Plan now to submit your project for the 2008 CalABA Julie Vargas Student Research Award. Deadline: December 1, 2007

The Julie Vargas Award was created by Dr. Julie Vargas of West Virginia University to promote research by students in behavior analysis. This competitive award of $250 is presented to a CalABA member who has conducted original research in behavior analysis while enrolled as a student and who is not more than one calendar year past graduation. The award will be given at the annual conference, and an abstract of the research will be printed in the CalABA newsletter. (See past recipients below.) To apply, fill out the application and mail it with the requested materials to:

CalABA Julie Vargas Award
c/o Gina Green, PhD, BCBA
6977 Navajo Rd, PMB #176
San Diego, CA 92119

Past Recipients - Congratulations!    (top)

2007
Monica T. Francisco
University of the Pacific

Using Progressive Ratio Schedules as a Means of Evaluating Absolute and Relative Reinforcer Value
We conducted paired-stimulus preference assessments with three children to determine high- and low-preferred edibles, which were associated with arbitrary tasks. Responding was evaluated in reinforcer and progressive ratio (PR) assessments, under concurrent and single operant schedules. Results showed that for two of three participants, low-preferred stimuli functioned as reinforcers when evaluated independently of high-preferred stimuli and under gradually increasing response requirements. Results suggest that when use of high-preferred stimuli is unfeasible, delivery of relatively less-preferred stimuli may maintain appropriate behavior, even as response effort is increased. In addition, results of the PR evaluation are suggestive of stimulus value.