Abstract
Experimental and descriptive analyses were conducted to investigate the phenomena of schedule-induction and the entrainment of challenging behavior to reinforcer presentation in three children with severe mental retardation. One of the three participants exhibited evidence of increased rates of self-injurious behavior under a fixed-interval schedule when compared with no-reinforcer and extinction baselines. Another participant showed evidence of the entrainment of disruptive behavior to reinforcer presentation in both classroom and experimental settings. Results are discussed in relation to previous research and the relationship between schedule-induced, entrained and operant behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison, P. D., and Liker, J. K. (1982). Analyzing sequential categorical data on dyadic interaction: A comment on Gottman.Psychol. Bull. 91: 393–403.
Barlow, D. H., and Hersen, M. (1984).Single Case Experimental Designs, Pergamon, Oxford.
Carr, E. G. (1977). The motivation of self-injurious behavior: A review of some hypotheses.Psychol. Bull. 84: 800–816.
Carr, E. G., Robinson, S., Taylor, J. C., and Carlson, J. I. (1990).Positive Approaches to the Treatment of Severe Behavior Problems in Persons with Developmental Disabilities. The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, Seattle.
Cohen, P. S., and Looney, T. A. (1984). Induction by reinforcer schedules.J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 41: 345–353.
Edgington, E. S. (1992). Nonparametric tests for single-case experiments. In Kratochwill, T. R., and Levin, J. R. (eds.)Single-Case Research Design and Analysis, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 133–157.
Emerson, E. (1992, April).Schedule-induced stereotypy, Paper presented at Gatlinburg Conference on Psychopathology, Gatlinburg, TN.
Emerson, E. (1993). Severe learning disabilities and challenging behavior: Developments in behavioral analysis and intervention.Behav. Cogn. Psychother. 21: 171–198.
Emerson, E. (1995).Challenging Behavior: Analysis and Intervention in People With Learning Disabilities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Emerson, E., and Howard, D. (1992). Schedule induced stereotypy.Res. Devel. Dis. 13: 335–361.
Emerson, E., Thompson, S., Reeves, D., Henderson, D., and Robertson, J., (1995). Descriptive analysis of multiple response topographies of challenging behavior.Res. Devel. Dis. 16: 301–329.
Emerson, E., Reeves, D., Thompson, S., Henderson, D., and Robertson, J. (1996). Time-based lag sequential analysis in the functional assessment of severe challenging behavior.J. Intel. Dis. Res. (in press).
Epling, W. F., and Pierce, W. D. (1983). Applied behavior analysis: New directions from the laboratory.Behav. Anal. 6: 27–37.
Isaacson, R. L., and Gispin, W. H. (1990). Neuropeptides and the issue of stereotypy in behavior. In Cooper, S. J., and Dourish, C. T. (eds.),Neurobiology of Stereotyped Behaviour, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lewis, M. H., and Baumeister, A. A. (1982). Stereotyped mannerisms in mentally retarded persons: Animal models and theoretical analyses. In Ellis, N. R. (Ed.),International Review of Research in Mental Retardation., Academic Press, New York.
Lovaas, I., Newsom, C., and Hickman, C. (1987). Self-stimulatory behavior and perceptual reinforcement.J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 20: 45–68.
Mace, F. C., and Roberts, M. L. (1993). Factors affecting selection of behavioral interventions. In Reichle, J., and Wacker, D. P. (eds.),Communicative Alternatives to Challenging Behavior, Brookes, Baltimore, pp. 113–133.
Martens, B. K., Lochner, D. G., and Kelly, S. Q. (1992). The effects of variable-interval reinforcement on academic engagement: A demonstration of matching theory.J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 25: 143–151.
McGill, P., Hewson, S., and Emerson, E. (1995)CTS: A Software Package for the Collection of Observational Data on Psion Organisers: Tizard Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury.
Mittleman, G., Blaha, C. D., and Phillips, A. G. (1992). Pituitary-adrenal and dopaminergic modulation of schedule-induced polydipsia: Behavioral and neurochemical evidence.Behav. Neurosc. 106: 408–420.
Overskeid, G. (1992). Is any human behavior schedule-induced?Psychol. Rec. 42: 323–340.
Reeves, D. (1994).Assessing reliability in time sequenced observational data, Manusript submitted for publication.
Reid, A. K., and Staddon, J. E. R. (1990). Mechanisms of schedule entrainment. In Cooper, S. J., and Dourish, C. T. (eds.),Neurobiology of Stereotyped Behaviour, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Repp, A. C., and Felce, D. (1990). A micro-computer system used for evaluative and experimental behavioural research in mental handicap,Ment. Hand. Res. 3: 21–32.
Repp, A. C., and Karsh, K. G. (1994). Hypothesis-based interventions for tantrum behaviors of persons with developmental disabilities in school settings,J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 27: 21–31.
Roper, T. J. (1981). What is meant by the term ‘schedule-induced’ and how general is schedule induction?,Anim. Learn. Behav. 9: 433–440.
Scheerer, M. B., and Sanger, D. J. (1981). Laboratory and applied analyses of adjunctive behaviour. In Bradshaw, C. M., Szabadi, E., and Lowe, C. F. (eds),The Quantification of Steady State Operant Behaviour, Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam.
Schroeder, S. R., and Tessel, R. (1994). Dopaminergic and serotonergic mechanisms in self-injury and aggression. In Thompson, T., and Gray, D. B. (eds.),Destructive Behavior in Developmental Disabilities: Diagnosis and Treatment, Sage, Thousand Oaks.
Singh, Y. N., Ricketts, R. W., Ellis, C. R., and Singh, N. N. (1993). Opioid antagonists. I: Pharmacology and rationale for use in treating self-injury,J. Devel. Phys. Dis. 5: 5–16.
Staddon, J. E. R. (1977). Schedule-induced behavior. In Honig, W. K., and Staddon, J. E. R. (eds.),Handbook of Operant Behavior, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Vollmer, T. R. (1994). The concept of automatic reinforcement: Implications for behavioral research.Res. Devel. Dis. 15: 187–207.
Wieseler, N. A., Hanson, R. H., Chamberlain, T. P., and Thompson, T. (1988). Stereotypic behavior of mentally retarded adults adjunctive to a positive reinforcement schedule.,Res. Devel. Dis. 9: 393–404.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Emerson, E., Thompson, S., Robertson, J. et al. Schedule-induced challenging behavior. J Dev Phys Disabil 8, 89–103 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02578442
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02578442