The science of behavior analysis is most notably recognized for its work with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the development of language in individuals with and without ASD. As an extension of a behavior-analytic approach to language, Relational Frame Theory (RFT) posits that relating between stimuli is foundational for human language and cognition. This modern-day account of human verbal events also includes psychological distress, which is frequently experienced among family members of individuals with ASD. The effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is derived from RFT, have been evaluated with caregivers of individuals with ASD and demonstrated empirical support. Despite all these advancements, researchers have not adequately considered cultural and linguistic factors in the provision of these approaches for diverse populations, such as Hispanics/Latinxs. Moreover, there is a paucity of research using such scientific approaches for caregivers and siblings of individuals with ASD. Considering that Hispanics/Latinxs are a growing population in the United States, behavior-analytic interventions should be culturally adapted. The purpose of this study was to culturally adapt treatments rooted in the science of human behavior specifically for Hispanic/Latinx families that care for a child with ASD. Specifically, sociocultural factors and Hispanic/Latinx cultural values were considered in the development of such interventions to promote the skill set and well-being of the family as a unit. In the first experiment, the evaluation of SPOP in transferring relational frames from Spanish to English in Hispanic/Latinx children with ASD was examined. Here, the language of instruction (i.e., English vs. Spanish) differed for participants, depending on their primary languages. SPOP demonstrated effectiveness for some relations with one participant, however, direct training was employed to teach correct relational responding. In the second experiment, the effects of culturally adapted ACT were evaluated on statements of psychological flexibility and inflexibility, and self-report measures for Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latinx caregivers of children with ASD. Results demonstrated higher percentages of statements of psychological flexibility across all conditions, and a statistically significant difference in self-reported thought suppression post-treatment. Finally, the third experiment compared the effects of culturally adapted family-based ACT and non-culturally adapted non-family-based ACT on self-monitored committed actions and self-report measures for Hispanic/Latinx siblings of children with ASD. Results indicated statistically significant differences in reported committed actions before and after treatment, with changes in self-report measures post-treatment. Together, these experiments demonstrate the clinical and social significance of taking cultural and linguistic factors of diverse populations into consideration with behavior-analytic services.

For many decades there has been an ongoing feud between the fields of behaviorism and cognitive science. This feud is not about specific scientific findings, it is about deep philosophical convictions, and about what terms and methods it makes sense to use when studying psychology. In the late 1950’s, behaviorism was declared dead when it was convincingly argued that behaviorism could not explain the nature of language, a centerpiece of human psychology. But since then behaviorism has slowly risen from its grave, as a new behaviorist theory of language emerged. The new behaviorist theory of language is called Relational Frame Theory (RFT), and it is part of a new behaviorist paradigm called Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS). This paradigm also includes a behaviorist psychotherapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which in the last decade has become popular across the world. Thus, the feud has once again become active, and the question about which philosophical principles are most suitable for the science of psychology is yet again something that needs an answer. But things have changed since the mid-1900’s when the discussion was last active. The philosophy of CBS is not exactly like that of earlier versions of behaviorism, having developed into a more explicit and coherent set of philosophical principles, summarized under the name functional contextualism. Old arguments against behaviorism do not apply to the same degree. So it is time for a new look at this debate, taking into consideration what functional contextualism and RFT has to offer. According to Contextual behavioral science, cognitive science generally entails a commitment to the correspondence theory of truth, the idea that something is true if it corresponds with reality, or a worldly fact. CBS, on the other hand, makes an explicit commitment to a pragmatic theory of truth, which focuses on the consequences (i.e. usefulness) of a statement or theory, instead of its correspondence with reality. Because of the supposed centrality of these theories of truth for the divide between cognitive science and behaviorism, I will focus on what exactly this divide is about, and whether there is any way that the differences can be reconciled. I will argue that the divide isn’t as big as it may seem when we take a closer look at the philosophical principles and empirical theories of CBS, and that it may in fact be possible to bridge this divide by formulating a version of the correspondence theory that is compatible with CBS. In part 1 I present a quick sketch of behaviorism as contrasted with cognitive science, and the connection between behaviorism and the pragmatic theory of truth, as well as the connection between cognitive science and the correspondence theory of truth. In part 2 I give a more detailed description of the philosophy and science of Contextual behavioral science, including the tools for understanding language in CBS terms. In part 3 I present a more detailed description of the correspondence theory of truth, giving an overview of the different versions of this theory that have been proposed throughout the history of philosophy. In part 4 I make a careful evaluation of the CBS objections towards the correspondence theory of truth, and arrive at a version of the correspondence theory that can be expressed in CBS terms. I will conclude that this version is compatible with the underlying philosophy of CBS, even though the CBS pragmatic theory of truth claims otherwise. I call it a behaviorist correspondence theory of truth.

