade), o esquema VR gerou, relativamente ao VI, taxas de respostas mais elevadas. Com a introdução do atraso de reforço (presença de contingência e contigüidade reduzida) houve diminuição nas taxas de respostas dos sujeitos de ambos os grupos em relação à linha de base, com diminuição maior nas taxas de respostas dos sujeitos do Grupo VI. Na vigência do VT (ausência de contingência, mas não de contigüidade), esta diminuição foi ainda mais acentuada. Os efeitos diferenciados do atraso nos esquemas VI e VR foram detalhados por meio da distribuição de freqüência de respostas no tempo, de modo a se identificarem os valores de atraso que efetivamente ocorreram (isto é, o intervalo entre a liberação do reforço e a última resposta anteriormente emitida). Para os sujeitos do Grupo VI, os valores de atrasos registrados se concentraram geralmente em valores próximos ao atraso programado de 5 s enquanto que, para os sujeitos do Grupo VR, os intervalos efetivamente registrados assumiram valores menores. Uma explicação para esses resultados deve-se às próprias características dos esquemas. Deste modo, a probabilidade dos atrasos registrados se concentrarem no valor do atraso programado é maior no VI do que no VR. No Experimento 2, foi verificado o efeito da introdução de diferentes valores de atraso - 2, 5 e 8 s - sobre a taxa e a distribuição de freqüência de respostas, submetendo-se ratos ingênuos aos esquemas de VI e VR, com e sem atraso de reforço. Os resultados do Experimento 2 mostraram que, com a introdução dos diferentes valores de atraso de reforço (presença de contingência e contigüidade parametricamente manipulada), houve diminuições nas taxas de respostas dos sujeitos de ambos os grupos. A análise por meio da distribuição de freqüência dos valores de atrasos mostrou que para os sujeitos de ambos os grupos - VI e VR, os valores de atrasos registrados assumiram os menores intervalos quando o atraso foi de 2 s, concentraram-se em valores próximos ao atraso programado, quando o atraso foi de 5 s e, foram distribuídos entre os diferentes intervalos quando o atraso foi de 8 s. Resultados diferentes, porém, foram observados em dois sujeitos cujos valores de atrasos se concentraram nos valores de atrasos programados. No conjunto, os resultados de ambos os experimentos mostram que apesar das taxas de respostas semelhantes, identificam-se efeitos do atraso sob a distribuição do responder quando os sujeitos estão sob VI ou VR. Efeitos que não puderam ser observados quando a análise dos dados limitou-se à taxa de resposta, medida esta mais freqüentemente usada na investigação de relações de contingência e contigüidade. / The present study comprises two experiments (experiment 1 and experiment 2) that applied delayed reinforcement [non-resentting] procedure [schedule in which the second component operates on a fixed time condition (FT)]. The main purpose was to manipulate experimentally contingencies and contiguity relations by using different reinforcement schedules (response dependent schedule, response dependent schedule with delayed reinforcement and response independent schedule). The experiments investigated the effects of delayed reinforcement imposition on the lever press response rate and distribution of frequency on time, by exposing rats to variable interval (VI) and variable ratio schedule (VR). Experiment 1 compared effects of 5 s delays imposition with response independent water presentation. Experiment 1 showed that VR schedule engendered, in baseline condition (contingency and contiguity condition), higher response rates than did VI schedule. Delayed reinforcement (contingency and reduced contiguity condition) produced lower response rates, in both groups, than that of baseline condition. The lowest rates were observed in VI group. During VT condition (no contingency, but with contiguity), the rate decrease was accentuated. The different effects of delay under VI and VR schedules were showed in detail by the distribution of response frequency on time so that the effective delay values could be identified (the interval between reinforcement presentation and the last emitted response). In VI group, the observed delay values were in general near the programmed 5 s delay, whereas the intervals effectively observed, in VR group, were lower than the programmed 5 s delay. The schedules features can explain these results. The observed delays are more likely to be near the delay programmed value in VI than in VR schedule. Experiment 2 showed the effect of imposition of different delay values – 2, 5 and 8 s- on the response rate and frequency distribution, by exposing naïve rats to VI and VR schedules, with and without reinforcement delay. The experiment 2 revealed that the response rates decreased, in both groups, when different reinforcement delay values were presented (contingency and parametrically manipulated contiguity). The analysis of distribution of delay values frequency showed that the registered delay values were lower than the programmed 2 s delay, delay values were in general near the programmed 5 s delay and distributed over the different values in both groups (VI and VR). Different findings were, however, observed in two subjects whose delay values were near the programmed delay values. The results of both experiments, taken together, indicate that the analysis of distribution of delay values frequency reveals the different effects of delay on VI and VR schedule. These effects could not be observed when the data analysis took into account only response rate, a more usual measure employed in investigations on relationship between contingency and contiguity.

