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n behavior analysis it is usually believed that the temporal contiguity between a response and its reinforcer is fundamental for conditioning. Nevertheless, the acquisition of a new response with delayed reinforcement is possible. Although this phenomenon is reliable, little is known about the systematic effects of magnitude of reinforcement on the acquisition of a new response. The present study explored the effects of magnitude of reinforcement on the acquisition and maintenance of lever-pressing by rats with delayed reinforcement. A 5 (magnitude: 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 food-pellets) x 4 (delay: 3, 6, 12 or 24 s) factorial design was used, with three rats in each combination. Results showed that the acquisition of lever-pressing was faster and frequency of responding higher as a function of increasing the magnitude of reinforcement. However, the effects of magnitude of reinforcement did not vary orderly according to the number of food-pellets, nor with each delay combination. Results replicated the findings of acquisition and maintenance of lever-pressing with delayed reinforcement and of the decreasing delay-gradient. The possibility that acquisition of a new response with delayed reinforcement is a phenomenon of a motivational or superstitious nature is offered.

Abstract Meetings are one of the most common work activities in which employees engage. Most meetings are considered ineffective. Survey research has revealed the characteristics necessary for a meeting to be considered effective. However, there is no experimental research on how to teach individuals to effectively lead meetings. Recent research suggests that group virtual training is often used to enhance employee skills, but its effect on employee behavior is unknown. The current two‐experiment study evaluated the effects of group virtual training and self‐monitoring on leading a meeting. Experiment 1 evaluated the effects of group virtual training in isolation and the added effects of self‐monitoring on meeting fidelity. Group virtual training alone did not produce substantial changes; self‐monitoring was necessary to produce desired improvements. Experiment 2 evaluated the combined effects of group virtual training and self‐monitoring on meeting fidelity. Participants reached mastery within three sessions following the packaged intervention.

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AbstractDiscontinuing reinforcement for an operant behavior sometimes produces a transient increase in responding (i.e., an extinction burst). A matching‐law‐based quantitative model posits that the extinction burst results from the elimination of competition from reinforcement‐related behavior with the onset of extinction. Consistent with this suggestion, retrospective case reviews in applied settings suggest reduced prevalence of the extinction burst when alternative reinforcement is available, but there has been no relevant prospective research. The present experiment used rats and methods approximating conditions in applied settings to examine the effects of alternative reinforcement magnitude on the extinction burst. Lever pressing in baseline produced a one‐pellet reinforcer on a variable‐interval 1.5‐s schedule before a within‐session transition to extinction that included no alternative reinforcement, one pellet, or six pellets of alternative reinforcement. A robust extinction burst was obtained when no alternative reinforcement was available, but the prevalence and magnitude of the extinction burst was reduced with an alternative reinforcer available, more so with the larger alternative reinforcer. The data were well described by the model. Similar prospective studies directly examining related effects in basic and applied settings could strengthen the empirical basis of current practice and further evaluate the utility of the present theoretical approach.

Abstract The extinction burst is an increase in an operant behavior early in the transition to extinction. A matching‐law‐based quantitative theory suggests that it results from the elimination of competition from reinforcement‐related behavior that accompanies the transition to extinction. This experiment examined the effects of reinforcement magnitude on the extinction burst with rats. Responding produced either 1 pellet or 6 pellets prior to a within‐session transition to extinction. Baseline response rates were lower with 6 pellets than with 1 pellet but increased more in the first minute of extinction following 6 pellets. Furthermore, an order effect was observed where rats having first experienced extinction following 1 pellet showed a smaller extinction burst when subsequently trained with 6 pellets—an outcome resulting from a faster deceleration of responding during extinction. The model described the data well, including the order effect, when augmented to include the potential asymmetrical influence of learning to discriminate the continued absence of different magnitudes of reinforcement. We conclude that the approach holds promise by formally incorporating the extinction burst into the corpus of matching theory and serving as an example of the utility of better aligning basic research methods and theorizing with areas of applied concern.