Unter K+-limitierenden Wachstumsbedingungen oder, in wesentlich geringerem Ausmaß, unter Salzstress synthetisiert E. coli den KdpFABC-Komplex, ein hoch-affines K+-Transportsystem (Km ~ 2μM). Die Regulation der Expression des kdpFABC-Operons erfolgt durch das Sensorkinase/Antwortregulator-System KdpD/KdpE. Ziel des ersten Teils dieser Arbeit war die Identifizierung des Stimulus, der von der Sensorkinase KdpD wahrgenommen wird. Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchungen war die Beobachtung, dass die K+-Aufnahme über das Kdp-System bei K+-Konzentrationen >5 mM inhibiert wird. Diese wichtige Eigenschaft des Kdp-Systems wurde in der Vergangenheit häufig übersehen, da die Inhibierung des Kdp-Systems bei höheren pH-Werten (pH 7,8) durch eine hohe Rate unspezifischen K+-Transports kompensiert und somit überdeckt wird. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass einzelne Aspartat-Substitutionen in den periplasmatischen Schleifen der Sensor-Domäne von KdpD ausreichten, um die Inhibierung des Kdp-Systems bei höheren K+-Konzentrationen aufzuheben. Diese KdpD-Derivate zeigten eine, im Vergleich zum KdpD-WT, veränderte Regulation der kdpFABC-Expression bei K+-Konzentrationen >5 mM, die eine adäquate K+-Aufnahme via KdpFABC ermöglichte. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Inhibierung der K+-Aufnahme über das Kdp-System bei K+-Konzentrationen >5 mM auf einer Inhibierung der kdpFABC-Expression durch KdpD basiert. Weiterhin konnte gezeigt werde, dass eine Abnahme der extrazellulären K+-Konzentration eine effiziente und sofortige Stimulierung der KdpD/KdpE-Signaltransduktion bewirkt. Aus diesen Ergebnissen wurde geschlussfolgert, dass die extrazelluläre K+-Konzentration als Reiz für die Sensorkinase KdpD dient. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit erfolgte erstmals eine absolute Quantifizierung von KdpD und KdpE, sowie der Untereinheiten des KdpFABC-Komplexes unter induzierenden und nicht-induzierenden Bedingungen mittels hoch-sensitiver und selektiver Massenspektrometrie. Unter nicht-induzierenden Bedingungen liegt die KdpFABC-Synthese in der gleichen Größenordnung wie die KdpD- und KdpE-Synthese vor. Dieser Befund ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung für die postulierte, regulatorische Interaktion zwischen der Sensorkinase KdpD und der K+-Transportuntereinheit KdpB (Kipschull, 2011). Unter induzierenden Bedingungen stieg die KdpFABC-Synthese 100-300-fach, während eine etwa 10-fache Erhöhung der KdpD- und KdpE-Synthese nachgewiesen werden konnte. Diese Beobachtung bestätigt, dass das Zweikomponenten-System KdpD/KdpE unter induzierenden Bedingungen einer Autoregulation unterliegt. Die Autoregulation konnte durch eine räumliche Trennung des kdpFABC- und kdpDE-Operons aufgehoben werden. Die Aufhebung der Autoregulation von KdpD/KdpE hatte jedoch keinen Einfluss auf die Expressionskinetik des kdpFABC-Operons unter induzierenden Bedingungen. Der dritte Teil dieser Arbeit beschreibt die Konstruktion eines E. coli-Stamms, der eine vollständige Deletion des kdpD-Gens trägt. Nach einer zeitlichen Verzögerung konnte in dem daraus resultierenden E. coli-Stamm (LB2240ΔkdpD) unter K+-Limitation eine KdpD-unabhängige Expression des kdpFABC-Operons nachgewiesen werden. Die kdpFABC-Expression befähigte diesen Stamm, in Abwesenheit von KdpD unter K+-Limitation zu wachsen. Es konnte gezeigt werde, dass das K+-limitierte Wachstum von LB2240ΔkdpD eine Phosphorylierung von KdpE voraussetzt, wobei Acetylphosphat nicht als alternativer Phosphodonor diente. Da nur wenige Zellen einer LB2240ΔkdpD-Kultur den beschriebenen Phänotyp zeigten, liegt die Vermutung nahe, dass diese Zellen Träger einer Suppressormutation sind, die eine KdpD-unabhängige Phosphorylierung von KdpE und daraus folgend eine kdpFABC-Expression verursacht.