Responder mantido por relação acidental com reforço, comportamento supersticioso, pode ser facilitado por variáveis sociais como a modelação. O presente estudo investigou o comportamento supersticioso em um procedimento com ou sem substituição de participantes. No procedimento com substituição, um participante trabalhava em uma tarefa no computador enquanto outro o observava. Quando terminava a tarefa, o participante observador passava a realizar a tarefa e outro participante era chamado para observá-lo. A tarefa básica envolveu a programação de um esquema múltiplo com componentes de VT e EXT. Os participantes podiam emitir respostas, por meio da manipulação de um mouse, em um retângulo colorido apresentado na tela do computador. Dois grupos de oito participantes foram constituídos para avaliar a transmissão do padrão desenvolvido em VT EXT, designados Cultura A e Cultura B. Cada uma dessas duas culturas começava com um experimentador confederado, que respondia no componente VT e não respondia no componente EXT. As cores do retângulo que sinalizavam os componentes VT e EXT eram alteradas a cada troca de participante, de modo a favorecer o responder em ambas as contingências a cada vez que o novo participante era colocado na tarefa. Em um Grupo de Exposição Individual, cada participante foi exposto a três sessões experimentais seguidas, sem acesso a modelo. Ao final de cada sessão, os participantes eram solicitados a estimar o controle que tinham sobre a tarefa. Resultados mostraram que houve mais respostas em VT e em EXT para os participantes com o procedimento com troca de participantes do que para os do Grupo de Exposição Individual, indicando o efeito do comportamento do outro sobre o desempenho em esquema múltiplo. Participantes responderam tanto em EXT quanto em VT, mostrando que o desempenho não estava sendo mantido pela relação acidental com reforço, mas sim pela história prévia de observação do comportamento do modelo. Não houve qualquer tipo de correlação entre o desempenho não verbal e estimativa de controle / Superstitious behavior as response maintained by accidental relation with reinforcement can be facilitated by social variables such as modelling. Present study examined superstitious behavior in a procedure involving participants replacement or not. In replacement procedure one of the participants worked on a task on the computer while the other watched. When finished the task, the participant who was observing passed to perform the task and another participant was asked to observe. Programmed task involved basically a multiple schedule with VT and EXT components. Participants could emit responses by mouse clicking in a colored rectangle presented on computer screen. Two groups of eight subjects called \"Culture A\" and \"Culture B\" were made to evaluate developed EXT VT transmission. Each of these two cultures began with an experimenter confederate, who answered VT component but not EXT component. Rectangles color signaled VT and EXT components were changed when participant changed in order to favor responding in both contingencies with each new participant. In Individual Exhibition Group, each participant was exposed to three consecutive experimental sessions with no access. At the end of each session, participants were asked to estimate the control they had over the task. Results showed there were more responses in VT and EXT on replacing participants procedure than Individual Exhibition Group, indicating other\'s behavior effect on multiple schedule performance. Participants answered both EXT and in VT, showing that the performance was not being maintained by the accidental relation with reinforcement, but the history of observing models behavior. There was no correlation between nonverbal performance and estimation control

A intervenção no cérebro e a possível influência no responder dos organismos têm sido alvo de diversas pesquisas que visam analisar tal relação. Deste modo, o presente estudo busca fornecer indicadores dos possíveis efeitos do fechamento das suturas cranianas sobre a aprendizagem discriminativa em esquemas de reforçamento. Para isso, serviram como sujeitos quatro ratos cirurgicamente intactos e nove submetidos a diferentes procedimentos cirúrgicos para o fechamento das suturas cranianas. Os sujeitos, com idades entre dois e oito dias de vida, foram submetidos a quatro fases experimentais em caixas de condicionamento operante. Na primeira fase, respostas de pressão à barra foram modeladas e, na seqüência, 60 respostas foram reforçadas em esquema de reforçamento contínuo (CRF) por três sessões