1. Motivating Operations
Week 8: Antecedent considerations

2. Motivation Operations
Also referred to as:
Value altering effect: establishing/abolishing
Behavior altering effect: Frequency
Establishing operation: Evocative effect
Abolishing operation: Abative effects

3. Some clarification Not just Frequency: Magnitude
Behavior altering effect is not just due to encounter with change in reinforcement frequency: Extinction!
SD is not = MO
SD: Differential availability of reinforcement for a behavior
MO: differential reinforcer effectiveness of an environmental event.

4. Three types of Motivating Operations
Surrogate: Stimulus paired with another
Not likely to be important to study
Reflexive: Stimulus that preceded some form of worsening improvement
Thanks and holding doors open for people
Transitive: Stimulus that alters value of another stimulus
Must be just as available (Dr. asking for scalpel)

5. 8 UMO Sex Temperature Pain Food Water Sleep Activity Oxygen
Key Point: These are not SD’s because to have an SD you must have an Sdelta (neutral stimulus) to signal unavailability of reinforcement is a possible

6. Altered States Drugs Anxiety
Do not cause behavior! They interact with environment however.
Moderation Variables.

7. What about treatment? You will never get rid of the UMO effects
You will only weaken momentarily
Must development treatment that focuses on acceptable behavior to gain access to the reinforcer

8. UMOs & Punishment Difficult to know for sure
Observation of the abative effect requires the evocative effect of an MO for reinforcement with respect to the punished behavior.

9. Multiple Effects Evocative effect: Do what you gotta do
Punishment effect: Decreases probability you engage in the behavior that preceded the MO

10. SMIRC Model Stimulus Motiviating Operation Individual Response
Consequence

11. Behavior Analytic Problem-Solving Model
Beginning to pull it all together

12. Components Contextual Variables:
Behavior occurs in some contexts but not others
Antecedent Stimuli: Environmental Triggers
Individual Mediators: Internal Triggers
UMO & CMO
Individual Behavior Deficits:
Try to reframe all behavior this way (your turn)
Behavior:
Not enough R+ or too much response effort
Consequences:
Consider function (careful of response topography and response class).

14. Stimulus Discrimination and Stimulus Generalization

15. 3 Types of Stimuli
Discriminative Stimulus: Reinforcement is available (SD)
Neutral Stimulus: No reinforcement or punishment is available (SΔ )
Warning Stimulus: Punishments is available

16. Discrimination Training
Learning when to behave and when not to behave
Reinforcing a response in presence of one stimulus but not another
e. g. Colors

17. Color Discrimination

18. What about you?
When have you engaged in stimulus discrimination today?

19. Stimulus Control Degree of correlation between stimulus and response
Degree to which a behavior occurs in presence of a specific stimulus
e.g. Traffic light
Stimulus Generalization Gradient: Probability of response reinforced in one stimulus condition are emitted in the presence of untrained stimuli.

20. Color Discrimination Revisited

21. What about you?
What behaviors do you have that are under stimulus control?

22. Learning an Alien Language
Let’s discriminate
Learning an Alien Language

23. Effective discrimination training
Choose distinct signals
Minimize opportunities for error
Minimize stimulus array
Maximize Number of learning trials
Make use of rules

24. Stimulus Generalization
Responding similarly across two or more stimuli
√ The more the stimuli are alike the more likely the response to take place
e.g. finding your car

25. What about you?
What behaviors/responses do you generalize across settings?
Can that response always be generalized?
Should that response always be generalized?

26. Classes of Stimuli
Stimulus Class: Set of stimuli with similar characteristics in common
AKA: Concept
Equivalence Class: Set of stimuli with different characteristics, but represent the same thing
e.g. Written name, verbal name, picture of person

27. Inducing Stimuli Classes
√ Explicit training is not necessarily needed to induce stimulus control across stimuli
Symmetry: A = B
Reflexivity: A = A
Transivity: A = B; B = C; A = C

28. Discriminating discrimination among other discriminative stimuli
Stimulus discrimination and escape
e.g. hailing a taxi out in the cold: Must have no patrons in it.
Stimulus discrimination and punishment
e.g. Boiling pan: Do not touch or you get burned.

29. Stimulus Discrimination and Differential Reinforcement
DR- 2 responses (right way and wrong way)and 1 stimulus
e.g. Asking mom for money
SD- Two stimuli (Right signal wrong Signal) and 1 response
e.g. Asking mom OR dad for money?

30. Requirements for stimulus control
Attention of the subject
Sensory capabilities of the subject
The stimulus must stand out relative to other stimuli.