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Biomedical subjects

F C Mace

Publications and source records attributed to F C Mace.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Impulsivity in students with serious emotional disturbance: the interactive effects of reinforcer rate, delay, and quality.

We conducted two studies extending basic matching research on self-control and impulsivity to the investigation of choices of students diagnosed as seriously emotionally disturbed. In Study 1 we examined the interaction between unequal rates of reinforcement and equal versus unequal delays to reinforcer access on performance of concurrently available sets of math problems. The results of a reversal design showed that when delays to reinforcer access were the same for both response alternatives, the time allocated to each was approximately proportional to obtained reinforcement. When the delays to reinforcer access differed between the response alternatives, there was a bias toward the response alternative and schedule with the lower delays, suggesting impulsivity (i.e., immediate reinforcer access overrode the effects of rate of reinforcement). In Study 2 we examined the interactive effects of reinforcer rate, quality, and delay. Conditions involving delayed access to the high-quality reinforcers on the rich schedule (with immediate access to low-quality reinforcers earned on the lean schedule) were alternated with immediate access to low-quality reinforcers on the rich schedule (with delayed access to high-quality reinforcers on the lean schedule) using a reversal design. With 1 student, reinforcer quality overrode the effects of both reinforcer rate and delay to reinforcer access. The other student tended to respond exclusively to the alternative associated with immediate access to reinforcers. The studies demonstrate a methodology based on matching theory for determining influential dimensions of reinforcers governing individuals' choices.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Effects of community and center-based settings on the alertness of persons with profound mental retardation.

We studied effects of different settings on the behavior of persons with profound mental retardation. Adaptive (alert) and nonadaptive behaviors were observed in two community settings and a center setting. Results of the descriptive assessment showed that participants engaged in a higher percentage of adaptive behaviors and a lower percentage of nonadaptive behaviors in the "high stimulation" community setting. The results are discussed in light of environmental setting events on persons with profound mental retardation.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Behavioral momentum in college basketball.

Three classes of events were scored from videotapes of 14 college basketball games during the 1989 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament: reinforcers (such as points and favorable turnovers), adversities (such as missed shots, unfavorable turnovers, and fouls), and responses to adversities (favorable or unfavorable outcomes of the first possession of the ball following an adversity). Within-game and within-team analyses of these data supported three findings. First, a team's favorable response to an adversity generally increased as the rate of reinforcement increased 3 min preceding the adversity. Second, basketball coaches called time-out from play when being outscored by their opponents an average of 2.63 to 1.0. Third, calling time-outs from play appeared to be an effective intervention for reducing an opponent's rate of reinforcement. Rates of reinforcement during the 3 min immediately after a time-out were nearly equal for both teams. Results are discussed within a behavioral momentum framework.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1991

Functional analysis and treatment of aberrant behavior.

This article reviewed and discussed various methodologies used for the analysis of variables maintaining aberrant behavior. Previous research had succeeded in identifying a wide variety of environmental events which may contribute to an individual's maladaptive responding. These general classes of variables are summarized and presented with relevant examples. We conclude with suggestions for conducting a comprehensive functional analysis using descriptive and experimental methods leading to the development and evaluation of analysis-derived interventions.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1991

Training interactional behaviors of adults with developmental disabilities: a systematic replication and extension.

This study was a replication and extension of research by Foxx, McMorrow, Bittle, and Ness (1986) that assessed generalization effects of a social skills training program on the interactional behavior of adults with developmental disabilities. Target skills were a verbal action or reaction in six skill areas that specifically addressed the participants' skill deficits. In the present study, we trained 5 adult residents of a group home across these six skill areas using the "Sorry" game format and the scoring criteria described by Foxx et al. We extended the results of Foxx et al. by (a) using pretreatment assessment procedures to identify participants' specific skill deficits, (b) training all residents in the natural environment, (c) training participant-participant interactions, (d) training participants to respond to four of the six skill areas through the use of a role-play procedure, and (e) omitting rewards, criterion levels, and self-monitoring. Additionally, the trainer in the present study modeled correct responses only as an error correction procedure during training. Similar to those of Foxx et al., our results indicated that all participants increased their use of the trained interactional behaviors during the generalization assessments in the presence of other trained peers.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Linking descriptive and experimental analyses in the treatment of bizarre speech.

