Renewal is a form of treatment relapse that occurs due to a change in context but in the absence of a change in contingencies. Recent prevalence data suggest that renewal may commonly occur in clinical settings, threatening the durability of treatments for decreasing problem behavior. Unfortunately, instances of renewal may also coincide with treatment integrity errors of commission in which the treatment implementer accidentally reinforces the problem behavior. Unplanned reinforcer deliveries for the problem behavior following successful treatment may result in a different form of relapse called response-dependent reinstatement. Little is known about the combined effects of renewal and response-dependent reinstatement. The current study compared the effects of renewal alone with the combined effects of renewal plus response-dependent reinstatement in two experiments. We conducted Experiment 1 in a basic laboratory with rats and Experiment 2 in a translational format with college students who engaged with a task on a touchscreen tablet device. Overall, our results suggest that relapse was worse during combined tests for renewal plus response-dependent reinstatement relative to renewal alone. We discuss the implications of our findings with respect to the treatment of problem behavior.

A search for language in nonhuman animals has intrigued psychologists and ethologists, offering insights into the evolution of human linguistic abilities. Recent findings in both ethology and behavior analysis/animal cognition highlight exciting developments. In behavior analysis, Peter J. Urcuioli (1952-2022) successfully demonstrated the phenomenon of stimulus equivalence in pigeons and proposed a theory (2008) that underlies pigeons' performance. In ethology, Suzuki and colleagues discovered that Japanese tits use two-word compositional syntax, one of the first demonstrations in animals other than humans. This article compares these two research areas to highlight their similarities and suggests future directions for studying the evolution of language and cognition in both human and nonhuman species. Written in honor of Dr. Urcuioli, this article recognizes his contributions to behavior analysis, psychology, and ethology, advancing understanding of animal cognition and its broader implications for humanity.

Children often learn the names of objects incidentally-that is without direct instruction or programmed reinforcement-simply by observing others label novel objects. A number of contextual cues have been deemed important in the development of naming such as orientation toward stimuli, pointing, linguistic prompts (e.g., "This is…"), and contiguous presentations of stimuli and sounds. Despite their significance, there has been almost no systematic investigation of these cues in behavior analysis. The current study preliminarily examines how contextual cues-such as an experimenter's eye gaze, pointing, and use of paralinguistic cues-affect naming responses. In Experiment 1, three typically developing children were administered naming tests with and without these cues using a reversal design. All participants showed improved performance with cues relative to without cues. Experiment 2 extended this by testing three autistic children with all cues, a partial set of cues, or no cues, using a reversal design. Results replicated Experiment 1, also demonstrating that partial cues were effective in facilitating naming. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 1 with three additional autistic participants during which test trials remained consistent across conditions in a reversal design. Further research on the contextual cues presented during naming experiences is warranted.

Conceptual learning is discrimination between new examples and nonexamples and generalization to new examples. Conceptual learning can be demonstrated after practice with differential reinforcement of the correct response and is influenced by procedural variables during practice. However, less research has been done identifying an ideal structure for instruction (rules), which is likely a typical teaching format for learners with more advanced verbal repertoires. We developed a laboratory analog of conceptual instruction to evaluate conceptual learning following instruction made up of a rule describing the key features of the concept and examples and nonexamples that were carefully selected to demonstrate these rules. We also evaluated the efficacy of this instruction when it preceded or followed practice with feedback about accuracy but no rule presentation. All participants completed instruction and practice. The specific instructional sequence was completed before practice during Experiment 1 and after practice during Experiment 2. This instructional sequence reliably and rapidly resulted in concept learning regardless of whether it was completed before or after practice. Practice alone never produced conceptual learning within the duration of the session and was not necessary to produce conceptual learning. Instructors should evaluate the efficacy of this instructional sequence to teach concepts.

