Acta Comportamentalia

Is "refraining" from eating free food a case of self-controlled behavior in pigeons?

Se expuso a tres palomas privadas de comida a sesiones experimentales de 50 ciclos de 64 s cada uno (ciclos T) dentro de los que siempre se presentó un dispensador de comida durante 3 s (E R1). El dispensador se podía presentar nuevamente (E R2) cuando terminaba el ciclo si el sujeto se abstenía de aproximarse al E R1, de lo contrario, este se retiraba y se cancelaba la entrega del E R2. En cinco fases experimentales se presentó el E R1 3, 32, 16, 8, y 3 s antes del final del ciclo T. Además, conforme a un diseño ABA, un cambio de color en una tecla de respuesta señaló (A1 y A2) o no (B) las presentaciones del E R1 sirviendo como un operando distractor. Se encontró que el número de E R2 obtenidos disminuyó conforme el E R1 se presentó más cerca del inicio del ciclo T. Así mismo, se observó que únicamente durante las condiciones A de la primera fase experimental, el número de E R1 interrumpidos fue relativamente bajo y el número de picotazos a la tecla fue comparativamente mayor. Estos hallazgos reprodujeron y extendieron los resultados de otras investigaciones en las cuales se estudió la conducta autocontrolada de comer.

Self-controlled eating behavior was studied in three food-deprived pigeons exposed to a procedure consisting on fifty 64-s time cycles (T cycles). In each cycle a food-hopper was always presented once for 3 s (S R 1 ) and could be presented for other 3 s (S R 2) after the T cycle elapsed, according to the following contingency. If the subject approached to S R 1 it was withdrawn and S R 2 delivery was cancelled; otherwise S R 2 was presented when the T cycle elapsed. In five experimental phases SR 1 was presented 3, 32, 16, 8, and 3 s before the end of the T cycle. Additionally, according to an ABA-design, a color change of a response key signaled (conditions A1 and A2) or not (condition B) S R 1 presentations and served as a distracting operandum. It was found that the number of S R 2 obtained was lower as S R 1 was presented closer to the beginning of each T cycle, regardless of signaling S R 1 presentations. It was also found that only in the A conditions of the first experimental phase (3 s) S R 1 interruptions were relatively low and R>0 of key pecks was comparatively high. Globally, these results replicated and extended those of previous studies in which self-controlled eating behavior was explored.

Conditioned Suppression With Different Aversive Stimuli: Electric Shock and Hot Air Blast

Com o objetivo de testar a generalidade do fenômeno da supressão condicionada, foram utilizados e comparados dois tipos de estímulos aversivos: choque elétrico (CE) e jato de ar quente (JAQ). Quatro ratos albinos foram divididos em pares e cada par foi exposto a pareamentos do som + CE ou som + JAQ. O responder operante registrado, nesta fase, foi a resposta de pressão à barra, mantida em esquema de intervalo variável. Os dois sujeitos expostos ao CE apresentaram supressão condicionada, enquanto que apenas um dos sujeitos do par utilizando o JAQ apresentou o mesmo efeito. A supressão com JAQ foi parcial, enquanto com CE foi total. Discutem-se as diferenças observadas em termos da natureza dos estímulos aversivos e dos procedimentos adotados.

In order to test the generality of the phenomenon of conditioned suppression, we used and compared two types of aversive stimuli: Electric Shock (EC) and Hot Air Blast (HAB). Four albino rats were divided into pairs and each pair was exposed to pairings of sound + EC or sound + HAB. The operant responding registered in this phase was bar-pressing (maintained in a variable interval schedule). Both subjects exposed to EC showed conditioned suppression of bar-pressing, whereas only one subject using the HAB pairing had the same effect. The suppression was partial with HAB, while with EC it was total. It was also noted that besides the suppression of operant responding, subjects which underwent the procedure with EC had a decrease in the frequency of exploratory responses. But, with the HAB, despite the bar-pressing suppression, it was observed an increase in the frequency of exploratory responses. These differences are discussed in what concerns to the nature of the aversive stimuli and the procedures adopted.

History of response acquisition on a multiple FR-DRL schedule of reinforcement: Differentiation and stability of response rates

Estudou-se o efeito de diferentes histórias de aquisição, em um programa de reforço múltiplo FR-DRL, sobre a diferenciação nas taxas de respostas e sobre o tempo necessário (em minutos e número de sessões) para que a taxa de respostas atingisse estabilidade. Estudantes universitários foram distribuídos em quatro grupos com diferentes histórias de aquisição: Grupo 1- Incremento intra-sessão e não simultâneo do FR e do DRL (incremento primeiro do DRL e depois do FR); Grupo 2-Incremento intra-sessão e simultâneo do FR e do DRL; Grupo 3-Incremento do FR e do DRL inter-sessão e Grupo 4-Incremento dos FR e do DRL inter-sessão, com a diferença de que o critério para mudança de componente de tempo fixo (3 minutos) para esse grupo, enquanto para os Grupos 1, 2 e 3 o critério para mudança de componente foi a obtenção de 10 pontos. Após a aquisição todos os participantes foram expostos a um múltiplo FR 60 - DRL 20 s por 20 sessões em que a estabilidade do comportamento foi avaliada. A diferenciação nas taxas de respostas entre os componentes do múltiplo pode ser atingida com diferentes formas de se programar a aquisição do comportamento e os participantes de todos os grupos atingiram o critério de estabilidade em no máximo nove sessões de exposição.