To teach operant behaviors to individuals with severe disabilities, stimulus preference assessment (SPA) methods have been developed to accurately identify stimuli that may function as reinforcers. Previous researchers have used multiple-stimulus preference assessments without replacement (MSWO) effectively over a short time period to teach target behaviors to individuals with disabilities. The present study investigated the long-term effects of incorporating brief MSWO preference assessments into the instructional routine for students with severe disabilities on individualized education plan reading goal/objective progress. This was done by investigating the effectiveness of incorporating brief MSWO preference assessments by comparing reading goal progress when a random reinforcer is available, teacher- selected reinforcer is available, or a student-selected reinforcer (via a brief MSWO preference assessment) is available over several weeks for students with severe disabilities in a secondary public school classroom setting.

Previous research suggests learning of children with autism often fails to successfully generalize across changes in settings and stimuli. Much of this research has assessed generalization by first teaching a behavior in one context and then measuring the transfer of the behavior to extra-treatment stimuli and settings. The present study measured generalization of learned behavior by systematically varying the tone of an auditory stimulus present during training to obtain generalization gradients. Generalization gradients are graphical representations of the strength of a response produced by stimuli that vary from the training stimulus along some stimulus dimension. By obtaining generalization gradients, this research may offer a more precise means of characterizing the extent of generalization and the basic processes underlying it. The study also went beyond previous research with children with autism by examining the effects of two different training procedures upon the resulting generalization gradients. Participants were first taught to discriminate between the presence and absence of a specific stimulus, and later, to discriminate between two stimuli varied along the same dimension. Gradients were measured following both trainings. In the first training procedure, three children with autism were taught to engage in a simple communicative request in the presence of a specific tone and to withhold the request when there was no tone. The researchers then measured the extent to which these children continued to engage in the request as the tone was changed in frequency. They graphed the resulting data in the form of a generalization gradient. Although the shape of resulting generalization gradients differed between participants, all three participants in the present study showed a pattern of responding consistent with generalization. Gradients for two of three participants were orderly and decremental. In the second training procedure participants were taught to discriminate between two tones of different frequencies. Generalization gradients were again obtained. Predictable changes in the shape of gradients, consistent with basic research on generalization gradients, were noted for two of three participants. Results are discussed with regard to stimulus control, the behavioral processes of reinforcement and extinction, and what has been called the "peak shift" effect.

