The effect of a reinforcer on behavior is largely determined by the schedule in which it is implemented. One type of reinforcement schedule that has not been explored extensively is conjugate reinforcement. Previous researchers have used conjugate schedules to evaluate a reinforcer's effects on behavior and as an assessment tool. However, none have explored how to effectively engineer conjugate schedules in applied settings. The current study explores the effectiveness of conjugate reinforcement implemented by several interventionists across a variety of responses, reinforcers, and in a wide range of participants with autism. The results indicated that delivering social, audio/visual, and tangible stimuli in a conjugate schedule resulted in increased durations of various target responses (e.g. social skills, motor skills) and non-targeted measures (e.g., approach, social bids, speed) across participants. Considerations regarding reinforcer and response selection in implementing conjugate schedules in applied settings are provided.

A análise do comportamento mantido por relação acidental com reforço pode contribuir para a compreensão de episódios comportamentais em que pessoas superestimam suas capacidades de produzir alterações no ambiente. Adicionalmente, uma análise das contingências sociais e verbais contribui para uma compreensão mais clara do papel da expectativa na descrição de episódios do campo da ilusão ou distorção. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito do comportamento de um confederado sobre o responder de participantes em uma situação em que pontos são apresentados independentemente do comportamento. Quinze participantes, estudantes de ensino médio ou graduação, foram distribuídos em dois grupos: com e sem confederado. Em uma tarefa de computador, um retângulo colorido poderia ser pressionado utilizando-se o mouse. Esse retângulo aparecia de duas cores, sinalizando duas contingências diferentes. No grupo com a presença do confederado, participante e confederado iniciaram suas sessões ao mesmo tempo, em dois computadores diferentes, lado a lado, favorecendo ao participante ver o monitor do computador do confederado. O confederado respondia continuamente nos dois componentes enquanto o participante trabalhava em seu computador. Um grupo sem confederado permitiu avaliar o efeito do desempenho dos participantes em uma situação sem a presença do confederado. Os participantes de ambos os grupos foram expostos a duas condições experimentais: Na Condição Pontos Independentes, o participante recebia pontos independentemente do que fizesse em apenas um componente do esquema múltiplo (múltiplo VT EXT). Na condição Ausência de Pontos, pontos não eram apresentados em nenhum dos componentes (múltiplo EXT EXT). Após as sessões, os participantes deveriam estimar o controle sobre a produção dos pontos. Participantes do grupo com o confederado responderam em ambos os componentes cerca de oito vezes mais que os participantes do outro grupo, nas duas condições experimentais, resultado indicativo do efeito de controle social sobre o responder em esquemas múltiplos. Estimativas de controle dos participantes não foram consistentes com o desempenho não verbal dos participantes na tarefa, evidenciando controles sociais diferenciados em relação ao desempenho verbal e não verbal na tarefa / The behavior maintained by accidental relation with reinforcement can contribute to the understanding of behavioral episodes in which people overestimate their ability to produce changes in the environment. Additionally, an analysis of social and verbal contingencies contributes to a clearer understanding of the role of expectation in the description field of episodes of illusion or distortion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavior of a confederate on the participants response in a situation where points are presented regardless of the behavior. Fifteen participants - high school students and undergraduates - were divided into two groups- with and without the confederate. In a computer task a colored rectangle could be pressed using the mouse. This rectangle appeared in two colors, signaling two different contingencies. In the group with the presence of the confederate, participant and confederate began their sessions at the same time on two different computers side by side encouraging the participants to see the Confederates computer monitor. The Confederate responded continuously to the two components as the participant worked on his computer. By means of a group without the Confederate, it was possible to evaluate the effect of the participants performance in a situation without the presence of the confederate. Participants in both groups were exposed to two experimental conditions - in the Condition Points Independent, the participant received points regardless of what he did in just one component of the multiple schedule (multiple VT EXT). Provided Absence of Points, points were not presented in any of the components (multiple EXT EXT). After the sessions participants had to estimate the control over the production of the points. Group participants with the confederate responded in both components about eight times more than the other group of participants in the two experimental conditions, a result indicative of the effect of social control over responding in multiple schemas. Control estimates of the participants were not consistent with the performance of the participants in the nonverbal task showing different social controls over the performance in verbal and nonverbal task