consecutivas. Na segunda fase, o esquema de CRF foi substituído por esquemas de intervalos fixos (FI) com três valores aumentados gradualmente (FI 4 s, FI 8 s e FI 11 s). Na terceira fase, os sujeitos foram submetidos a um esquema múltiplo composto pelos componentes FI 11 s e Extinção (EXT), na presença e ausência de luz, respectivamente. Este treino discriminativo foi mantido até que ao menos 80% das pressões à barra ocorressem nos componentes de FI. Finalmente, na quarta fase, houve uma reversão das funções dos estímulos, de modo que a presença e a ausência de luz passaram a acompanhar, respectivamente, os componentes de EXT e FI. De modo geral, os resultados revelaram que os procedimentos empregados na constrição do desenvolvimento cerebral não produziram efeitos evidentes no comportamento dos ratos sob esquema de reforçamento, assim como na aprendizagem discriminativa e sua reversão / The intervention in the brain and the possible influence on the response of organisms has been the subject of several studies designed to examine this correlation. The aim of the present study is to provide indicators of the possible effects of the cranial sutures closure to the discriminative learning in reinforcement procedures. Four rats were used in a Non-Surgical condition group and another group was formed by nine rats that underwent various surgical procedures for the cranial sutures closure. The rats in the age between two and eight days underwent four experimental stages in operant conditioning boxes. In the first phase the bar press responses were modeled and, subsequently, 60 responses were reinforced under a scheme of continuous reinforcement (CRF) for three consecutive sessions. In the second phase, the scheme of CRF was replaced by schemes of fixed intervals (FI) with three values that were increased gradually (FI 4 s, FI 8 s FI s 11). In the third phase, the subjects underwent a multiple scheme with components FI 11 to Extinction (EXT) in the presence and absence of light, respectively. This discriminative training was continued until at least 80% of bar press response had occurred in the components of FI. Finally, in the fourth phase there was a reversal of the functions of the stimuli, so that the presence and absence of light started to follow, respectively, the FI and EXT components. The research result reveal that the procedures used in the constriction of the cerebral development did not produced evidences in the rats behavior under the reinforcement scheme, the discriminative learning and the reversion process

Os estudos sobre escolha e preferência do comportamento individual a partir de esquemas concorrentes tornaram mais clara a função relativa do reforço no comportamento. No nível cultural, por sua vez, não há estudos experimentais sobre a função relativa de consequências culturais a partir de metacontingências concorrentes, o que certamente limita a compreensão do que leva um grupo a escolher/preferir engajar-se em uma prática em detrimento de outra. O presente trabalho teve o objetivo de aferir experimentalmente a frequência relativa de duas contingências comportamentais entrelaçadas (CCEs) como função da exigência de dois esquemas de razão concorrentes para produção de consequências culturais. Os esquemas de razão para cada contingência entrelaçada foram diferentes a depender da condição (conc FR1 FR1, FR1 FR2, FR1, FR3, FR2 FR2 e FR2 FR3). As duas contingências entrelaçadas relevantes para a produção de consequências culturais foram descritas na instrução, de modo a reduzir variações. Participaram do estudo 12 estudantes universitários divididos em quatro tríades. A tarefa experimental consistiu na escolha de linhas de uma matriz composta por dez linhas e dez colunas, sendo as linhas compostas por cinco cores diferentes alternadas, de modo que cada cor estivesse presente em uma linha par e outra ímpar. Consequências individuais (ganho de fichas trocáveis por dinheiro) foram contingentes a escolhas de linhas ímpares. Consequências culturais (itens escolares a serem doados a uma instituição) foram contingentes a sequências específicas de cores, que correspondiam às escolhas de linhas por cada um dos três participantes. Teve-se como resultados que as Tríades I e II tenderam à estereotipia da CCE associada ao esquema de menor razão ao final das condições, o que não ocorreu para as Tríades III e IV. Para as Tríades I e II, variações tenderam a ocorrer após mudanças de condições em que havia aumento da intermitência de consequências culturais associadas à CCE mais frequente. Também para as Tríades I e II, verbalizações sobre o