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STIMULUS (INSTRUCTIONAL) FADING DURING EXTINCTION OF SELF‐INJURIOUS ESCAPE BEHAVIOR
Author(s) -
Pace Gary M.,
Iwata Brian A.,
Cowdery Glynnis Edwards,
Andree Peter J.,
McIntyre Therese
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1993.26-205
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , fading , extinction (optical mineralogy) , multiple baseline design , stimulus (psychology) , audiology , spontaneous recovery , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , statistics , medicine , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , paleontology , decoding methods , mathematics , biology
Three individuals with developmental disabilities were exposed to a series of assessment conditions to identify the source of reinforcement for their self‐injurious behavior. In each case, self‐injury occurred most often in instructional (demand) situations containing a brief time‐out from the task contingent on self‐injury, indicating that the behavior was an escape response (i.e., maintained by negative reinforcement). Treatment was implemented in a multiple baseline across subjects design and consisted of extinction (prevention of escape) plus instructional fading (initial elimination of instructions followed by their gradual reintroduction). Results showed that the combined treatment produced immediate and large reductions in self‐injury that were maintained as the frequency of instructions was increased across sessions to match the original baseline rate of presentation. Results of a component analysis conducted with 1 subject suggested that stimulus fading accelerated the behavior‐reducing effects of extinction.