Acta Comportamentalia

Consumo de soluciones endulzadas en octodones (Octodón-degú)

Ratas expuestas a agua endulzada con glucosa presentan grandes bebidas, mientras que ratas expuestas a agua endulzada con sucralosa no presentan grandes bebidas. El resultado es similar a pesar de modificar la secuencia de presentación del endulzante. El objetivo de este trabajo fue replicar los resultados obtenidos en ratas con otra especie de roedor: el Octodón-degú, que tiene características alimentarias particulares como beber pocas cantidades de agua y no metabolizar adecuadamente los azúcares. Los resultados mostraron que los sujetos emitieron grandes bebidas de agua endulzada con glucosa, mientras que mostraron un incremento en el consumo de agua endulzada con sucralosa el primer día de acceso al endulzante sin calorías. Estos resultados confirman que el consumo de grandes cantidades de soluciones endulzadas con glucosa puede observarse experimentalmente en otra especie de roedor.

Rats exposed to sweetened water with glucose show binge drinking response whereas rats exposed to sweetened water with sucralose do not show binge drinking response. This result is similar although it modified the sweetener presentation sequence. The objective of this work was to replicate the obtained results in rats with other species of rodent: Octodon-Degus, who has peculiar feeding characteristics like they drink few water and they do not metabolize properly the sugars. Results showed the subjects emit binge drinking response of sweetened water with glucose whereas they showed an increase of sweetened water with sucralose only the first day of access to the sweetener without calories. These results confirm that great quantity of sweetened solution intake can showed in another species of rodent experimentally

The acquisition and maintenance of lever pressing by rats with conditioned reinforcement

Se emplearon ratas para estudiar el efecto de dos parámetros de un procedimiento previamente empleado para investigar reforzamiento condicionado con palomas. Uno de estos parámetros es la frecuencia de apareamientos independientes de la respuesta de una señal de 1s con comida. Se estimó que intervalos variables entre apareamientos señal-comida con medias de 60, 120 o 240s podrían ser conducentes a la adquisición y mantenimiento de la respuesta con ratas. El otro parámetro es la frecuencia con la que presionar una palanca producía la señal de 1s. También se estimó que intervalos variables entre señales de 7.5, 15 o 30s serían apropiados para la adquisición de la respuesta en ratas. Estos valores se combinaron conforme un diseño factorial durante la adquisición y el subsiguiente mantenimiento de la respuesta. Las tasas de respuesta disminuyeron al alargar el intervalo entre apareamientos señal-comida y al alargar el intervalo entre señales sucesivas. Mientras que el primer efecto es diferente al reportado con palomas, el segundo concuerda con la investigación anterior. Se concluyó que el procedimiento utilizado en este estudio evita algunos problemas de otros métodos para estudiar reforzamiento condicionado y que por razones prácticas, al permitir la adquisición y el mantenimiento de la respuesta en ratas, puede facilitar investigación posterior soe la adquisición de la respuesta bajo condiciones degradadas de reforzamiento condicionado.

Rats were used to study the effect of two parameters of a procedure previously used to investigate conditioned reinforcement with pigeons. One of these parameters is the frequency of response-independent pairings of a 1s signal with food. Variable inter-pairing signal-food intervals with means of either 60,120 or 240s were guessed to be appropriate for rats. The other parameter is the frequency with which lever pressing produced the 1s signal. Variable inter-signal intervals with means of either 7.5, 15 or 30s were also guessed to be adequate for rats. These parameter values were combined according to a factorial design for three rats per cell during the acquisition and further maintenance of responding. Rates of responding decreased when the signal-food inter-pairing interval and the inter-signal interval were lengthened. While the former effect differed from that reported for pigeons, the latter agrees with previous research. It was concluded that the present procedure avoids some problems of other methods to study conditioned reinforcement and that for practical reasons, by allowing the acquisition and maintenance of responding by rats, may facilitate further research on the establishment of responding under degraded conditions of conditioned reinforcement.

