Applied Behavior Analysis Commons^™

Measure Athletes’ Volition—Short: Evidences For Construct Validity And Reliability, Ioannis Proios, Miltiadis Proios

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

The Measure Athletes’ Volition consists of 23 items that measure six elements of volitional competences. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether a subset of these items could form a short version of the scale; to provide evidence for the structural validity and internal consistency of the short version; and to test validity issues of the new scale. A total of 831 individuals from three different samples completed the long version of the scale. Results indicated that the short version consisted of 15 items that measured volitional competences of persistence, expediency, and purposefulness. This scale had acceptable …

Duration Of Time Spent Playing Online Video Games, Interpersonal Skills, And Introversion Personality Traits As Predictors For Social Anxiety Symptoms, James D. Bender

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study sought to determine if time spent engaging in online gaming, interpersonal communication skills, and introvert personality traits are predictors of an individual’s likelihood of experiencing symptoms of social anxiety. A sample of 128 participants (82 males and 46 females) completed measures of demographics, interpersonal communication skills, problematic online gaming, social anxiety, and introversion. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. There were significant correlations among social anxiety and interpersonal communication skills, problematic online gaming, and introversion. There was no significant correlation among social anxiety and time spent playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), a specific form of …

Evaluating Current Practices In Brief Experimental Analysis, Alex P. Isbill

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Brief experimental analysis (BEA) has shown to be an effective method of rapidly testing the relative effects of two or more interventions in order to determine interventions that best supports a student’s learning. Little research has been found in regards to the consistency of methods across studies. A meta-analysis in 2008 by Burns and Wagner looked at BEAs that assessed oral reading fluency and provided recommendations for future practice. This study investigates the methods, procedures, and outcomes in BEA studies from 1994 to 2016. The findings of this study are compared to Burns and Wagner’s (2008) recommendations from their meta-analysis, …

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Characteristics As Predictors Of A Suicide Attempt, Kandice M. Perry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examines the impact features of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) have on predicting a suicide attempt in a sample of young adult self-injurers. Participants completed the Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury, the Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire and demographics questionnaires to assess lifetime self-injury frequency, number of different methods used, severity of methods, the desire to stop self-harming, functions, the experience of pain, and response latency. Results indicated that NSSI frequency, high severity methods, and endorsing more intrapersonal functions predicted the presence of a suicide attempt. Additionally, those who experienced pain while selfinjuring were found to be significantly more likely to report …

The Influence Of Happy Faces On Spatiotemporal Vision, Siera Nicole Bramschreiber

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Past research demonstrates that fearful faces lead to an increase in temporal and a decrease in spatial gap detection, an effect proposed to be caused by a flow of input to the magnocellular pathways from the amygdala to the visual system (Bocanegra & Zeelenberg, 2009). The amygdala is also active for positive and arousing stimuli, including happy faces. The current study extends past research by presenting happy facial cues just before a gap detection task. Facial stimuli (i.e., happy/neutral faces) were presented in the periphery of the receptive field and quickly followed by a Landolt circle. Half of the participants …

The Effect Of Emotional Faces On The Attentional Blink In Younger And Older Adults, Allison M. Sklenar

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The attentional blink occurs when detection of a second target (T2) is impaired when it occurs between 180 to 450 ms after the first target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). The attentional blink can be affected by relevant emotional stimuli, like emotional faces, such that an emotional T1 enhances the attentional blink, and an emotional T2 attenuates it. However, not all studies use the same type of face stimuli, and there is debate over whether schematic and photo-realistic faces are processed in the same way. Furthermore, the effect of emotion on the attentional blink should differ with …

Computational Modeling Of Facial Response For Detecting Differential Traits In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Manar D. Samad

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation proposes novel computational modeling and computer vision methods for the analysis and discovery of differential traits in subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) using video and three-dimensional (3D) images of face and facial expressions. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs an individual’s nonverbal communication skills. This work studies ASD from the pathophysiology of facial expressions which may manifest atypical responses in the face. State-of-the-art psychophysical studies mostly employ na¨ıve human raters to visually score atypical facial responses of individuals with ASD, which may be subjective, tedious, and error prone. A few quantitative studies use intrusive sensors on …

