Plan now to submit your project for the 2013 CalABA Julie Vargas Student Research Award. Deadline: December 1, 2012.

The Julie Vargas Award was created by Dr. Julie Vargas of the B. F. Skinner Foundation 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 our annual conference, and an abstract of the research will be printed in the CalABA newsletter and posted here. (See past recipients below.) To apply, fill out the application (PDF or Word doc) and send it with the requested materials to:

CalABA Julie Vargas Award          Email to info@calaba.org (preferred)
630 Quintana Rd #118
Morro Bay, CA 93442

Past Recipients - Congratulations!    (top)

2012
Vissy Kobari-Wright
California State University, Sacramento

The Effects of Listener Training on Naming and Categorization by Children with Autism
Recent studies have demonstrated that the skill of sorting objects by category develops with no direct training when objects occasion the same speaker and listener behavior (naming). The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of listener training in the emergence of speaker behavior and categorization. Participants included four children diagnosed with autism (ranging from 4-5 years of age). The effects of listener training were evaluated using a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design across participants. Three children, who failed to categorize or emit the speaker behavior during pretraining were able to do so during posttraining probes. The fourth participant required the direct training of speaker behavior in order to categorize the stimuli. These results suggest that listener training may be an efficient way to produce novel categorization in children diagnosed with autism, as long as full naming is developed.

2012
Allison Morley
University of the Pacific

Descriptive and Experimental Analyses of Variables Maintaining Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity in Preschool Children
Direct observation provides information regarding variables (i.e., context and composition) related to moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA). However, in most research of this kind, environmental variables are not manipulated and, therefore, functional relationships cannot be determined. Recently, a functional analysis methodology was developed to assess the effect of outdoor activity context on MVPA in preschool children (Hustyi, Normand, Larson, & Morley, in press). Because results from Hustyi et al. differed from those reported in descriptive assessment studies, the purpose of the current study was to compare directly the results yielded from descriptive analyses of MVPA to those of functional analyses in the same children. Descriptive and functional analyses were conducted on a daycare playground, with the functional analysis conditions arranged in a multi-element experimental design. Results indicated correspondence between the descriptive and functional analyses for both participants in the 1-to-1 peer and group compositions, however there was limited or no correspondence in the solitary compositions. Previous research has demonstrated poor correspondence between descriptive and functional analyses, albeit with different behavioral targets and mostly different populations (e.g., Lerman & Iwata, 1993; Pence et al., 2009; Thompson & Iwata 2007). The current data may suggest the importance of a functional assessment of variables evoking MVPA in children. Results may also suggest that descriptive assessments are sufficient for such purposes, although typically require more time to complete than do functional analyses. The data derived from such functional assessments can be used to arrange optimal environments for evoking and maintaining MVPA.

2011
Mychal Machado
University of the Pacific

Picture This: Smoking Cues as Elicitors of Compensatory Responses in Smokers
The current study extends previous research on conditional compensatory responses and illicit drugs to smoking by exposing ten adult smokers (n = 5) and nonsmokers (n = 5) to smoking and non-smoking related imagery in an ABCBC reversal design. Pre and post slideshow carbon monoxide (CO) levels were taken as the main measure of compensatory responding. Heart rate and blood pressure readings also were recorded. Results demonstrated that CO measures of smokers were lower following a visual presentation of smoking-related images as compared to a presentation of non-smoking-related images. This drop in CO levels was not evident in

1. nonsmoking participants,
2. smoking participants following a non-smoking visual array, or
3. a smoker-control participant.

2010
Alice A. Keyl
Utah State University

Effects of Methylphenidate on the Within-Session Response Rates of Rats
Changes in response rates during experimental sessions may reflect systematic decreases in reinforcer effectiveness. One important area of interest to examine is whether therapeutic drugs potentially enhance or decrease the effectiveness of reinforcers. The present basic research study examined the effects of methylphenidate on within-session response patterns of 4 rats. Subjects were administered methylphenidate (3.0 - 17.0 mg/kg) while responding for food pellets on a random-interval 45 s schedule of reinforcement. Overall, results suggest that methylphenidate may maintain the effectiveness of the reinforcer longer. This result may have important clinical implications for individuals taking stimulant drugs such as methylphenidate.

2009
Yun-Yi Tsai
California State University, Los Angeles

Effects of Antecedent Interventions on Behaviors for Children with Autism
This study evaluated the effects of using picture activity schedules with and without choice on task engagement behaviors of children with autism. An alternating treatment design within a multiple baseline across subjects was used to compare the effectiveness of two different interventions. For each child, a preference assessment was conducted before the data collection. A momentary time sampling procedure was used to record the on/off-task behaviors and a frequency recording method was used to record the number of the adult prompts during independent work activities. The results show the participants demonstrated increases in on-task behavior and decreases in the number of the adult prompts when choice making opportunities were provided with the activity schedules.

2008
Jennifer Soeda
California State University, Fresno

The Importance of Function in Treatment Selection for Children with Minor Behavior Problems
Although functional assessment procedures have shown considerable value within the field of applied behavior analysis, concerns regarding time and efficacy have hindered their consistent use within schools. This study assessed the comparative effectiveness of function-based versus nonfunction-based interventions for high incidence, low severity behavior problems in four typically developing children. Results via an ABAC research design indicated that interventions based upon a functional behavior assessment were more effective and efficient at reducing off-task behaviors than an intervention which attempted to create a new function for appropriate behavior across all participants. Social validity measures also indicated the functional intervention to be more effective, efficient, and easier to implement.

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.