Descriptive and experimental methods were used to analyze the environmental determinants of an adult's bizarre speech. A descriptive analysis of behavior under natural conditions indicated that bizarre vocalizations occurred most often in the presence of task-related demands and in the absence of adult attention. Further, bizarre speech occurring during tasks was followed frequently by the cessation of task demands by staff or the subject's voluntary disengagement from task-related activities; bizarre speech observed during noninteractional periods (i.e., in the absence of adult attention) was frequently followed by staff attention. The escape and attention hypotheses were tested under analogue conditions. Results of the experimental analysis supported only the attention hypothesis; that is, bizarre speech appeared to function as an attention-producing behavior. The functional analysis data were used to select two different yet functionally equivalent treatments. The first treatment provided the subject with noncontingent scheduled attention. The second intervention taught the subject social language skills in the form of initiation and expansion statements. Both interventions were effective in suppressing maladapted speech. Advantages of linking descriptive and experimental analyses are discussed.

Attention↗
PubMed1990

A collateral effect of reward predicted by matching theory.

Matching theory describes a process by which organisms distribute their behavior between two or more concurrent schedules of reinforcement (Herrnstein, 1961). In an attempt to determine the generality of matching theory to applied settings, 2 students receiving special education were provided with academic response alternatives. Using a combined simultaneous treatments design and reversal design, unequal ratio schedules of reinforcement were varied across two academic responses. Findings indicated that both subjects allocated higher rates of responses to the richer schedule of reinforcement, although only one responded exclusively to the richer schedule. The present results lend support to a postulation that positive reinforcement may have undesirable collateral effects that are predicted by matching theory (Balsam & Bondy, 1983).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Behavioral momentum in the treatment of escape-motivated stereotypy.

Descriptive and experimental analyses of stereotypy by a woman with severe mental retardation showed that the behavior was maintained by escape from demands. A sequence of high-probability requests issued immediately prior to a task-related request established a momentum of compliance that increased compliance with task-related demands. Increases in compliance were accompanied by collateral reductions in stereotypic behavior. A mechanism of response covariation, called functional incompatibility, and an animal analogue study for testing the validity of this mechanism are proposed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The momentum of human behavior in a natural setting.

Adults with mental retardation in a group home received popcorn or coffee reinforcers for sorting plastic dinnerware. In Part 1 of the experiment, reinforcers were dispensed according to a variable-interval 60-s schedule for sorting dinnerware of one color and according to a variable-interval 240-s schedule for sorting dinnerware of a different color in successive components of a multiple schedule. Sorting rates were similar in baseline, but when a video program was shown concurrently, sorting of dinnerware was more resistant to distraction when correlated with a higher rate of reinforcement. In Part 2 of the experiment, popcorn or coffee reinforcers were contingent upon sorting both colors of dinnerware according to variable-interval 60-s schedules, but additional reinforcers were given independently of sorting according to a variable-time 30-s schedule during one dinnerware-color component. Baseline sorting rate was lower but resistance to distraction by the video program was greater in the component with additional variable-time reinforcers. These results demonstrate that resistance to distraction depends on the rate of reinforcers obtained in the presence of component stimuli but is independent of baseline response rates and response-reinforcer contingencies. Moreover, these results are similar to those obtained in laboratory studies with pigeons, demonstrating that the determination of resistance to change by stimulus-reinforcer relations is not confined to controlled laboratory settings or unique to the pigeon.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1990

Acquisition and maintenance of exercise skills under normalized conditions by adults with moderate and severe mental retardation.

Three older adults with severe and moderate mental retardation were taught a complete regimen of aerobic-type exercises under conditions that approximated mainstream exercise programs. A treatment package (prompts, contingent praise, and delayed reinforcing activities) was implemented by individual coaches while participants followed the instructions of an exercise leader. Prompts were faded and contingent activities were discontinued following skill acquisition. All participants correctly performed between 63% and 85% of the exercise repetitions during training and between 82% and 95% at a 9-month follow-up. Issues and strategies for achieving integration of persons with mental retardation into mainstream leisure activities were discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Effects of experimenter surveillance on reactive self-monitoring.

Two women with mild and moderate mental retardation self-monitored their work productivity with and without experimenter surveillance. For both subjects, reactive effects of self-monitoring were found without surveillance. However, reactivity was much greater when an observer was present while subjects self-monitored their work output. Reactive effects for one subject did not occur until she experienced surveillance in a previous experimental phase, suggesting that the history of surveillance established the reactivity of self-monitoring. Surveillance is viewed as a setting event that may be an important variable in achieving and maintaining benefits of self-management programs for persons with developmental disabilities.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Comparison of treatments to teach number matching skills to adults with moderate mental retardation.