Instrumental behavior is typically organized into bouts, with distinct behavioral processes seemingly governing within-bout response rate, bout-initiation rate, and bout length. This organization, however, may instead arise simply from the spatial proximity of the organism to the operandum at the end of each response. Two experiments used rats to test the organization of spatially extended instrumental responses into bouts and the sensitivity of bout parameters to critical manipulations. In Experiment 1, rats consecutively pressed two levers located on either side of an operant chamber, reinforced on a tandem variable-time (VT) 150-s fixed-ratio (FR) 1 schedule (Phase 1). The FR requirement was then increased (Phase 2) before food restriction was reduced (Phase 3). In Experiment 2, reinforcement was contingent on pressing a single lever or alternating between two levers in alternating multiple-schedule components. Lever pressing was then extinguished in both components. Regardless of topography, responses were organized in bouts (Experiments 1 and 2). Higher FR requirements increased bout length (Experiment 1), and the response-alternation requirement reduced within-bout response rate (Experiment 2). Both manipulations, along with reduced deprivation and extinction, reduced bout-initiation rates. These results rule out the possibility that bouts of responses emerge from the spatial proximity of terminating and initiating operants.

When responding to a stimulus exerting overselective control over behavior is extinguished, control by underselected stimuli may emerge. We investigated how the degree of extinction influences control by underselected stimuli. Adult humans (N = 459) chose between rapidly presented compound S+ and S- stimuli in a simultaneous discrimination. Then, participants chose between individual compound-stimulus elements in an unreinforced testing phase. The S+ element that was chosen most often underwent revaluation, during which choice of that element was reinforced with a probability ranging from 0 (complete extinction) to 1 no extinction) in different groups. In post-revaluation retesting, choice of the overselected element was lower than in pre-revaluation testing; this decrease was greater when the overselected element had been reinforced with a lower probability during revaluation. For the underselected element, choice decreased when the overselected element was completely extinguished and increased when the overselected element was sometimes or always reinforced. This highlights the role of the contingency change in post-revaluation changes in stimulus control. Our findings are consistent with comparator theories of overselectivity and suggest that control by underselected stimuli may emerge after partial extinction of an overselected stimulus. Future studies should establish the generality of these findings with clinical populations displaying overselectivity.

The evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics (ETBD) has predicted that under concurrent random-ratio (RR) schedules, preference for the denser schedule becomes more extreme with (a) larger differences between the concurrent ratio requirements and (b) smaller absolute values of the ratio requirement for the denser alternative. In this study, we tested ETBD's predictions by evaluating human participants' choice under various concurrent RR schedules. Sixty-three undergraduate students participated and were presented with two concurrently available response options on a touchscreen monitor. The difference between the concurrently available ratio requirements was manipulated across conditions, and the absolute value of the ratio requirement for the denser alternative was manipulated across groups. As predicted by the ETBD, participants' preference for the denser alternative increased as the difference between the concurrent ratio requirements increased and groups with smaller absolute ratio requirements tended to display more extreme preference. However, a high level of heterogeneity was observed across human participants within each group that was not evident in the behavior of artificial organisms animated by the ETBD. Our findings demonstrate the importance of focusing on individual behavior and suggest directions for future research investigating choice under concurrent ratio schedules and evaluating the ETBD.

In research on variables that influence bidirectional naming, measurement of bidirectional naming often involves exposing children to pairs of verbal and visual stimuli, followed by testing of listener behavior and tacts. We administered a bidirectional naming assessment, modeled after an assessment procedure described in previous studies, to 12 younger adults (18 to 25 years) and 12 older adults (67 years and older). Visual patterns were paired with nonsense words, and listener behavior and tacts were tested after a 2-hr delay. The assessment classified one participant in the younger group and no participants in the older group as meeting criteria for incidental bidirectional naming and only four additional participants (all in the younger group) as meeting criteria for unidirectional naming. Although adults should theoretically be expected to demonstrate advanced bidirectional naming, the assessment procedure failed to capture this repertoire. The results suggest that below-criterion performance in bidirectional naming assessment may in some cases be an artifact of assessment, instead of suggesting a bidirectional naming repertoire has not been acquired. These findings have implications for measuring bidirectional naming and interpreting assessment outcomes.