A análise do comportamento mantido por relação acidental com reforço pode contribuir para a compreensão de episódios comportamentais em que pessoas superestimam suas capacidades de produzir alterações no ambiente. Adicionalmente, uma análise das contingências sociais e verbais contribui para uma compreensão mais clara do papel da expectativa na descrição de episódios do campo da ilusão ou distorção. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito do comportamento de um confederado sobre o responder de participantes em uma situação em que pontos são apresentados independentemente do comportamento. Quinze participantes, estudantes de ensino médio ou graduação, foram distribuídos em dois grupos: com e sem confederado. Em uma tarefa de computador, um retângulo colorido poderia ser pressionado utilizando-se o mouse. Esse retângulo aparecia de duas cores, sinalizando duas contingências diferentes. No grupo com a presença do confederado, participante e confederado iniciaram suas sessões ao mesmo tempo, em dois computadores diferentes, lado a lado, favorecendo ao participante ver o monitor do computador do confederado. O confederado respondia continuamente nos dois componentes enquanto o participante trabalhava em seu computador. Um grupo sem confederado permitiu avaliar o efeito do desempenho dos participantes em uma situação sem a presença do confederado. Os participantes de ambos os grupos foram expostos a duas condições experimentais: Na Condição Pontos Independentes, o participante recebia pontos independentemente do que fizesse em apenas um componente do esquema múltiplo (múltiplo VT EXT). Na condição Ausência de Pontos, pontos não eram apresentados em nenhum dos componentes (múltiplo EXT EXT). Após as sessões, os participantes deveriam estimar o controle sobre a produção dos pontos. Participantes do grupo com o confederado responderam em ambos os componentes cerca de oito vezes mais que os participantes do outro grupo, nas duas condições experimentais, resultado indicativo do efeito de controle social sobre o responder em esquemas múltiplos. Estimativas de controle dos participantes não foram consistentes com o desempenho não verbal dos participantes na tarefa, evidenciando controles sociais diferenciados em relação ao desempenho verbal e não verbal na tarefa / The behavior maintained by accidental relation with reinforcement can contribute to the understanding of behavioral episodes in which people overestimate their ability to produce changes in the environment. Additionally, an analysis of social and verbal contingencies contributes to a clearer understanding of the role of expectation in the description field of episodes of illusion or distortion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavior of a confederate on the participants response in a situation where points are presented regardless of the behavior. Fifteen participants - high school students and undergraduates - were divided into two groups- with and without the confederate. In a computer task a colored rectangle could be pressed using the mouse. This rectangle appeared in two colors, signaling two different contingencies. In the group with the presence of the confederate, participant and confederate began their sessions at the same time on two different computers side by side encouraging the participants to see the Confederates computer monitor. The Confederate responded continuously to the two components as the participant worked on his computer. By means of a group without the Confederate, it was possible to evaluate the effect of the participants performance in a situation without the presence of the confederate. Participants in both groups were exposed to two experimental conditions - in the Condition Points Independent, the participant received points regardless of what he did in just one component of the multiple schedule (multiple VT EXT). Provided Absence of Points, points were not presented in any of the components (multiple EXT EXT). After the sessions participants had to estimate the control over the production of the points. Group participants with the confederate responded in both components about eight times more than the other group of participants in the two experimental conditions, a result indicative of the effect of social control over responding in multiple schemas. Control estimates of the participants were not consistent with the performance of the participants in the nonverbal task showing different social controls over the performance in verbal and nonverbal task