The effectiveness of the Dial-A-Phone (D-A-P) instructional package plus a least intrusive prompt hierarchy was compared to a least intrusive prompt hierarchy alone for teaching adults with moderate developmental disabilities to match digits of personal phone numbers with digits on a rotary dial telephone. Instructional programs were administered in the context of an alternating treatments design. The dependent variable was the percentage of digits matched independently per session (21 digits per session). Results suggest that although a least intrusive prompt hierarchy alone produced findings similar to the D-A-P plus prompts procedure for one subject, the D-A-P plus prompts package was the most effective in helping both subjects to match digits independently. Strategies for individualizing the D-A-P program were discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1988

Functional analysis and treatment of bizarre speech.

Contingencies maintaining the bizarre speech of a 29-year-old woman with mild mental retardation and schizophrenia were analysed. Bizarre vocalizations occurred most frequently during demand conditions and least frequently during one-to-one interaction with attention contingent upon appropriate vocalizations. Treatment conditions derived from the assessment consisted of guided compliance and ignoring plus contingent attention. Treatment effects generalized to direct-care staff in day and residential settings. Analysis of the variables controlling bizarre speech facilitated development of interventions that were predominantly positive in nature, based on the specific and unique controlling behavior-environment interactions, and that were teachable to the direct-care staff.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Behavioral momentum in the treatment of noncompliance.

Behavioral momentum refers to the tendency for behavior to persist following a change in environmental conditions. The greater the rate of reinforcement, the greater the behavioral momentum. The intervention for noncompliance consisted of issuing a sequence of commands with which the subject was very likely to comply (i.e., high-probability commands) immediately prior to issuing a low-probability command. In each of five experiments, the high-probability command sequence resulted in a "momentum" of compliant responding that persisted when a low-probability request was issued. Results showed the antecedent high-probability command sequence increased compliance and decreased compliance latency and task duration. "Momentum-like" effects were shown to be distinct from experimenter attention and to depend on the contiguity between the high-probability command sequence and the low-probability command.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Analysis of demand conditions associated with stereotypy.

Possible escape/avoidance functions of stereotypic behavior were investigated in a classroom setting using functional academic tasks. A 6-year-old boy's stereotypic mouthing was assessed during high vs low response activities, familiar vs novel activities and avoidance vs partial-avoidance conditions. Results showed that stereotypy occurred at higher rates during more difficult activities (i.e. those that were novel or required a greater number of responses), and when stereotypy was allowed to effect a delay in instructional demands. Treatment procedures based on these analyses were implemented by the classroom teacher and shown to be effective.

Avoidance Learning↗
PubMed1986

Analysis of demand conditions associated with reluctant speech.

An analysis of five demand conditions affecting the reluctant speech of a preschool child was conducted in the classroom. Results indicated that demand conditions that did not permit escape from academic demand tasks, ignored mute responses, prompted answers and enthusiastically praised verbal responses resulted in higher rates of speech. Further, replication of these procedures across escape conditions resulted in increased speech rates that approximated those of a non-mute peer in the same classroom. Follow-up data at 8 months indicated that in the classroom the subject spoke more often to more people using a greater number of words, subsequent to analysis and intervention. The classroom teacher also reported a marked improvement in speech rate and quality and considered the time spent in analysis worthwhile. The study provides a model for further analysis of conditions associated with reluctant speech.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1986

Analysis of environmental determinants of aggression and disruption in mentally retarded children.

This study evaluated methods for empirically identifying environmental determinants of aggressive and disruptive behavior in three developmentally delayed children. A variety of sessions conducted on an inpatient treatment unit were designed to stimulate contingencies maintaining aggression and disruption in the subjects' natural environments. The basic analog conditions included: instructional demands, contingent social disapproval, and structured play. In addition, variations of the three basic conditions were developed based on informal observation and parental reports of naturally occurring contingencies. Results showed considerable variability both between and within subjects. However, for each subject a specific analog condition was shown to produce relatively higher rates of aberrant behavior. Subsequently, behavioral treatments based on assessment results were successfully implemented with two of the subjects. Results are discussed in terms of the importance and practical limitations of conducting systematic assessment of aberrant repertoires in developmentally delayed clients.

Adolescent↗