For many educators, finding enough time to complete all that is require of them is a daily challenge. Those in special education have the added burden of making sure that their staff members are highly trained in the skills required to work effectively with students. There are many different ways to train staff members, one of which is using a video model. This study looked at the effects of video modeling alone on the training of staff members to use the multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment. The participants in this study were paraprofessionals who work with preschool students who had a variety of disabilities. Data were collected on how well staff members were able to perform necessary skills to conduct the preference assessment before and after watching a video model. The results of this study showed that staff members could learn a new skill with the use of video modeling as a training tool. Using video modeling as a training tool is an effective way to save educators time while still ensuring that students are benefited.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between stimulus equivalence (briefly, networks of relations among stimuli) and the extension of stimulus function (briefly, spread of effect across network) more closely than has been possible before. The traditional view of this relation suggests that equivalence classes mediate the extension of stimulus function and are, therefore, necessary for any extension to occur. This study used a preparation in which the conditional discriminations required for the development of equivalence classes and the simple discriminations required for the extension of function were trained or tested simultaneously. Results suggest that equivalence are not necessary for the extension of stimulus function though they may be sufficient.

The motivation to eat is influenced by both internal physiological demands and by external stimuli with positive or negative associations. A conditioned stimulus (CS) associated with food can potentiate eating in sated subjects, whereas a CS associated with a negative affect can suppress eating in hungry subjects. Although the amygdala has been implicated in these behaviors, the neural mechanisms that underlie this type of non-homeostatic eating are poorly understood. To investigate the role of BLA neurons in CS+ potentiated eating and CS- lick suppression, we developed a behavioral paradigm in mice in which eating behavior could be assessed in conditions of low or high satiety and in relation to CS presentations while recording neural activity using freely-moving endoscopic calcium imaging. We found that satiety partially decreases responses to the CS+, and the neural representation of the CS+ becomes more similar to the CS-. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis that CS-evoked activity is casually involved in CS+ induced licking or CS- lick suppression by using optogenetics during this task. Silencing of BLA glutamatergic neurons labelled by NL189 prevents CS- lick suppression during low satiety and does not affect licking during the CS+. The combination of cellular imaging and optogenetics results indicates that BLA neuronal activity evoked by the CS- is critical for lick suppression, whereas CS+ activity might facilitate appetitive behavior, but this activity is not critical for cue-induced eating.

Parent’s ability to implement a skill like time out is considered to have generality when it lasts over time, it appears in environments in which it was not initially trained, and it is seen in use for child behaviors it was not initially trained for. A recent study suggested that parents have difficulty implementing time out in the home when they are supposed to (Jensen et al., 2016). The present study aimed to determine if there were difficulties in stimulus or setting generalization. Six parent participants completed pre and post training in-home naturalistic video observations, as well as a generalization probe role-play test following training. Results showed that parent’s accuracy and parent’s ability to implement when they should were two different skills. Parents scored high for accuracy of steps correct in both the post training in-home observations and the generalization probe role-plays. However, parent’s correct attempts out of the possible opportunities were only moderate in the post training generalization probes and poor in both the pre and post training in-home observations. How to implement time out was the only skill directly taught to parents and not when to implement time out. The authors suggest that knowing when to implement time out may be a generalization deficit and a recognition of opportunities in the home deficit. This version of time out training may benefit from additional training to foster generalization. Future research may benefit from systematically analyzing whether parents can recognize opportunities for time out in the home through other parent in-home videos and if they can, more emphasis on generalization of a skill to the parent’s home would be necessary in training.

The present series of experiments were designed to investigate the utility of the use of a masking system to assess the development of stimulus control. The first experiment compares sample observing time with response accuracy in a match-to-sample task. The second experiment more closely examines this relation by subdividing the sample stimulus mask into four quadrants. The third experiment compares sample observing time during training with accuracy during a subsequent testing condition to determine if the observed differentiation between the quadrants was correlated with the development of stimulus control.