Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The presence of the “number of nodes effect” was analyzed on the formation of two-node four-member classes with a serial training protocol and with three concurrent probes of the equivalence class formation in undergraduate students. First, the baseline conditional relations AB, BC and CD were trained, then a discriminative function was established for one stimulus in each potential class and the transfer test was applied, finally the traditional equivalence probes and a “paper-and-pencil” probe of derivative relations were completed. The results showed a high inter-individual variability, 4 participants formed two classes, 5 not formed any and 1 alone formed one class; number of node effects was observed in 7 participants, although in 5 participants showed a partial effect. The results are discussed in terms of the Sidman’s (1994) and Imam’s (2006) proposals by a hand and Fields & colleague’s point of view (1995, 2008) on the other hand.

The effect of a program to prevent the errors in literacy acquisition in firstgrade students from a low-income sociocultural status was analyzed. Thirty students enrolled in public elementary schools were selected, and randomly assigned to three groups. At the beginning of the scholar term, the preacademic and linguistic skills, as well as writing and reading levels, were assessed. The Experimental Group was included in a training program to improve their linguistic and preacademic skills. The program had a different set of foundations from others in educational psychology research. At the end of the scholar term, the effect of the program was assessed, comparing the reading and writing skills developed by the children from the three groups. The results show that the program improved the reading and writing skills. These results are discussed regarding the benefits of this kind of program for literacy acquisition with children from low-income sociocultural status.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of the combination of parental training in behavioral management techniques in children with aggressive behavior along with cognitive behavioral treatment applied to children, as compared to the sole treatment of children. The effects of both type of treatments (combined and treatment alone) at posttest were also analyzed from a traditional statistical approach, as well as from the point of view of its clinical significance. Also, the effect of treatment was explored in children’s social functioning and parental stress. According to statistical analyses, both conditions decreased children’s aggression and social problems as perceived by their parents; however, only combined treatment was clinically significant. Parental stress did not change after treatment in either group.

To analyze the effects of reinforcer magnitude on the temporal control of behavior in periodic reinforcement, two groups of rats were exposed to 30 and 90 seconds Fixed Interval schedules. Half of the animals in each group received one pellet as a reinforcer while the other half received three pellets. Local response rates were higher with the larger reinforcer magnitude, but no differences were observed on the global rates. Also, the larger reinforcer magnitude generated longer response latencies, but the within-interval response distribution followed a sigmoid function in all cases. These findings are discussed in the context of the dual role of reinforcement hypothesis and temporal control as an adaptive form of behavior resulting from temporal and motivational factors.

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The contribution of varying the response requirement frequency on the occurrence of escape-optimal and persistence-optimal behavior versus impulsive behavior was evaluated in food-deprived pigeons. According to an ABACA design, the subjects were exposed to the following arrangements of fixed ration (FR) response requirements and probabilities of presentation of each one: for the A conditions the arrangements were FR 10 p=0.50, FR 40 p=0.25, FR 80 p=0.125 or FR 160 p=0.125. For the B condition the arrangements were FR 10 p=0.125, FR 40 p=0.50, FR 80 p=0.25 or FR 160 p=0.125. For the C condition the set was FR 10 p=0.0625, FR 40 p=0.0625, FR 80 p=0.50 and FR 160 p=0.375. These FR response requirements with their respective probabilities were evaluated under two phases of the experiment, a signaled and an unsignaled one. Globally, it was found that the relative frequency of the FR response requirements controlled the occurrence of escape and persistence optimal behavior or impulsive behavior. These effects of the response frequency were modulated by the presence versus absence of a stimulus signaling the response requirement changes. These findings were interpreted as congruent with those previously reported in similar procedures.

The study of discriminative stimulus control of responding maintained by positive reinforcement has a long-standing and dominant role in the behavioral literature. In contrast, the literature on discriminative stimulus control of response suppression by punishment is small and moribund. Investigating the form of stimulus control that develops under conditions of punishment is a topic in need of further attention for both theoretical and practical reasons. In preparations wherein stimulus control can develop (e.g., multiple schedules), at least two stimuli can come to exert discriminative control over response suppression: an antecedent discriminative stimulus (e.g., multiple-schedule stimulus) and the punisher delivery itself. We reviewed the experimental and applied literatures involving punishment and found only a few unambiguous demonstrations of operant stimulus control by an antecedent stimulus. We discuss limitations in methods, and conventions of data analysis and presentation, that preclude unambiguous conclusions regarding the establishment of antecedent stimulus control with punishment. A consideration of these limitations is important because they bear on both basic and applied issues in behavior analysis.

Recent research in both the basic behavioral pharmacology literature and applied developmental disabilities literature suggests a relationship between increased aggression and the use of benzodiazepines, specifically anxiolytics. The purpose of this review is to tie together the findings on benzodiazepine anxiolytics from basic pharmacology research and applied research in developmental disabilities. The similarities and differences in the research in both areas will be reviewed. Implications for the treatment of aggression in those with developmental disabilities are discussed.

emerge from basic behavioral research, yet surprisingly little is known about its principles of operation. The majority of research on the topic of timeout has been technological—demonstrating that timeout works—rather than analytical— why it works. This essay calls for a greater emphasis on the functional characteristics of timeout, the conditions under which it serves an aversive function, and for grounding empirical work in a theoretical framework. Such a return to the functional roots of timeout from reinforcement will advance not only the science of timeout but its successful application as well.

Galizio (1999) reported that responding that produced a timeout from avoidance was more resistant to extinction than avoidance responding itself. The present study sought to extend this finding. Six times during each session, a signaled fixed-ratio 10 schedule was superimposed on a variable-cycle 60-s shock deletion schedule. By completing the ratio, rats produced a signaled 5- or 8-min timeout. Response rates maintained by avoidance and timeout were compared by analyzing responding during each FR presentation (timeout) and in the 5-min period before it (avoidance). Resistance to change was assessed by (a) increasing the variable-cycle parameter from 60 s to 120 s (Experiment 1), and (b) shock-omission extinction (Experiment 2). In both cases, timeout responding was more resistant to change than avoidance responding.