Behavioral Economic Analyses Of Reinforcement In The Experimental Analysis Of Human Behavior, James Allen Chastain

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence-based advances in the field of Behavior Analysis have begun to demonstrate ways in which behavioral-economic methods may provide a coherent understanding of responding and consumption of reinforcers. This dissertation extends the literature to behavioral-economic analyses of programmed video reinforcement in the experimental analysis of human behavior (EAHB), as well as a novel reinforcement arrangement for reduction of in-session duration. Three aims served to guide this study: (a) demonstrate the feasibility and utility of behavioral-economic assessments of reinforcement in EAHB, (b) extend economic predictions of unit price to video reinforcement arrangements, and (c) evaluate the utility of an exponential model …

No Sweat: African American Adolescent Girls’ Opinions Of Hairstyle Choices And Physical Activity, Susan J. Woolford, Carole Woolford-Hunt, Areej Sami, Natalie Blake, David R. Williams

Faculty Publications

Background

Obesity prevalence is higher among African American adolescent (AAA) girls than among non-black girls. Lower levels of physical activity (PA) likely contribute to this disparity; this may be impacted by hairstyle concerns.

Methods

In 2011, focus groups were conducted with AAA girls 14-17 years old (n = 36) in Michigan (n = 9), California (n = 11), and Georgia (n = 16). Groups addressed perceptions of hairstyles, exercise, and relationships between the two. Groups were recorded, transcripts reviewed, and themes identified. Adolescents completed a standardized ethnic identity (EI) measure and a survey addressing demographics and …

Human Choices Between Variable And Fixed Rewards In Hypothetical Variable-Delay And Double-Reward Discounting Procedures, Todd Mckerchar, James E. Mazur

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Prior research has shown that nonhumans show an extreme preference for variable- over fixed-delays to reinforcement. This well-established preference for variability occurs because a reinforcer’s strength or “value” decreases according to a curvilinear function as its delay increases. The purpose of the present experiments was to investigate whether this preference for variability occurs with human participants making hypothetical choices. In three experiments, participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk made choices between variable and fixed monetary rewards. In a variable-delay procedure, participants repeatedly chose between a reward delivered either immediately or after a delay (with equal probability) and a reward after …

The Behavioral Analysis Of Gambling, Benjamin Witts, Anne Macaskill, Mack Costello

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

A behavioral analysis of gambling is unique among the psychologies. A behavioral analysis seeks answers to questions pertaining to the prediction and influence of gambling in terms of the individual gambler, and thus emphasis is placed on well-controlled small-n studies in which findings are generalized to other individuals. Further, the behavioral analysis of gambling is concerned with environmental and historical relations in accounting for current gambling behavior, and less of a reliance is placed on internal and hypothetical causal factors. This symposium explores two data-driven analyses of gambling behavior from a behavioral account of gambling while a third conceptual and …

How Modifiable Is Behavior? Factors Of Influence For Adherence To Provisions To Protect Minors In The Sale Of Gambling Products., Doris Malischnig

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

A major challenge for lottery operators worldwide lies in motivating sales partners to check whether customers meet the minimum age requirement for the purchase of lottery products and thus use this control measure to prevent their sale to minors. Measures used by Austrian Lotteries to raise awareness of this topic range from responsible gaming (RG) training for sales partners and the provision of information materials for staff and customers to restrictive procedures like warnings and contract termination when a sales partner is caught repeatedly selling lottery products to minors.

A recent study based on 1,421 mystery shopping tests and on …

The Effects Of Electronic Data Collection, Immediate Graphic Feedback, And Automated Scheduled Prompts On Data Collection Adherence, Cody Morris

Masters Theses

While data are essential to behavior analysis, collecting the type of data that behavior analysts often require can be a labor-intensive and time-consuming task. There have been many attempts to reduce the amount of time and effort required to collect behavioral data; most research in this area has been focused on computerized or electronic ways to do this (Dixon, 2003). While electronic data collection seems to be gaining popularity within applied behavior analysis, many obstacles still exist. The purpose of this project was to design a data collection system that is cost-efficient, adaptable, easy to use, and effective at increasing …

Piloting A Screening Tool For Eating And Eating-Related Behavior, Michael N. Reynolds

