FREE Foundational Knowledge Questions and Answers Flashcards

A behavior analyst is conducting a functional analysis and notices that during the ignore condition, the target behavior occurs at a higher rate than during the attention condition. Which interpretation is most accurate?

Answer: The behavior is maintained by automatic reinforcement

When problem behavior occurs at elevated rates during the ignore (alone) condition relative to the attention condition, this pattern is consistent with automatic reinforcement — the behavior produces reinforcement independent of social consequences. Attention-maintained behavior would show elevated rates in the attention condition, not the ignore condition.

A client receives a token for every 5th response (fixed ratio 5) and consistently pauses after token delivery before resuming responding. A behavior analyst decides to thin the schedule to FR 15. Which behavioral phenomenon is MOST likely to increase as a result?

Answer: Post-reinforcement pause

Post-reinforcement pauses are a defining characteristic of fixed ratio schedules and tend to lengthen as the ratio requirement increases. Moving from FR 5 to FR 15 means more responses are required before reinforcement, which predictably extends the pause following each token delivery. Behavioral contrast and resurgence involve different contextual conditions, and spontaneous recovery relates to extinction.

During discrete trial training, a therapist provides a vocal prompt before the child has an opportunity to respond independently. Over several sessions, the child never responds without the prompt. This BEST illustrates which concept?

Answer: Prompt dependency

When prompts are delivered prematurely or not systematically faded, learners can become prompt dependent — they wait for the prompt as a discriminative stimulus rather than responding to the natural SD. This is distinct from stimulus overselectivity, which involves responding to only a subset of a compound stimulus. Systematic prompt fading and transfer procedures are used to prevent and remediate prompt dependency.

Which of the following BEST describes the difference between a conditioned motivating operation (CMO-R) and a conditioned motivating operation (CMO-S)?

Answer: CMO-R increases the reinforcing value of stimuli associated with reducing an aversive condition; CMO-S increases the value of a stimulus it has been paired with

A CMO-R (reflexive CMO) acquires MO properties because it reliably precedes a period of worsening conditions, making relief from that condition more reinforcing. A CMO-S (surrogate CMO) acquires its MO properties through direct pairing (Pavlovian) with an unconditioned MO, essentially becoming a surrogate for it. These are functionally distinct mechanisms, not just topographically different.

A behavior analyst wants to evaluate treatment integrity and graphs the percentage of steps implemented correctly by therapists across sessions. Integrity is averaging 65%. Which intervention is MOST supported by the empirical literature as effective for improving procedural fidelity?

Answer: Performance feedback with brief retraining on error steps

The behavioral literature consistently shows that performance feedback combined with retraining on specific error steps is the most effective strategy for improving treatment integrity. Verbal reprimands alone are not supported and may have adverse effects on staff behavior. Simplifying the plan or adjusting the client's reinforcement schedule does not directly address the skill deficit in implementation.

A practitioner is using a multiple baseline design across behaviors. After intervention is introduced for the first behavior, the second and third behaviors also improve before intervention is applied to them. What is the MOST appropriate conclusion?

Answer: The demonstration of experimental control is compromised due to concurrent changes in untreated behaviors

In a multiple baseline design, experimental control is established by showing that change occurs only when and where intervention is applied. If untreated behaviors change before the intervention is introduced for them, it suggests that some extraneous variable (rather than the independent variable alone) may be responsible for the changes — this undermines the logic of the design. This is not evidence of successful generalization in an experimental sense; it is a threat to internal validity.