PSYC214 Learning and Behaviour - Week 11 Lecture_MELBOURNE

PSYC214 - Learning and Behaviour, Week Eleven Lecture

Overview

  • Topic: Antecedent interventions

    1. Default interventions

    2. Functionally-based Noncontingent Antecedent

Antecedent Interventions

  • Focus on modifying conditions or events that occur prior to problem behavior.

Behavioural Interventions to Treat Problem Behaviour

  • Involves manipulation or management of environmental events with the goal of reducing or eliminating problem behavior.

Two Broad Categories of Antecedent Intervention

  1. Default Interventions

  2. Function-based Interventions

Default Interventions

  • Effective for problem behaviors maintained by various sources of reinforcement.

  • These do not specifically target antecedents or variables preceding the problem behavior.

  • No need for knowledge of consequences maintaining the behavior.

  • Quick implementation without requiring functional behavior analysis.

Examples of Default Interventions

  • 1.1 Response restriction

  • 1.2 Stimulus-enriched environment

  • 1.3 Antecedent exercise

1.1 Response Restriction

  • Methods: Restraint, protective equipment, mechanical devices.

  • Effectiveness: Works by reducing movement or preventing target responses; effective but intrusive.

  • Use in emergency situations only.

    • Personal restraint: Securing body parts in response to problem behavior.

    • Mechanical restraint: Devices such as straightjackets.

    • Protective equipment: Allows movement while preventing damage (e.g., padded helmets).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Response Restriction

  • Advantages:

    • Can eliminate the problem behavior immediately.

  • Disadvantages:

    • Limits participation in appropriate activities.

    • No alternative behavior taught.

    • Potentially traumatic.

1.2 Stimulus-Enriched Environment

  • Providing liked items or activities non-contingently to prevent problem behaviors.

  • Effective for self-injurious and socially reinforced behaviors.

  • Mechanism of effectiveness: Offers alternative sources of reinforcement.

  • Advantages:

    • Simple and cost-effective.

    • Beneficial when the function of behavior is unclear.

1.3 Antecedent Exercise

  • Involves aerobic or strength training activities that are not contingent on problem behavior.

  • Effective for a variety of behavioral issues such as aggression and off-task behavior.

  • Mechanism: Alters motivation and the effectiveness of consequences maintaining problem behavior.

  • Disadvantages:

    • Temporary effects, lasting approximately two hours.

    • May not be feasible in all contexts.

Function-Based Interventions

  • Implement only if the operant function of problem behavior is understood.

  • Involves manipulating identified contingencies maintaining the behavior.

Two General Approaches of Function-Based Interventions

  1. Non-contingent Reinforcement (NCR)

  2. Stimulus Control Strategies

2.1 Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR)

  • Targets motivating operations by presenting reinforcement non-contingently.

  • Effective for various behavioral issues, including self-injury and aggression.

  • Schedule adjustments to control problem behavior progression.

Example Intervention Plan for NCR

  • Child’s bizarre speech requiring attention:

    • Continuous attention initially faded over time while withholding attention during bizarre speech.

2.2 Stimulus Control Strategies

  • Involves discriminative stimuli indicating likely consequences for given behavior.

  • Develops to regulate behavior through differential consequences.

  • Examples: Warning signals associated with punishments, such as warning stickers on food items.

Generalization and Maintenance of Changes

  • Improving generalization of treatment effects through intervention strategies.

  • Behavior coming under the control of discriminative stimuli leads to effective change without continuous reinforcement.

Antecedent Interventions Summary

  • Aim to decrease motivation for problem behavior.

  • Signal different consequences for the behavior and physically prevent the behavior.

Special Focus on Escape Behaviour

  • Target interventions to decrease negative reinforcement escape behaviors.

  • Alter context to reduce aversiveness of task demands.

Specific Techniques for Escape Behaviour

  1. Elimination of Aversive Stimulation

  2. Fading in Aversive Stimuli

  3. High-Probability (high-p) Sequence

  4. Altering the Aversive Stimulus

  5. Altering the Aversive Context

  • Adjusting features of a given task or altering the environment can decrease aversiveness and improve compliance.

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