Discrepancies in schedule performance are commonly observed between humans and non-humans. Three hypotheses are proposed to explain these discrepancies: verbal behavior, behavioral history and procedural variables. Various studies have been reported in which the effects of procedural variables on response rates have been assessed. One such variable is the history of acquisition of behavior in multiple schedules of reinforcement. With non-humans, the criterion generally used to change the components of the multiple schedule is the number of reinforcers, and with humans, components are generally changed after a fixed interval, independent of the organism's performance. The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of different histories of acquisition in a multiple fixed-ratio(FR) differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule on (a) the differentiation in response rates and (b) on the time (measured in minutes and number of sessions) for stable response rates min each component to be achieved. Twenty undergraduates participated, and were distributed in four groups. The response was pressing a button on the screen with the mouse cursor. For participants in Group 1, the parameters of the DRL were incremented within sessions, from 2 s until 20 s, and subsequently the parameters of the FR were increased from 10 until 60. For the participants in Group 2, the parameters of both schedules were incremented simultaneously, within sessions. For participants in Groups 3 and 4, the increments in the parameters of the schedule components were always conducted across sessions and the difference between these groups was the criterion for changing the components of the multiple schedule. For participants in Group 3, schedules components changed after 10 points were earned and for those in Group 4, changes in components occurred after 3 minutes had elapsed. The differentiation in response rates between components of the multiple schedule was achieved with each of these ways of arranging the acquisition of responding. In general, the different ways in which acquisition was programmed did not affect the time necessary to achieve stability in responding in a multiple FR-DRL (behavior was stable for participants in each group within a maximum of 9 sessions). Maintenance of this stability, with continued exposure to the schedule of reinforcement, also was not a function of the history of acquisition.

Contextual factors of remembering: experimental and theoretical contributions

En este artículo se presentan datos y consideraciones teóricas sobre el tema del efecto de los factores contextuales en el recuerdo. Los datos se caracterizan por obtenerse con un diseño Longitudinal de Medidas Repetidas, por realizarse en ambientes cotidianos, por utilizar un lapso de tiempo de una semana entre la fase de aprendizaje y la fase de recuerdo y por introducir una tarea perceptivo-motriz, junto a las pruebas de retención cognoscitiva habituales en la investigación sobre aquellos factores. Los resultados señalan la ausencia de efectos del entorno ambiental sobre el recuerdo y se contrastan con otros datos experimentales, donde sí se han observado efectos. En una aportación más teórica, se exponen las ventajas de un modelo teórico de campo de cara a la definición de factores explicativos de las variaciones en el recuerdo y en cualquier otra medida de rendimiento psicológico.

Experimental data and theoretical considerations about the effect of contextual factors in memory are presented in this paper. The experimental data are characterized by a Longitudinal Design with Repeated Measures and their implementation in daily spaces, but also by introducing a period of a week between learning and recall phases and a perceptual-motor task, besides a cognitive task ordinarily used in traditional research. Two studies are reported, both including a cognitive task and a perceptual-motor task. The results confirm the absence effects on remembering due to contextual factors. Those results are compared with other experimental data, showing consistent effects of setting factors in other experimental situations. In a theoretical approach, the advantages of a field theoretical model are exposed for de definitions of factors affecting remembering performance but also for general explanation of quantitative changes in any psychological performance.

The emergence of sentence reading as stemming from teaching their constituent parts

Ensinar apenas palavras garante leitura de textos mais complexos? Não seria necessário um repertório mínimo de leitura de frases? Considerando essas questões, esse trabalho procurou ensinar crianças a ler e escrever palavras substantivadas, a nomear números, numerais e quantidades, cores e nomes de cores e, em situação de teste, ler "frases" compostas por esses elementos. Participaram 17 crianças, entre seis e oito anos, da primeira série de uma escola pública. Destas, 11 crianças passaram pelo procedimento de ensino (Grupo Experimental) e seis não passaram pelo procedimento (Grupo Controle). As classes de respostas foram ensinadas utilizando procedimento computadorizado de discriminação condicional. No Teste de leitura, as palavras substantivadas, os números, numerais e quantidades, cores e nomes de cores ensinados foram testados conjuntamente, formando frases, cujo desempenho não foi consequenciado. Um Teste de Equivalência de Agrupamento verificou se a leitura era realizada com significado. Das 11 crianças, seis leram com 100% de acerto as frases apresentadas. Uma criança leu com 100% de acerto o primeiro e segundo conjuntos e duas crianças leram o primeiro conjunto, também com 100% de acerto. O estudo mostrou que é possível, após o ensino de palavras substantivadas isoladas, produzir a emergência de leitura de frases com compreensão.

