Decreasing Behavior with Nonpunishment Procedures

Chapters 21, 22, 23

What Does Nonpunishment Mean?

Punishment Occurs when a stimulus change immediately

follows a response and Decreases the future frequency of that type of

behavior in similar conditions Nonpunishment procedures that decrease

behavior Extinction Differential reinforcement arrangements Antecedent arrangements

Differential Reinforcement Arrangements Used to Decrease Behavior

Differential Reinforcement: reinforcing one response class and withholding reinforcement for another response class

As a behavior reduction procedure, DR is… Providing reinforcement contingent upon the occurrence of

behavior other than the problem behavior

Or contingent upon a reduced rate of the problem behavior

Withholding reinforcement as much as possible for the problem behavior

Differential Reinforcement of…

Incompatible Behavior (DRI) Alternative Behavior (DRA) Other Behavior (DRO) Low Rates of Responding (DRL) High Rates of Responding (DRH)

DRA

Reinforcement of an appropriate alternative to the problem behavior

Withholding of reinforcement following instances of problem behavior (extinction)

Sometimes the new behavior is a communication response that results in the same reinforcer as the target behavior: Functional Communication Training (FCT)

Sometimes the new behavior and the problem behavior can’t be done at the same time – this is called DRI – what’s the benefit of this?

Durand (1999)%

of

Inte

rval

s

(DRA)

Implementing DRA and DRI

Select incompatible and alternative behaviors that are Require equal or less effort than the problem behavior If possible, already in the learner’s repertoire Likely to be reinforced in the learner’s natural environment

Select reinforcers that are Powerful – try to use same reinforcer that maintains problem behavior

if you can! Can be delivered consistently and immediately (than switch from CRF

to Intermittent schedule) Withhold reinforcement for the problem behavior (Extinction) Combine with other procedures if the behavior is destructive

or dangerous

Should the Replacement Behavior Be Saying “I’m angry”?

It may be true that a student is feeling angry, sad, or frustrated

Will teaching the student to say, “I’m angry” be an appropriate replacement behavior? What reinforcer will be delivered contingent upon “I’m

angry”? How will another person know what to do in response to

that statement? Learning to describe emotions is an important skill

But it may be beneficial to teach a student to specify the reinforcer or engage in a functional skill instead

DRO Reinforcer is delivered contingent on the absence of a problem behavior – what’s the problem with the term DRO? Arranging a DRO schedule

Identify the target behavior’s reinforcer Identify the mean interresponse time (IRT) during baseline

Total of all baseline sessions/total number of responses Set the initial DRO value slightly less than the mean baseline IRT Deliver the reinforcer only at the end of intervals in which no target

behaviors have occurred (Interval DRO)or at a specific moment when no target behaviors are

occurring (Momentary DRO) Hint: think of momentary time sampling and partial interval

recording If the target behavior occurs, reset the interval

Types of DRO

Interval Momentary

Fixed FI-DRO FM-DRO

Variable VI-DRO VM-DRO

DRO Video

Guidelines for Using DRO

Interval DRO may be more effective than Momentary DRO But VM-DRO may be more practical

Increase the DRO interval gradually as behavior improves (recall LeBlanc, Hagopian, Maglieri, & Poling, 2002)

Watch for Other problem behaviors occurring

during the interval Problem behavior occurring at the

time of reinforcement Combine DRO with other procedures

Step Start at 15 s % incr

1 30 s 100%

2 45 s 50%

3 60 s 33%

4 90 s 50%

5 120 s 33%

6 160 s 33%

7 230 s 44%

8 330 s 43%

9 450 s 37%

10 600 s 33%

Antecedent Interventions Used to Decrease Behavior

Antecedent Intervention: Behavior change strategy in which motivating operations are manipulated

3 established antecedent interventions: Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) High-probability (Hi-p) request sequence Functional communication training (FCT)

NCR Reinforcer that maintains a problem behavior is delivered

on a fixed-time (FT) or variable-time (VT) schedule (also continuous) Independent of the learner’s behavior

How is noncontingent reinforcement a misnomer?

Vollmer et al. (1998)

How Does NCR manipulate Motivating Operations?