procedimento foram mais frequentes nos períodos em que variações entre as CCEs relevantes foram mais frequentes. Para as Tríades III e IV, durante a maior parte do estudo não houve diferenciação da frequência entre as duas CCEs às quais consequências culturais eram contingentes, embora tenha havido diferenciação das duas CCEs em relação a outras / Studies about choice and preference using concurrent schedules contributed to better understand the relative function of the reinforcer on behavior. However, at the cultural level there are no experimental studies regarding the relative function of cultural consequences using concurrent metacontingencies, which certainly restricts the understanding about which variables lead a group to choose or prefer to engage in a practice over another. The objective of this experimental study was to assess the relative frequency of two interlocking behavior contingencies (IBCs) as a function of two fixed ratio schedules to produce cultural consequences. The ratio schedules to each interlocking contingency were different depending on the condition (conc FR1 FR1, FR1 FR2, FR1 FR3, FR2 FR2 and FR2 FR3). Both relevant interlocks for the production of cultural consequences were described in the instructions in order to reduce variability. 12 college students participated, divided into four triads. The experimental task consisted of row choices in a matrix comprising ten rows and ten columns, the rows being composed of five different colors, so that each color was present in an even and in an odd row. Individual consequences (earn of coins interchangeable for money) were contingent to the choice of odd rows. Cultural consequences (school supplies to be donated) were contingent to specific sequences of colors that corresponded to the combined row choices of the three participants. The results showed that Triads I and II leaned towards IBC stereotypy associated to the low ratio schedule at the end of the conditions, which did not occur for Triads III and IV. Triads I and II showed that variations tended to occur after experimental condition changes in which there were increased of the ratio schedule to cultural consequences associated to the more frequent IBC. Also, for Triads I and II, verbalizations about the procedure were more frequent when variations between the two IBCs were higher. For Triads III and IV, for most of the study there was no difference in frequency of the two relevant IBCs, although there was difference between the two relevant IBCs in relation to others

O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar o papel da dependência/contingência entre um efeito programado no ambiente (EC) e um padrão coordenado de espaçamento entre as respostas de três participantes (CCE), em um procedimento de culturante livre e delineamento experimental intrassujeito. Foram realizados 3 experimentos, dos quais participaram 24 estudantes universitários, divididos em 8 tríades. A tarefa consistiu no clique sobre uma imagem apresentada em uma tela de computador. Foram programados ECs para um dado espaçamento entre os cliques dos participantes. Nos Experimentos 1 e 2, adicionalmente, foram programadas consequências individuais para o clicar, e as manipulações na relação de dependência entre CCEs e ECs foram avaliadas a partir de uma linha de base operante. O Experimento 1 isolou os efeitos da dependência do EC dos efeitos de sua intermitência, frequência e distribuição, comparando condições de apresentação contingente do EC (em intervalos variados - VI) e condições de apresentação não contingente desse evento (em intervalos de tempo variado - VT). O Experimento 2, por sua vez, comparou os efeitos da apresentação de ECs em VT com os efeitos da suspensão da apresentação desse evento (extinção convencional EXT). O Experimento 3, finalmente, comparou os efeitos de EXT e VT, sem que houvesse outra contingência programada, adicionalmente à contingência CCE-EC (metacontingência). Os resultados dos três experimentos evidenciaram o estabelecimento e manutenção de CCEs em função dos esquemas de apresentação do EC. Comparações entre esquemas contingentes e não contingentes demonstraram a importância da dependência/contingência do EC para o estabelecimento e manutenção sistemática de CCEs. Comparações entre EXT e VT evidenciaram que a apresentação não contingente de ECs gera efeitos assistemáticos na manutenção de CCEs. Enquanto as condições de EXT geraram rápida extinção das CCEs, as condições de VT geraram efeitos diversos: ora extinção, ora manutenção de CCEs por longos períodos. Foram observadas similaridades entre processos