BCAT Behavior Reduction Treatment 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client repeatedly bangs their head on the table during work tasks. Which function of behavior is MOST likely if head-banging stops when the task is removed?
- Attention
- Escape (Correct answer)
- Tangible
- Automatic
Correct answer: Escape
When a behavior stops after the task (aversive stimulus) is removed, it is maintained by negative reinforcement (escape).
Question 2: During extinction for attention-maintained behavior, a technician should:
- Redirect the client to a preferred activity
- Withhold all reinforcement including task demands
- Provide no attention contingent on the target behavior (Correct answer)
- Use a DRO schedule to reinforce the absence of behavior
Correct answer: Provide no attention contingent on the target behavior
Extinction for attention-maintained behavior requires withholding attention specifically contingent on the problem behavior.
Question 3: Which schedule of reinforcement makes a behavior MOST resistant to extinction?
- Fixed ratio
- Fixed interval
- Variable ratio (Correct answer)
- Continuous reinforcement
Correct answer: Variable ratio
Variable ratio schedules produce the most resistance to extinction because reinforcement is unpredictable.
Question 4: A BCBA instructs you to implement FCT. Your primary goal as the technician is to:
- Punish the problem behavior every time it occurs
- Teach an alternative communicative response that produces the same reinforcer (Correct answer)
- Eliminate all reinforcement to reduce the target behavior
- Increase the effort required to perform the problem behavior
Correct answer: Teach an alternative communicative response that produces the same reinforcer
FCT (Functional Communication Training) teaches a functionally equivalent communicative response to replace the problem behavior.
Question 5: A client engages in self-injurious behavior (SIB) only when alone and continues even without an audience. This suggests the behavior is maintained by:
- Social positive reinforcement
- Social negative reinforcement
- Automatic reinforcement (Correct answer)
- Tangible reinforcement
Correct answer: Automatic reinforcement
SIB that occurs when alone without social consequences is typically automatically reinforced (sensory).
Question 6: When using DRI (Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior), the replacement behavior must be:
- Topographically similar to the problem behavior
- Physically impossible to perform at the same time as the problem behavior (Correct answer)
- Easier to perform than the problem behavior
- Maintained by a different function than the problem behavior
Correct answer: Physically impossible to perform at the same time as the problem behavior
DRI requires the replacement behavior to be physically incompatible — it cannot occur simultaneously with the problem behavior.
Question 7: A client's aggression increases after extinction is implemented. This is called an:
- Extinction burst (Correct answer)
- Behavioral contrast
- Spontaneous recovery
- Resurgence
Correct answer: Extinction burst
An extinction burst is a temporary increase in the frequency, intensity, or duration of behavior when extinction is first implemented.
BCAT Behavior Reduction Treatment 2
A client repeatedly bangs their head on the table during work tasks.
Which function of behavior is MOST likely if head-banging stops when the task is removed?