The Reinforcing value of water in a Schedule-Induced Drinking situation

En un procedimiento de beber inducido por el programa (BIP) el agua es reforzador de la respuesta que la produce. El agua adquiere su valor reforzante como consecuencia de la privación de comida. En diversos estudios se encontró que la privación de comida reduce la ingesta de agua en la caja habitación pero durante la sesión de BIP al entregar nuevamente comida la ingesta de agua y comida se restablece. Los sujetos fueron tres ratas. Se comparó el valor reforzante del agua en una condición de BIP con el obtenido bajo diferentes grados de privación explícita de agua y bajo dos condiciones de control. En una condición de control la comida se entregó durante la sesión pero las ratas no fueron privadas de comida. En la otra condición de control se privó de comida a las ratas pero no se entregó comida durante la sesión. Se reforzó con agua la presión a una palanca de acuerdo a un programa de Razón Progresiva 5 y las razones máximas completadas se tomaron como medida de valor reforzante del agua. Concurrentemente se entregó comida con un programa Tiempo al Azar 64 s. Se encontró que la razón máxima completada disminuyó al disminuir el nivel de privación directa de agua. En la fase BIP la razón máxima completada fue parecida a la obtenida bajo la privación explícita de agua de 5:45 horas. En las condiciones de control el valor reforzante del agua fue cinco veces menor en comparación con la condición de BIP. Se discute la influencia de la interacción entre la privación directa de comida, la privación directa de agua y el restablecimiento de la entrega de comida en la sesión sobre el valor reforzante del agua en el procedimiento del BIP

In a Schedule-Induced Drinking procedure (SID) water reinforces the water-producing response. Water acquires its reinforcing value as a conseguence of food-deprivation. Several studies have shown that fooddeprivation reduces home-cage water intake but during the SID session when food is delivered again food and water intake are re-established. Three rats served as subjects. The water-reinforcing value in a SID condition was compared with the water-reinforcing value under differente degrees of explicit waterdeprivation and under two control conditions. In one condition food was delivered during the session but the rats were not food deprived. In the other control condition rats were food deprived but food was not delivered during the session. Lever pressing was reinforced with water on a Progressive Ratio 5 Schedule and the maximum ratios completed were taken as a measure of the water-reinforcing value. Concurrently food was delivered on a Random Time 64 s schedule. It was found that the maximum ratios completed decreased as direct water deprivation diminished. In the SID condition the maximum ratio completed was similar to that obtained under 5:45 hours of direct water-deprivation. In the control conditions the waterreinforcing value was five times smaller compared to the SID condition. The interaction between direct food-deprivation, indirect water-deprivation and the delivery of food during the session on the water reinforcing value on a SID procedura are discussed

Procedimento go/no-go com estímulos compostos e a emergência de duas classes de equivalência com três estímulos

Em um estudo anterior foi avaliado se a emergência de relações de equivalência poderia ser estabelecida por meio do procedimento go/no-go com estímulos compostos formados a partir de combinações de nove estímulos (A1, B1, C1, A2, B2, C2, A3, B3 e C3). No entanto, o número de estímulos utilizados permitiu uma interpretação que questiona se de fato houve a formação de uma classe de estímulos equivalentes. O presente estudo pretendeu avaliar se relações condicionais emergentes seriam produzidas a partir do mesmo procedimento, utilizando estímulos compostos formados pela combinação de apenas seis estímulos (A1, B1, C1, A2, B2 e C2). Cinco estudantes foram submetidos a uma tarefa no computador. Durante o treino das relações AB e BC, respostas emitidas diante dos estímulos compostos A1B1, A2B2, B1C1 e B2C2 foram seguidas de pontos. Respostas emitidas na presença dos estímulos compostos A1B2, A2B1, B1C2 e B2C1 não foram seguidas de conseqüências programadas. Foi testada a emergência das relações de simetria (BA, CB), transitividade (AC) e equivalência (CA). Todos os participantes demonstraram as relações de simetria e transitividade e quatro exibiram a relação de equivalência. Os resultados indicam que é possível produzir relações condicionais emergentes com um procedimento go/no-go com estímulos compostos