Using the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace, we examined the effects of e-liquid freebase nicotine strength (3-24 mg/mL) and e-liquid price (US$0.25-$1.00/mL) on behavioral economic substitution for cigarettes in dual cigarette/e-cigarette (n = 41) and exclusive cigarette (n = 40) users. Subjective effects of nicotine strength were also examined. All nicotine strengths served as a substitute for combustible cigarettes, with greater substitution observed in dual users. When analyzing e-liquid volume purchased (mL), nicotine strength did not influence substitution; however, when analyzing e-liquid nicotine purchased (mg), degree of substitution increased as a function of nicotine strength. Additionally, higher nicotine strengths reduced the volume and probability of e-liquid purchasing, increased cigarette demand, and produced less favorable subjective effects than lower strengths. Increasing e-liquid price reduced e-liquid purchasing and did not influence substitution. We conclude that nicotine strength does not robustly affect the degree to which e-liquid substitutes for cigarettes, as no effect was observed in analysis of the unit of purchase most relevant to real-world sales (volume). Instead, high-strength nicotine potentially reduces the appeal and probability of purchasing e-liquid. Future work should examine these effects in nicotine salt-based e-liquids compared with freebase nicotine (used here) and in choice contexts with concurrent access to different nicotine strengths.

This experiment explored a rodent model of functional class formation by assessing the transfer of a novel discriminative function across class members. Following simple successive discrimination reversal training and consistently strong probe performance indicative of the formation of two six-member functional classes (X1-X6 and Y1-Y6), subjects were trained on a novel discrimination task to respond in the right-side port in the presence of odor X1 and in the left-side port in the presence of Y1. When rats demonstrated high accuracy on the left-right (LR) task as well as maintenance of the functional classes, LR probe sessions were conducted in which X2 or Y2 were presented on some trials as nonreinforced probes to test for transfer of the novel function (left or right responding). The LR probe sessions were conducted in this fashion for each pair of X and Y stimuli that had never been directly trained in the LR discrimination procedure. Transfer of the novel function was observed in five out of six subjects on the initial probe session, but only two rats showed consistent transfer across subsequent probes. The results offer preliminary evidence for transfer of novel function in rats and support further investigation using a similar approach.

Choice in concurrent schedules is organized in visits to each alternative, and the duration of these visits is exponentially distributed. A model of changeover behavior based on this fact successfully described changeover behavior in two large data sets from published experiments, but some limitations were apparent in this analysis, seemingly reflecting an effect of the passage of time on the data across the lengthy experiments. This article describes an experiment that exposed rats to a dynamic concurrent variable-interval procedure designed to address these limitations. One of 35 possible combinations of overall and relative reinforcement rates was chosen pseudorandomly at the beginning of each session without signaling the specific combination in effect. By allowing the sensitivity parameter in the generalized matching law to be a function of the overall reinforcement rate, the model provided a satisfactory description of the results. This modification includes free parameters that presumably reflect the effects of how discriminable the alternatives are and how costly it is to switch between them, increasing the scope of the matching law. The updated model holds promise as the foundation for a general theory of performance in concurrent schedules of reinforcement.

Behavioral contrast and resurgence emerge following worsening of conditions of alternative reinforcement. In this experiment, the effects of stimuli correlated with nonreinforcement during extinction were compared with respect to their effects in generating resurgence and contrast within individual pigeons. Four pigeons were exposed to a two-key concurrent schedule in which a target response arranged a variable-interval (VI) 60-s schedule and an alternative response key arranged a two-component multiple VI 60-s VI 60-s schedule. In the resurgence preparation, target responding was extinguished after training before extinguishing the alternative. In the contrast preparation, both components of the multiple schedule were associated with extinction, whereas target responding was still reinforced. In both, one of the two multiple schedule stimuli was replaced by a darkened keylight. When the key associated with the alternative component was on during extinction, there was less resurgence and the magnitude of contrast was less than when the key was dark. The results replicated earlier findings of the effects of the presence or absence of stimuli on resurgence and contrast but under conditions allowing direct comparisons within individual subjects. The results both suggest a functional similarity between behavioral phenomena labeled resurgence and contrast and invite a search for other similarities.

Every day we encounter situations in which decisions require trade-offs between the delay to one reward and the likelihood of receiving another reward. The current study was designed to extend a general discounting framework to gain insights into this fundamental trade-off process. Forty-three undergraduates adjusted the probability of receiving an immediate hypothetical monetary reward (either $200 or $10,000) until that probabilistic reward was judged subjectively equal in value to the same reward received with certainty after a delay (ranging from 1 month to 25 years). We replicated previous findings that demonstrated a linear relation between log(delay) and log(odds-against), derived from the subjective probabilistic values. This linear relation was predicted when these choices were analyzed with the hyperboloid functions that describe simple delay and probability discounting in human decision making. Additionally, we extended the discounting framework and showed that the trade-off between risk and delay was well described by a modified hyperboloid discounting model (Rs = .99). These findings suggest that the discounting framework provides a valuable approach for capturing complexities of human decision making.