Dissertations

Obesity is a common medical condition associated with negative health and social outcomes. Obesity has a primary malleable behavioral cause, eating more calories than are metabolized. While metabolic rate is malleable with exercise, eating can more quickly add calories than exercising can subtract them. In the past, behavioral weight-loss treatment studies relied on multi-component package interventions that have shown reliable patterns of participant weight-loss during treatment and weight-regain in follow-up. Those findings could be conceptualized as an ABA withdrawal design, eating behavior returns to baseline after the prosthetic contingencies of the treatment study are withdrawn. We must develop ways to …

Descriptive Analysis Of Activity Transition Data In An Intensive Autism Treatment Center, Ashley Marie Kotsiris

Masters Theses

Children with autism often display challenging behaviors (e.g., tantrums, aggression, etc.) when transitioning between activities. Most of the current literature focuses on antecedent interventions for increasing compliance during transitions (e.g., visual schedules, two minute transition warnings, etc.). There is a minimal number of studies examining how environmental variables may affect transitions. This study was a descriptive analysis that examined different environmental variables and their effects on transitions. Observations were conducted with four children diagnosed with autism. A transition-tracking sheet was used to gather specific descriptive data during transitions. Results suggest that two-minute warnings were not correlated with more successful transitions, …

Minorities' Perceptions Of Child Protective Services, Vernae Elaine Hicks

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The study examined minority persons’ views and experiences with Child Protective Services (CPS) in the community. This study used a qualitative design with face‑to‑face interviews with 12 participants in the community. This study used the “Post‑Positivist” data analysis, which is qualitative in evaluation and explained each participant’s subjective reality.

The study found that most participants were satisfied with the results and were dissatisfied with the process in and of itself. Overall the study found that most participants felt that there was some sort of a disconnect with social workers in reference to cultural competency. Miscommunication between the social workers at …

Generalization Across Modalities Of Expressive And Receptive Language Acquisition Through The Use Of Multiple Exemplar Training And Errorless, Melinda Galbato

Theses and Dissertations

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to display deficits with language acquisition and generalization of language skills after acquisition. Discrete trial teaching (DTT) includes general procedures used to teach language acquisition skills (such as receptive and expressive language) to children with ASD. Multiple exemplar teaching (MET) is a specialized type of DTT that includes multiple discriminative stimuli used during teaching trials, as opposed to only one target during the initial teaching. This present study assessed the efficacy of a general DTT procedure and MET for acquisition and generalization of two modalities of language skills: receptive and expressive. Goals of …

Individual Differences In Adolescents’ Driving Practice During The Learner Stage, Yinan Zhao

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) policies has reduced the rate of car crashes among adolescents. However, limited research has focused on adolescents’ supervised driving during the learner permit stage of GDL. The study aimed to describe supervised driving practice during the learner permit stage and to test predictors of individual differences in the amount and the quality of supervised driving. 183 adolescents (M age = 16.4 years, 54.1% female) and their parents (84.1% mothers) participated. Adolescents reported driving an average of 25 minutes per day. Adolescents living in single-parent households, with less family income, and with a …

Initiating Conversation By A Kindergarten-Aged Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Eliana A. Segal

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have social skill deficits that are often manifested in a failure to achieve normal back-and-forth conversation. They rarely initiate social interactions and often show little responsiveness to others. This can extinguish the social initiations of their peers, leading to great difficulty making friends. The purpose of the present study was to teach a child with ASD at an inter-professional autism clinic how to initiate and reciprocate a social conversation. A prompt fading procedure was implemented during training sessions to build a set of social skills into the child’s repertoire. The intervention provided social attention …

Effects Of Modeling Varied Responses And Programming Lag Contingencies On Varied Responding During Discrete-Trial Instruction, Sean P. Peterson

Theses & Dissertations

Children with autism often require direct instruction to learn skills (e.g., discrete-trial instruction [DTI]). Despite its advantages, DTI has been criticized for producing rote responding (e.g., Cihon, 2007). Although there is little research supporting this claim, if true, this may be problematic given the propensity of children with autism to engage in restricted and repetitive behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In Experiment 1, we evaluated the effects of modeling rote versus varied target responses during DTI on producing varied responding and efficiency of skill acquisition in learning intraverbal categorizations. For all four children, all increases in varied responding were temporary, …