de seleção, manutenção e extinção de operantes e de culturantes. Em conjunto, os resultados desse estudo fortalecem e estendem as informações já produzidas sobre relações funcionais entre termos de uma metacontingência e sobre as similaridades entre processos de evolução de operantes e de culturantes. Adicionalmente, esse estudo dá um passo além na investigação das unidades mínimas e das condições necessárias ao estabelecimento e manutenção de culturantes. Aponta-se para a necessidade de maiores investigações sobre os efeitos de diferentes esquemas de apresentação do EC e maior refinamento do conceito de metacontingência, de modo a evidenciar a independência entre contingências operantes e metacontingências e, assim, orientar programações experimentais que possibilitem análises mais efetivas para a compreensão da contingência programada entre CCEs e ECs / This study aimed to investigate the role of dependency/contingency between a programmed environmental effect (CE) and a coordinated pattern of spacing between responses of three participants (IBC), in a free culturant procedure and a single-subject experimental design. Were performed three experiments, participated 24 undergraduate students divided into 8 tryads. The task consisted in clicking on an image presented on a computer screen. Were programmed CEs contingent to a specific spacing pattern between participants clicks. Also, in experiments 1 and 2 were programmed individual consequences to clicking, so the manipulations in the dependency relation between CEs and IBCs were analyzed upon an operant baseline. Experiment 1 isolated the effects of CE dependency from its intermittency, frequency, and distribution effects, comparing conditions of contingent CEs presentations (in variable intervals VI) and noncontingent CEs presentations (in variable time VT). Experiment 2, in turn, compared the effects of CEs presentations in VT, and CEs suspension effects (conventional extinction EXT). Experiment 3, finally, compared effects of EXT and VT, with no other programmed contingency besides the CCE-EC contingency. The results of the three experiments showed establishment and maintenance of IBCs as a function of CEs schedules. Comparison between contingent and noncontingent schedules of CEs presentations demonstrated the importance of dependency/contingency of CE for establishment and systematic maintenance of IBCs. Comparison between EXT and VT demonstrated that noncontingent presentation of CEs generates unsystematic effects in IBCs maintenance. While EXT conditions generated rapid extinction effects, VT conditions generated diverse effects: sometimes extinction, sometimes maintenance of IBCs for long periods. Similarities were observed between the processes of selection, maintenance, and extinction of operants and culturants. As a whole, these results strengthen and extend the amount of information about functional relations between metacontingency units and about similarities between operant and culturant evolution. Additionally, this study goes a step further into the investigation of minimal units and necessary conditions for the establishment and maintenance of culturants. It is pointed out the necessity of further investigation on the effects of different schedules of CEs presentations and further refinement of the metacontingency concept, making evident the independency between operant contingencies and metacontingencies, thus, guiding experimental arrangements that enable more effective analysis for understanding the contingency scheduled between IBCs and CEs

O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar o papel da dependência/contingência entre um efeito programado no ambiente (EC) e um padrão coordenado de espaçamento entre as respostas de três participantes (CCE), em um procedimento de culturante livre e delineamento experimental intrassujeito. Foram realizados 3 experimentos, dos quais participaram 24 estudantes universitários, divididos em 8 tríades. A tarefa consistiu no clique sobre uma imagem apresentada em uma tela de computador. Foram programados ECs para um dado espaçamento entre os cliques dos participantes. Nos Experimentos 1 e 2, adicionalmente, foram programadas consequências individuais para o clicar, e as manipulações na relação de dependência entre CCEs e ECs foram avaliadas a partir de uma linha de base operante. O Experimento 1 isolou os efeitos da dependência do EC dos efeitos de sua intermitência, frequência e distribuição, comparando condições de apresentação contingente do EC (em intervalos variados - VI) e condições de apresentação não contingente