Conditional probability and statistical independence can be better explained with contingency tables. In this note some special cases of 2 x 2 contingency tables are considered. In turn an interesting insight into statistical dependence as well as independence of events is obtained.

Three experiments with rats examined reacquisition of an operant response after either extinction or a response-elimination procedure that included occasional reinforced responses during extinction. In each experiment, reacquisition was slower when response elimination had included occasional reinforced responses, although the effect was…

This case study illustrates a behavioral treatment of "Peter," a 4-year-old male with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder. Multiple evidence-based treatment procedures were implemented, affording the opportunity to explore issues common to the clinical application of empirically supported…

Children may recruit their teachers' attention at undesirably high rates or at inconvenient times. Tiger and Hanley (2004) described a multiple-schedule procedure to reduce ill-timed requests, which involved providing children with two distinct continuous signals that were correlated with periods in which teacher attention was either available or…

A company trainer shows some ways of scheduling reinforcement of learning for trainees: continuous reinforcement, fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, and variable interval. As there are problems with all methods, he suggests trying combinations of various types of reinforcement. (MF)

Stokes, Osnes, and Guevremont's (1987) implicit definition of correspondence classes is fundamentally procedural. A contingency-space analysis, on the other hand, is independent of specific procedures and focuses attention on problems inherent in some procedural definitions. It addresses the issue of distinguishing specific instances from classes.…

Three studies involving four preschoolers revealed that by delaying reinforcement for verbal behavior until after the opportunity to display the corresponding behavior had occurred, correspondence behavior was made to generalize to untrained responses and to maintain overtime. (Author)

Chronic food refusal of four handicapped children (one-three years old) was modified by a procedure involving the delivery of reinforcement (social praise, access to preferred foods, brief toy play periods) contingent upon consumption of a targeted food item. (CL)

A microcomputer-based system for providing contingency intervention for handicapped infants provided an environment in which children's actions produced clear consequences and the relationships between actions and consequences were summarized and displayed graphically. (CL)

Twenty-four learning disabled students (10 to 14 years old) assigned to three reward schedules (response contingent reward, 100 percent noncontingent reward, and 50 percent random noncontingent reward) were asked to replicate block designs and solve coding problems. No differences were found in errors, but Ss in noncontingent conditions…

An anti-litter program provided elementary students and their teachers feedback upon cleanliness of their schoolyard and made movies contingent on a certain criterion. The program was effective in reducing litter and maintaining appearance even when litter was artifically introduced. (Author/CL)

Results showed that restraint, in comparison to no restraint, reduced the amount of body rocking. Also, restraint was judged to be generally more effective if it were applied when the S was bent over in the middle of the response sequence rather than administered while the S was sitting upright at the end of the response sequence. (Author)

The aim of this study was to determine whether a socially focused treatment can effect change in the patient's social network from one that reinforces drinking to one that reinforces sobriety. Alcohol dependent men and women (N = 210) recruited from the community were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 outpatient treatment conditions: network support…

This article describes three community-based research projects that are designed to enhance the effectiveness of real-world adolescent substance abuse treatment and prevention, and presents preliminary study results from each. The first project is examining statewide public sector practitioner interest in and implementation of contingency…

A reversal (ABAB) design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a group contingency intervention on the verbally disrespectful behaviors of seven middle school students with specific learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders (ADHD) in a special education resource classroom setting for reading instruction. During the intervention…