Is teaching just words sufficient to ensure reading more complex texts? Wouldn't it be also necessary to have a basic repertoire of sentence reading? Taking these questions as a starting point, it has been chosen as an aim to teach students to read and write words, to identify numerals and color names, and in test circumstances to read "sentences" made out of such elements. After teaching words, numerals, and color names separately, these elements have been grouped in order to make sentences which, in test circumstances, have been presented to the participants to read. At this stage, called grouping, no experimental consequence has been presented to the participant. By means of this procedure, one aimed to check if teaching classes of stimuli separately would generate, once grouped, the emergence of a broader repertoire, namely sentence reading. Seventeen first grade children of both sexes, aged from six and seven years, took part in that research. Such students belonged to a public, state school, situated in a city in south Brazil. The participants have been selected for the experimental group based on the scores obtained by means of the application of a preliminary test that evaluated the relations AB, AC, AE, CE, CD, BC, and CB of words, numerals, and color names; the students who presented the lowest scores of correct answers have been chosen. The other participants of the preliminary test took part in the control group; they have been evaluated also in an intermediary test and in a final test of reading. At the inter-test periods, only children in the experimental group took part in the teaching procedure. The research took place at the school library, on a reading desk. Two notebooks have been used, along with multimedia devices, and the educational software Mestre@. The classes of responses of reading and writing nouns as well as the classes of identifications of numerals and color names have been taught by means of a procedure of conditional discrimination through the exclusion of already known stimuli. Model and comparison stimuli as well as experimental contingencies have been presented also through the computer programs. In the reading test words, numerals and color names have all been jointly tested, forming sentences, whose performance didn't result in any consequences. One grouping equivalence test has been performed to check if reading was being done meaningfully. Out of 11 children, six have read the presented sentences with 100 percent of accuracy. One child has read with 100 percent of accuracy the first and second sets, and two children have read the first set with 100% accuracy, too. Two children dropped out about halfway the research. This research showed that it is possible, after teaching isolated words, to provoke the emergence of sentence reading with comprehension.

The articles on behavior analysis in education in brazilian journals

Tendo como referência pesquisas produzidas por analistas do comportamento e a constatação de que a Educação tem sido, ao longo dos anos, um tema de interesse de pesquisadores brasileiros da abordagem comportamental, foi que propusemos a presente pesquisa. Nosso objetivo foi o de realizar uma caracterização do que vem sendo produzido pela Análise do Comportamento na área educacional com base na análise de trabalhos publicados em periódicos nacionais. Tomamos como fonte de dados periódicos brasileiros publicados no período de 1961 a 2006, tendo como foco específico as pesquisas da abordagem comportamental na área da Educação. Os resultados mostram que a Educação Regular é a modalidade de Educação mais freqüente nas publicações analisadas (53 artigos de pesquisa em 71 analisados), sendo a escola do participante o setting mais utilizado nos estudos.

With reference to research produced by analysts of behavior and the fact that education has been, over the years, a topic of interest to researchers of the national behavioral approach has been proposed that the present research. Our goal was to achieve a characterization of what is being produced by the Behavior Analysis in education based on the analysis of papers published in national journals. We use as a source of brazilian data published journals in the period from 1961 to 2006, focusing specifically the approach of behavioral research in the area of Education. The results show that regular education is the most common mode of education in the publications reviewed (53 research articles in 71 examined) and the participating school of the setting used in most studies.

Woman and Depression: A Behavioral-Contextual Analysis

A depressão é, atualmente, um problema significativo de saúde pública. Pacientes deprimidos costumam passar mais dias longe do trabalho, tornam-se, com mais frequência, clinicamente doentes, apresentam maior risco de suicídio do que as pessoas em geral, entre outros problemas. Entre os diagnosticados como "deprimidos", o numero de mulheres tem sido duas vezes maior que o de homens. A Análise do Comportamento explica a depressão a partir das contingências presentes no contexto ambiental em que o deprimido está inserido. Este artigo consiste de uma revisão bibliográfica acerca da depressão relacionada à mulher e tem por objetivo discutir essa relação a partir da perspectiva da Análise do Comportamento. Os contextos de gravidez, violência, problemas de saúde e fatores sócio-econômicos e familiares são analisados neste artigo.

Depression is, nowadays, a significant public health problem. Depressed patients often spend more days away from work, become more frequently, clinically ill, are at higher risk of suicide than people in general, among other problems. Among those diagnosed as "depressed", there are twice as many women with this diagnosis as there are men. Behavior Analysis explains depression from the contingencies present in the environmental context in which the depressed person is inserted. This article is a review of literature about depression related to women and aims to discuss this relation from a behavioral analytic perspective. The contexts of pregnancy, violence, health problems and socioeconomic factors and family are discussed in this article.