This investigation evaluated a computerized behavioral skills training package for teaching responses to interview skills by adolescents and young adults with learning disabilities. The package consisted of instructional videos, video-modeling, rehearsal, feedback, and selection-based instruction. Experiment 1 replicated and extended recent research which has suggested that a selection-based protocol operating on a lag schedule of reinforcement is an effective and efficient method for teaching responses to interview questions (O’Neill, Blowers, Henson, & Rehfeldt, 2015; O’Neill & Rehfeldt, 2014). The purpose was to address some of the limitations of these studies while testing the limits of the selection-based protocol in promoting topography-based responses to interview questions by adolescents and young adults with learning disabilities. Experiment 2 evaluated the efficacy of the computerized behavioral skills training protocol while simultaneously comparing the basic package to an identical package plus the selection-based protocol from Experiment 1. This experiment attempted to isolate the additive effect of selection-based instruction from that of computerized behavioral skills training for teaching topography-based responses to interview questions by adolescents and young adults with learning disabilities.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T14:20:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Berta Baltazar Elias.pdf: 285163 bytes, checksum: 3fd879852dd982563e5e00f33d711e85 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-12-21 / A chained probabilistic choice procedure was used to observe if human participants were sensible to the manipulation of the probabilities of reinforcement. In this procedure there was an initial screen showing two stimuli a circle and a triangle (initial chain). Choices in the circle led to a second screen (final chain) with a stimulus, and triangle choices opened a second screen with 4 stimuli. After choosing the final chain the participant could score or not depending on the value of the probabilistic pair programmed to the circle or triangle choices. Three pairs of probabilistic choice were used (0. 10-0. 10, 0.50-0.50 e 0.90-0.90) and the change between them allowed 6 different sequences. Each one of the 30 participants went through a sequence that, beyond the reinforcement probabilities, also had initial and final (extinction) base line sessions. A criterion of 10% of establishment of preference between the last sessions was used for the change of probability. In the condition that the probabilistic pair was 0.10-0.10 all the participants got an instruction to choose the circle. Was observed that the participants did not discriminate the different probabilities of reinforcement and that even though with a low probability (0.10) the instruction did not controlled the preference of the participants. Experiment 2 aimed to verify if the number of trials to reinforcement of the final chain controlled the preference, and another 5 participants were exposed to 4 different probabilistic pairs. Each participant was exposed to the pair for 3 sessions with 40 trials each. Thus, each participant went through exactly 12 experimental sessions always in the same row: 0.010-0.00, 0.00-0.10, 0.90-0.00 and 0.00-0.90; the former probabilistic pair is always the triangle and the latter the circle. The data of the second experiment shows the established control by the reinforcement and not by the number of trials. / Um procedimento de escolha probabilística encadeada foi utilizado com o intuito de se observar se participantes humanos foram sensíveis à manipulação das probabilidades de reforçamento. Neste procedimento havia uma tela inicial com dois estímulos um círculo e um triângulo (elo inicial). Escolhas no círculo dispunham uma segunda tela (elo terminal) com um estímulo e escolhas no triângulo dispunham uma segunda tela com 4 estímulos. Depois de escolher no elo terminal o participante podia ou não ganhar pontos conforme o valor do par probabilístico programado para utilizados (0.10-0.10, 0.50-0.50 e 0.90-0.90) e a permuta entre elas possibilitou 6 diferentes seqüências. Cada um dos 30 participantes passou por uma seqüência que além das probabilidades de reforçamento ainda tinha sessões de linha de base inicial e final (extinção). Um critério de 10% de estabilidade da preferência entre as duas últimas sessões foi utilizado para mudança de probabilidade. Na condição em que estava em vigor o par probabilístico 0,10-0,10 todos os participantes receberam uma instrução para escolherem o círculo.Observou-se que os participantes não discriminaram as diferentes probabilidades de reforçamento e que mesmo com uma probabilidade baixa(0,10) a instrução não controlou a preferência dos participantes.No experimento 2, que teve como objetivo verificar se o número de alternativas para reforçamento no elo terminal controlava a preferência, outros 5 participantes foram expostos a 4 diferentes pares probabilísticos. Cada participante exposto ao par por 3 sessões com 40 tentativas cada. Assim, cada participante passou por exatamente 12 sessões experimentais sempre na mesma ordem: 0.010-0.00, 0.00- 0.10, 0.90-0.00 e 0.00-0.90; sendo que a primeira probabilidade do par sempre se refere ao triângulo e a segunda ao círculo. Os dados do segundo experimento deixam claro o controle estabelecido pelo reforço e não pelo número de alternativas.

