ABA Generalization & Maintenance Flashcards
6 cards from real ABA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 ABA Generalization & Maintenance flashcards as text
Maintenance refers to:
Answer: The continued performance of a behavior after systematic training and reinforcement have been discontinued or thinned
Maintenance is the persistence of a learned behavior over time following the reduction or removal of the training contingencies.
Which reinforcement schedule is MOST effective for promoting long-term maintenance of behavior?
Answer: Variable-ratio schedule
Variable-ratio schedules produce high, steady rates of responding and are most resistant to extinction, making them ideal for promoting maintenance.
A BCBA who programs for 'natural communities of reinforcement' is trying to:
Answer: Ensure that newly learned behaviors will contact reinforcement in the natural environment to sustain them
Programming for natural communities of reinforcement means teaching behaviors that will be reinforced by the natural environment, ensuring long-term maintenance without artificial contingencies.
The strategy of 'sequential modification' for promoting generalization involves:
Answer: Sequentially introducing training in each setting where generalization is desired until it occurs
Sequential modification directly trains the behavior in each setting where it is needed, one at a time, rather than relying on spontaneous generalization.
Indiscriminable contingencies (thin, unpredictable schedules) support maintenance PRIMARILY by:
Answer: Making it difficult for the learner to detect when reinforcement is unavailable, reducing extinction bursts
When reinforcement is unpredictable, the learner cannot easily discriminate extinction conditions, so responding persists for longer periods without reinforcement.
Booster sessions are used in maintenance programming to:
Answer: Provide brief re-teaching or reinforcement contact to restore performance when a skill begins to decay
Booster sessions reintroduce training conditions periodically when skill performance has declined, efficiently restoring behavior without full re-training.