Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Timothy A. Shahan

Committee

Timothy A. Shahan

Committee

Amy L. Odum

Committee

Michael P. Twohig

Abstract

Mary M. Sweeney, graduate student in the Experimental and Applied Psychological Science graduate program, proposed and completed this thesis in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the degree of Master of Science of Psychology. This project was supported in part by the American Psychological Society of Graduate Students (APAGS) Basic Psychological Science Fall2010 Research Grant awarded by the members of the APAGS Science Committee.

Many problem behaviors, such as aggression or self-injury in persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) or drug abuse can be maintained by the consequences of those behaviors. For example, many instances of aggression in individuals with IDD may be engaged in order to access caregiver attention, or to avoid undesirable tasks. Drug taking is another behavior maintained by its consequences (the intoxicating effects of drugs, or relief from withdrawal). Consequences that increase the probability of the behavior that produced them have been termed "reinforcers". One popular and effective treatment of problem behavior maintained by reinforcers is to introduce an alternative source of reinforcement. For example, an individual with IDD might be taught to use communication cards to receive caregiver attention (rather than engaging in problem behavior to do so), or a drug user might be given monetary vouchers or prizes in exchange for drug abstinence. Unfortunately, if these alternative sources end (as treatment ends) the problem behavior in question often relapses.

The present project was designed to assess relative advantages and disadvantages of different rates of treatment, high rates of treatment, low rates of treatment, and treatment that starts at a high rate but decreases across time (thinning rates). The project took place in a basic animal laboratory with rat subjects to help reduce extraneous variables and have better control over the experiment than in treatment settings. The target response (analogous to problem behavior) was pressing a lever to produce food' and the alterative response (analogous to the treatment behavior) was nose poking to produce food". The project was motived by both applied implications of these treatment types, as well as providing a potential challenge for a recent quantitative framework of relapse.

Results suggest that high rates of treatment were more effective than low or thinning rates of treatment at response suppression during treatment, but when alternative reinforcement was discontinued, the group that experienced high rates exhibited a substantial increase, Although low and thinning rates of treatment were not as effective at response suppression during treatment as high rates, they still resulted in substantial decreases in the target response, Furthermore, removal of low rates of alternative reinforcement did not result in substantial increase in the target response. Advantages and disadvantages of high, low, and thinning treatment rates are discussed with respect to target response suppression, sensitivity to the end of treatment, and treatment response rate are discussed.

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This work made publicly available electronically on September 20, 2012.

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