AbstractGo/no‐go successive matching (GNG‐matching) tasks are one of several procedures used to establish conditional discriminations. This study presents a systematic review aimed at comparing procedures and outcomes of empirical studies using GNG‐matching tasks for the emergence of symmetry, transitive, and global equivalence relations in humans and non‐humans. A total of 22 articles were analyzed—nine with nonhumans and thirteen with humans. Procedural variables, including trial parameters, stimulus characteristics, and training and testing conditions, were documented alongside the number of participants meeting baseline, symmetry, and global equivalence criteria per experiment. Results showed that 87.5% of human participants demonstrated symmetry, while 58.81% passed global equivalence tests. Among nonhumans, 41.22% demonstrated symmetry, while transitivity was minimally explored, with a 34.83% success rate. A meta‐analysis revealed correlations between trial structure, training/testing parameters, and the immediate emergence of symmetry relations in humans. Variability in outcomes across species may stem from differences in prerequisite skills or procedural inconsistencies. Standardizing parameters is essential to distinguish phylogenetic from procedural influences, as current cross‐species inconsistencies confound results. These findings provide a framework for refining experimental methods, identifying research gaps, and informing discussions on the critical conditions for equivalence‐class formation.

AbstractMotor vehicle collisions are among the leading causes of unintended injury‐related deaths among children under the age of 14. The primary cause of these deaths is the improper use of child passenger safety restraints (CPSRs). Correctly installed CPSRs can decrease the risk of fatal injury by 45% to 95%. To date, no studies have used video prompting with embedded safety checks to teach correct CPSR installation and harnessing in the absence of researcher‐delivered instruction and feedback. We used a concurrent multiple‐baseline‐across‐participants design to evaluate the efficacy of a video‐prompting procedure with embedded safety checks to teach four prospective parents and caregivers CPSR installation and harnessing skills. All participants learned to perform these skills, and these effects maintained for 4 weeks. Furthermore, this training improved all participants' performance of an untrained installation position, vehicle, and harnessing skill, and these effects were largely maintained for 4 weeks.

Abstract Tobacco use is the leading cause of death globally and in the United States. After decades of decline, driven by decreases in combusted tobacco use, nicotine product use has increased due to electronic nicotine delivery systems, also known as e‐cigarettes or vapes. Preclinical models of nicotine self‐administration can serve as important lodestars in the search for effective intervention and prevention tactics. Current variants of the preclinical models have substantial limitations, however. Therefore, we created the rodent electronic nicotine delivery system (RENDS), a novel low‐cost nonproprietary nose‐only preclinical model of nicotine aerosol self‐administration. We confirmed that RENDS sequesters nicotine aerosol in the nose port by measuring fine particulate matter (PM <2.5 microns) generated by e‐cigarettes. We also showed that rats robustly self‐administer flavored nicotine aerosol, resulting in high blood levels of cotinine (the major nicotine metabolite) and spontaneous somatic withdrawal symptoms. Thus, we provide validation of the operation and function of the RENDS, opening the door to an open‐source preclinical aerosol model of nicotine self‐administration that is relatively low in cost. Four existing operant chambers can be retrofitted with the RENDS for less than $325/chamber. All RENDS diagrams and plans for custom‐designed components are on Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/x2pqf/?view_only=775b55435b8e428f98e6da384ef7889d ).

Abstract The role of bidirectional naming in the emergence of analogical relations was investigated in four typically developing children between the ages 5 and 7 years. All participants learned to tact both the categories (clothes, furniture, and vehicles) and relations (same and different) among nine stimuli. They were subsequently tested on analogical responding during which they were presented with two stimuli belonging to the same or different categories and asked to select the comparison that matched the sample. During the last analogy test, we asked participants to tell us why they selected a certain comparison. Relational tact training produced emergent analogical responding in two participants after exposure to relational listener tests, whereas the other two required direct training on baseline analogy relations. All participants met criterion during derived analogy tests in accordance with symmetry and transitivity. The results of this study suggest that participants passed analogy tests by relationally tacting the sample (i.e., speaker) and reacting to its product by selecting the correct comparison (i.e., listener). This supports and extends previous findings suggesting that children must also engage in behaviors consistent with bidirectional naming to respond accurately to analogy tasks.

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