The essential tenet of the behavioral momentum model (BMM) is that relative response rate decreases less in the face of disruption when maintained by a higher reinforcer density. Empirical support exists based on both response-dependent and response-independent reinforcement. In the present study the BMM was tested with college students in 4 multi-element experiments, each using 2 reinforcement schedules and a disrupter. Participants performed a categorical sort (by orientation) of triangles on a computer monitor. Sorting response rates were disrupted by a concurrent task, pressing the keyboard “T” key whenever 2 displayed changing numbers were equal. Initial training established fast (under VR 4) and slow (under DRL 5-s) sorting rates, and provided practice with the disrupting task. In Experiment 1 DRL 5-s provided higher reinforcer density, while in Experiment 2 VR 4 did. In Experiment 3 the higher total reinforcer density was achieved by adding VT 6-s to DRL 5-s while in Experiment 4 it was achieved by adding VT 12-s to VR 4. In all 4 experiments, sorting rate decreased with introduction of the disrupter. In Experiments 1 and 3, relative sorting rate decreased less under DRL based schedule (greater reinforcer density), supporting the BMM. However, in Experiments 2 and 4, relative sorting also decreased less under DRL (lower reinforcer density), contrary to the BMM prediction. Taken together, these data show greater relative resistance to change under DRL (versus VR), independent of reinforcer density. Thus, contrary to the BMM, the nature of the reinforcement schedule seemed to be the principal factor determining behavioral momentum. / May 2009

The essential tenet of the behavioral momentum model (BMM) is that relative response rate decreases less in the face of disruption when maintained by a higher reinforcer density. Empirical support exists based on both response-dependent and response-independent reinforcement. In the present study the BMM was tested with college students in 4 multi-element experiments, each using 2 reinforcement schedules and a disrupter. Participants performed a categorical sort (by orientation) of triangles on a computer monitor. Sorting response rates were disrupted by a concurrent task, pressing the keyboard “T” key whenever 2 displayed changing numbers were equal. Initial training established fast (under VR 4) and slow (under DRL 5-s) sorting rates, and provided practice with the disrupting task. In Experiment 1 DRL 5-s provided higher reinforcer density, while in Experiment 2 VR 4 did. In Experiment 3 the higher total reinforcer density was achieved by adding VT 6-s to DRL 5-s while in Experiment 4 it was achieved by adding VT 12-s to VR 4. In all 4 experiments, sorting rate decreased with introduction of the disrupter. In Experiments 1 and 3, relative sorting rate decreased less under DRL based schedule (greater reinforcer density), supporting the BMM. However, in Experiments 2 and 4, relative sorting also decreased less under DRL (lower reinforcer density), contrary to the BMM prediction. Taken together, these data show greater relative resistance to change under DRL (versus VR), independent of reinforcer density. Thus, contrary to the BMM, the nature of the reinforcement schedule seemed to be the principal factor determining behavioral momentum.

The essential tenet of the behavioral momentum model (BMM) is that relative response rate decreases less in the face of disruption when maintained by a higher reinforcer density. Empirical support exists based on both response-dependent and response-independent reinforcement. In the present study the BMM was tested with college students in 4 multi-element experiments, each using 2 reinforcement schedules and a disrupter. Participants performed a categorical sort (by orientation) of triangles on a computer monitor. Sorting response rates were disrupted by a concurrent task, pressing the keyboard “T” key whenever 2 displayed changing numbers were equal. Initial training established fast (under VR 4) and slow (under DRL 5-s) sorting rates, and provided practice with the disrupting task. In Experiment 1 DRL 5-s provided higher reinforcer density, while in Experiment 2 VR 4 did. In Experiment 3 the higher total reinforcer density was achieved by adding VT 6-s to DRL 5-s while in Experiment 4 it was achieved by adding VT 12-s to VR 4. In all 4 experiments, sorting rate decreased with introduction of the disrupter. In Experiments 1 and 3, relative sorting rate decreased less under DRL based schedule (greater reinforcer density), supporting the BMM. However, in Experiments 2 and 4, relative sorting also decreased less under DRL (lower reinforcer density), contrary to the BMM prediction. Taken together, these data show greater relative resistance to change under DRL (versus VR), independent of reinforcer density. Thus, contrary to the BMM, the nature of the reinforcement schedule seemed to be the principal factor determining behavioral momentum.

The aim of my thesis was to perform construction and technological preparation of the construction of commercial house in Brno in the street Křídlovická. The introduction contains the expected design and construction process of the proposed building as a whole. It is also prepared a preliminary draft of the financial cost of the entire project designed according THU and object schedule. Furthermore, the implementation of the project construction site for a major part of the commercial house. Gradually work focuses mainly on the implementation of the technological stage of construction site with detailed processing procedure for the implementation of monolithic concrete structures of the building.