Abolishing Operation: Motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of a consequence e.g., food consumption decreases the reinforcing effectiveness

of food In the case of NCR…

Noncontingent access to attention decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of attention (social SR+)

Noncontingent access to escape decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of escape (social SR-)

Noncontingent access to sensory stimulation decreases the reinforcing effectiveness of sensory stimulation (automatic SR+)

Guidelines for Using NCR

First conduct Functional AssessmentUse with extinction or DROInitial time interval should be dense and

then thinned Total duration of all baseline sessions/total

number of occurrences of the problem behavior

Set the initial interval slightly below this

Advantages and Disadvantages of NCR Advantages

Easy to use Creates positive

learning environment If used with extinction,

can reduce extinction burst

Chance pairing of productive behavior and NCR could strengthen the productive behavior

Disadvantages Free access to NCR

stimuli may reducte motivation to engage in adaptive behavior

Chance pairing of non-productive behavior and NCR could strengthen the non-productive behavior

High-P Request Sequence

Teacher presents 2-5 easy-to-follow requests for which the learner has a history of compliance (hi-p)

When the learner complies, the teacher immediately gives the target request for which the learner has a history of noncompliance (low-p)

Sometimes called behavioral momentum

How Does the High-P Request Sequence Manipulate MOs?

Reinforcement during the high-p requests reduces the value of escape from the low-p request Makes the situation less aversive

Selecting the Hi-p Requests

Selecting the hi-p requests Create a list of requests Present each one in 5 separate sessions Hi-p requests are those that the student

complies with 100% of the time

Functional Communication Training

Conduct a functional assessment Use the reinforcer maintaining problem behavior to teach

a communication response Can be vocalization, sign, written word, picture, voice

output system, gesture How do you do this???

Best if combined with extinction Rather than changing the MO, FCT develops an

alternative behavior that is sensitive to the MO that evokes the target problem behavior

Advantages & Disadvantages of FCT Advantages

Generalization & Maintenance of the communicative response

High social validity When using FRI,

may be effective without using extinction

Disadvantages Usually includes

extinction and side effects of extinction

Extinction is very difficult to use consistently

Inappropriate high rates of new response

These may occur at impossible times

Extinction

Procedure: Discontinuation of the response-reinforcer relationship

Process: decline in response rate caused by withholding reinforcement

Extinction is procedurally different depending on what the maintaining reinforcer of the behavior is…how? What are possible categories of maintaining reinforcers? How do you know what reinforcer maintains a behavior?

Iwata, Pace, Cowdery, and Miltenberger (1994)

EXT (Sensory)EXT (Escape)EXT (Attention)

TreatmentIrrelevantIrrelevantAutomatic SR+

(Sensory)

IrrelevantTreatmentContra-

indicatedSocial SR- (Escape)

IrrelevantContra-

indicatedTreatment

Social SR+

(Attention)

What Makes Extinction Work: An Analysis of Procedural Form and Function

Misuse of the term Extinction

Extinction is NOT just any decrease in behavior Extinction is NOT the same as forgetting

What’s forgetting? Extinction is NOT the same as response blocking Extinction is not necessarily ignoring

Characteristics of Extinction

Extinction alone has not been well-studied in humans in applied settings!

In ABA, we always combine extinction with other procedures (“treatment package”)

Although these characteristics have been clearly documented in basic research, apply them cautiously to your learners Initial increase in response frequency and magnitude

Extinction burst: immediate increase in the frequency of a response after the discontinuation of reinforcement

Gradual decrease in frequency and magnitude “Emotional responses” (e.g., aggression, crying) Extinction-induced variability Spontaneous recovery

The Extinction Burst (Iwata et al., 1994)

Resistance to Extinction Initial continued responding during an extinction procedure Variables Affecting RTE:

Schedule of reinforcement Intermittent schedules produce… Variable schedules produce… Thinner schedules of SR produce…

Motivating Operations RTE is greater when carried out with a strong EO in effect

Number, magnitude, and quality of reinforcement Effects are unclear!

Response effort A low effort response is more resistant to extinction

Number of previous extinction trials The 2nd extinction is…

Higbee, Carr, and Patel (2002)

Guidelines for Effective Use of Extinction

Withhold all reinforcers maintaining the problem behavior Withhold reinforcement consistently Combine extinction with other behaviors Use instructions Plan for extinction-produced aggression Increase the number of extinction trials Include significant others in extinction Guard against unintentional extinction Maintain extinction-decreased behavior