The present study attempted to investigate the effects of extinction on the behavior of older adults with moderate to severe dementia. A touch screen computer displaying four large colored buttons was employed. Participants were exposed to three conditions: baseline, intervention, and a reversal. The target response (pressing green after yellow) resulted in a video stimulus in the intervention condition, and then the videos were withheld during the reversal condition. Data on button-pressing and vocal-verbal statements were visually analyzed to determine the effect of the videos on responding; however none of the participants acquired the task. Therefore, a discussion of extinction responding was not possible. Interesting findings in terms of reinforcement and implications for the treatment of problem behaviors in older adults with dementia are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:siu.edu/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:theses-1373 |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Creators | Mattingly, Jenna |
| Publisher | OpenSIUC |
| Source Sets | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses |
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