desse evento (em intervalos de tempo variado - VT). O Experimento 2, por sua vez, comparou os efeitos da apresentação de ECs em VT com os efeitos da suspensão da apresentação desse evento (extinção convencional EXT). O Experimento 3, finalmente, comparou os efeitos de EXT e VT, sem que houvesse outra contingência programada, adicionalmente à contingência CCE-EC (metacontingência). Os resultados dos três experimentos evidenciaram o estabelecimento e manutenção de CCEs em função dos esquemas de apresentação do EC. Comparações entre esquemas contingentes e não contingentes demonstraram a importância da dependência/contingência do EC para o estabelecimento e manutenção sistemática de CCEs. Comparações entre EXT e VT evidenciaram que a apresentação não contingente de ECs gera efeitos assistemáticos na manutenção de CCEs. Enquanto as condições de EXT geraram rápida extinção das CCEs, as condições de VT geraram efeitos diversos: ora extinção, ora manutenção de CCEs por longos períodos. Foram observadas similaridades entre processos de seleção, manutenção e extinção de operantes e de culturantes. Em conjunto, os resultados desse estudo fortalecem e estendem as informações já produzidas sobre relações funcionais entre termos de uma metacontingência e sobre as similaridades entre processos de evolução de operantes e de culturantes. Adicionalmente, esse estudo dá um passo além na investigação das unidades mínimas e das condições necessárias ao estabelecimento e manutenção de culturantes. Aponta-se para a necessidade de maiores investigações sobre os efeitos de diferentes esquemas de apresentação do EC e maior refinamento do conceito de metacontingência, de modo a evidenciar a independência entre contingências operantes e metacontingências e, assim, orientar programações experimentais que possibilitem análises mais efetivas para a compreensão da contingência programada entre CCEs e ECs / This study aimed to investigate the role of dependency/contingency between a programmed environmental effect (CE) and a coordinated pattern of spacing between responses of three participants (IBC), in a free culturant procedure and a single-subject experimental design. Were performed three experiments, participated 24 undergraduate students divided into 8 tryads. The task consisted in clicking on an image presented on a computer screen. Were programmed CEs contingent to a specific spacing pattern between participants clicks. Also, in experiments 1 and 2 were programmed individual consequences to clicking, so the manipulations in the dependency relation between CEs and IBCs were analyzed upon an operant baseline. Experiment 1 isolated the effects of CE dependency from its intermittency, frequency, and distribution effects, comparing conditions of contingent CEs presentations (in variable intervals VI) and noncontingent CEs presentations (in variable time VT). Experiment 2, in turn, compared the effects of CEs presentations in VT, and CEs suspension effects (conventional extinction EXT). Experiment 3, finally, compared effects of EXT and VT, with no other programmed contingency besides the CCE-EC contingency. The results of the three experiments showed establishment and maintenance of IBCs as a function of CEs schedules. Comparison between contingent and noncontingent schedules of CEs presentations demonstrated the importance of dependency/contingency of CE for establishment and systematic maintenance of IBCs. Comparison between EXT and VT demonstrated that noncontingent presentation of CEs generates unsystematic effects in IBCs maintenance. While EXT conditions generated rapid extinction effects, VT conditions generated diverse effects: sometimes extinction, sometimes maintenance of IBCs for long periods. Similarities were observed between the processes of selection, maintenance, and extinction of operants and culturants. As a whole, these results strengthen and extend the amount of information about functional relations between metacontingency units and about similarities between operant and culturant evolution. Additionally, this study goes a step further into the investigation of minimal units and necessary conditions for the establishment and maintenance of culturants. It is pointed out the necessity of further investigation on the effects of different schedules of CEs presentations and further refinement of the metacontingency concept, making evident the independency between operant contingencies and metacontingencies, thus, guiding experimental arrangements that enable more effective analysis for understanding the contingency scheduled between IBCs and CEs