In a prevous study it was evaluated whether the go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli can generate emergent conditional relations. Responses emitted in the presence of «correct» compounds (A1B1, A2B2, A3B3, B1C1, B2C2 and B3C3) were followed by points. Responses emitted in the presence of «incorrect» compounds (A1B2, A1B3, A2B1, A2B3, A3B1, A3B2, B1C2, B1C3, B2C1, B2C3, B3C1 and B3C2) were not followed by programmed consequences. Each «correct» compound was presented twice in the same block of trials in order to balance the number of the «correct» and «incorrect» compound presented in each block. After training, the components of each compound were recombined in new compounds in order to allow symmetry (BA, CB), transitivity (AC) and equivalence (CA) relations to be tested. In these tests participants responded in the presence of the compounds formed by components of the same class. These performances were interpreted as evidence of emergent conditional relations. Since each «correct» compound was presented twice in a block, responses may have been under control of the compounds that were presented more frequently in the same block of trials. This performance could not be considered as the emergence of equivalence class. In order to verify whether the go/nogo procedure with compound stimuli would produce conditional emergent relations, in the present study an equal number of «correct» and «incorrect» compounds were presented in the same block of trials. Five undergraduate students were submitted to a computer task with the go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli formed by the combination of six individual stimuli (A1, B1, C1, A2, B2 and C2). During AB and BC relations training, responses in the presence of A1B1, B1C1, A2B2 and B2C2 compound stimuli were followed by points. Responses in the presence of A1B2, A2B1, B1C2 and B2C1 compound stimuli were not followed by programmed consequences. Symmetry (BA and CB), transitivity (AC) and equivalence (CA) relations were tested. Symmetry would be demonstrated if participants responded in the presence of B1A1, B2A2, C1B1 and C2B2, and did not responded in the presence of B1A2, B2A1, C1B2 and C2B1. Transitivity would be demonstrated if participants responded in the presence of A1C1 and A2C2, and did not responded in the presence of A1C2 and A2C1. Equivalence would be demonstrated if participants responded in the presence of C1A1 and C2A2, and did not responded in the presence of C2A1 and C1A2. All five participants showed symmetry and transitivity relations and four of them showed equivalence. The results indicate that it is possible to produce emergent conditional relations with a go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli. These results suggest that the go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli can generate emergent conditional relations and be an alternative for matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure in the study of the emergence of equivalence classes

Efeitos da punição e da extinção na ressurgência de relações de equivalência

Analisar a ressurgência de comportamentos no contexto de controle por estímulos, em particular no de recuperação de classes de estímulos equivalentes, é relevante porque leva esse conceito para a esfera de análise de comportamentos humanos complexos. Para investigar os efeitos dos procedimentos de extinção e de punição sobre a ressurgência de classes de equivalência, 12 estudantes universitários foram distribuídos aleatoriamente em dois grupos, com seis participantes cada um e submetidos a três etapas do procedimento: 1)Treino Inicial de quatro classes com quatro estímulos; 2) reorganização das classes formando quatro classes novas - Treino Tardio; 3) extinção ou punição das classes de estímulos equivalentes reorganizadas. Cinco dos seis participantes do Grupo Extinção continuaram a responder predominantemente de acordo com o Treino Tardio e quatro dos seis participantes do Grupo Punição passaram a responder predominantemente de acordo com o Treino Inicial. Não houve diferenças quanto à ressurgência dos diferentes tipos de relação (linha de base, simetria, equivalência), o que está de acordo com a lógica da equivalência de estímulos. Conclui-se que as classes equivalentes ressurgem quando se utiliza o procedimento de punição e a repetição dos testes das relações emergentes não extinguiu o responder de acordo com as classes tardiamente treinadas.

Most of the studies that investigated this phenomenon used a free-operant procedure, but recently resurgence of derived relations on equivalence class research was also demonstrated. In one study, resurgence was observed after punishing the responses that were late trained. In two other studies, resurgence was not obtained after maintenance of an extinction procedure during several blocks. The present study aimed to investigate the resurgence of equivalence relations early trained, after the extinction and the punishment of the late-training-consistent responses. Twelve undergraduate students were randomly distributed into two groups. In an early training, both were submitted to a matching-to-sample procedure to establish arbitrary relations of visual stimuli, until they achieved 90% accuracy on equivalence tests. The training resulted in four classes with four stimuli each. The sixteen stimuli were then reorganized in four new classes, and a late-training matching to sample procedure was carried out to establish four new equivalence classes. After the new equivalence classes were tested and the participants achieved 90% accuracy, tests of both derived and trained relations were repeated until criterions of extinction were achieved. On these tests, responses had no consequences for Group 1. For Group 2, late-training-consistent responses were punished with a negative feedback («wrong»), while others responses had no consequences like for Group 1. Participants of Group 1 showed no resurgence of early-training-consistent responses. They maintained a high percentage of late-training-consistent responses during the 30 blocks carried out on extinction. All the participants of Group 2 showed resurgence of early equivalence relations. They presented more than 50% of early-training-consistent responses after two blocks (two participants), tree blocks (two participants), four blocks (one participant) or nine blocks (one participant). The results of the resurgence tests from Group 2 showed that after punishing late-training-consistent responses and the early-trainedresponses resurged, the classes were entirely changed. Baseline, symmetry, and equivalence relations were all altered accordantly to the classes early trained. The present study replicates early findings demonstrating that if baseline relations are reorganized, equivalence classes are disrupted and new classes emerge. Beside that, it was demonstrated that when the late trained responses were punished the early trained responses resurged, but not when these responses had no consequences. Most of the participants of Group 1 did not change their response pattern along the 30 blocks of trials with no consequences, but they showed side effects typically observed under extinction procedures. It was concluded that equivalence relations may be reorganized and that early trained classes reemerged when late trained responses are punished. These results also indicate the necessity of further discussions about the possibility of extinction of equivalence relations.

Decisões Clínicas na Terapia Analítico-Comportamental

Diversos estudos têm caracterizado comportamentos verbais e não verbais de terapeutas e clientes durante sessões de terapia. No presente trabalho, será apresentado o caso clínico de uma cliente atendida em uma clínica-escola por 12 sessões, cuja queixa inicial era de tristeza muito grande (sic). Serão apresentados os principais dados obtidos, as análises realizadas e as decisões terapêuticas tomadas após cada atendimento. As análises funcionais realizadas a partir dos relatos da cliente, nas primeiras sessões, indicam a ocorrência de diversos comportamentos de esquiva, principalmente quanto a admitir dificuldades em relação ao seu filho e à sua mãe. Ao longo da terapia, foi observado que a cliente passou a admitir que tinha diversos problemas de relacionamento na família, que estava insatisfeita com seu trabalho e que teve experiências mal-sucedidas em relacionamentos amorosos. Discute-se a importância da modelagem dos relatos verbais. Defende-se a audiência não-punitiva exercida pelo terapeuta como intervenção fundamental para estabelecer a relação terapêutica e para a obtenção de informações sobre as contingências em operação. Discute-se também as auto-regras formuladas pela cliente a partir das experiências mal-sucedidas nos relacionamentos amorosos. Analisa-se os sentimentos de culpa e indignidade como produtos da relação da cliente com seus pais e com a religião.

Many researches have described verbal and non-verbal behaviors emitted by therapists and clients during therapy. This paper presents information concerning the case of a client that were in therapy for 12 sessions. Client is a 54 years old woman who worked as a maid in a hotel. She lived with her son, who is 38 years old. Her religion is catholic. In the first session, she said she looked for therapy because she was very sad. In this paper, for each session, the most important data, functional analysis and therapeutic decisions are presented. In the early sessions, analysis indicated that the client emitted escape behaviors, especially not assuming difficulties in relation to her mother and to her son. As far as therapy evolved, client assumed that she had many problems concerning her family. She also assumed that she was unsatisfied about her job and that she had had bad experiences in affective relationships. Non-punishing audience is argued to be an essential intervention in therapy, because it establishes therapeutic relationship and it helps the therapist obtaining information about operating contingencies. The importance of shaping verbal reports is discussed in terms of guiding environmental observation and self-observation and in terms of providing relevant information for functional analysis. Self-rules formulated in bad-ended affective relationships are related to escape behaviors emitted in the therapy sessions and to escape behaviors emitted in the presence of other men the client was in contact to. Feelings of guilty and indignity are discussed as products from clients relationships with her parents and with religion.