Go/no-go successive matching (GNG-matching) tasks are one of several procedures used to establish conditional discriminations. This study presents a systematic review aimed at comparing procedures and outcomes of empirical studies using GNG-matching tasks for the emergence of symmetry, transitive, and global equivalence relations in humans and non-humans. A total of 22 articles were analyzed-nine with nonhumans and thirteen with humans. Procedural variables, including trial parameters, stimulus characteristics, and training and testing conditions, were documented alongside the number of participants meeting baseline, symmetry, and global equivalence criteria per experiment. Results showed that 87.5% of human participants demonstrated symmetry, while 58.81% passed global equivalence tests. Among nonhumans, 41.22% demonstrated symmetry, while transitivity was minimally explored, with a 34.83% success rate. A meta-analysis revealed correlations between trial structure, training/testing parameters, and the immediate emergence of symmetry relations in humans. Variability in outcomes across species may stem from differences in prerequisite skills or procedural inconsistencies. Standardizing parameters is essential to distinguish phylogenetic from procedural influences, as current cross-species inconsistencies confound results. These findings provide a framework for refining experimental methods, identifying research gaps, and informing discussions on the critical conditions for equivalence-class formation.

Comparative psychologists have been criticized for using a limited number of species in drawing general conclusions about broad behavioral processes. There are numerous examples, however, of the inclusion by behavior analysts of atypical subjects in their research. To examine the frequency and diversity in subject species used in the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB), JEAB publications between 1958 and 2023 were reviewed for their use of subjects other than pigeons, rats, humans, and nonhuman primates. Two hundred and twenty-one occurrences of these atypical subjects were found across 204 articles, with 65 distinct species across both vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. The highest spikes in the frequency of atypical subject use occurred in the earliest and latest JEAB issues. The results are discussed in terms of the reasons for using diverse species, trends in use over time, and how EAB might benefit from continued, or even increased, diversification in the species used in its research.

Discontinuing reinforcement for an operant behavior sometimes produces a transient increase in responding (i.e., an extinction burst). A matching-law-based quantitative model posits that the extinction burst results from the elimination of competition from reinforcement-related behavior with the onset of extinction. Consistent with this suggestion, retrospective case reviews in applied settings suggest reduced prevalence of the extinction burst when alternative reinforcement is available, but there has been no relevant prospective research. The present experiment used rats and methods approximating conditions in applied settings to examine the effects of alternative reinforcement magnitude on the extinction burst. Lever pressing in baseline produced a one-pellet reinforcer on a variable-interval 1.5-s schedule before a within-session transition to extinction that included no alternative reinforcement, one pellet, or six pellets of alternative reinforcement. A robust extinction burst was obtained when no alternative reinforcement was available, but the prevalence and magnitude of the extinction burst was reduced with an alternative reinforcer available, more so with the larger alternative reinforcer. The data were well described by the model. Similar prospective studies directly examining related effects in basic and applied settings could strengthen the empirical basis of current practice and further evaluate the utility of the present theoretical approach.

Polydrug abuse is the persistent self-administration of more than one reinforcing drug. The present study provided rhesus monkeys concurrent access to two drugs: 8% alcohol and solutions of either cocaine or methadone. The liquids were available under concurrent nonindependent fixed-ratio (FR) schedules across increasing and then decreasing ratio sizes. These schedules generate high rates of changeover responses and yield a dependent variable of responses per delivery that is not rigidly tied to the ratio-schedule value. The programmed schedule size was equal for both liquids and increased in the sequence 8, 16, 32, and so on until responding decreased, whereupon the schedule size was decreased in reversed order to the original steps. Eight percent alcohol was strongly preferred at the nonindependent FR 8 FR 8 baseline. As schedule size increased, intake of the 8% alcohol solution decreased and intake of the alternative liquid increased. Consumption of the alternative liquid generally remained elevated over initial values when schedule size decreased. The data can be analyzed in several ways, including consumption as a function of price (behavioral economics) and log of relative response rates as a function of log of relative deliveries (matching), thereby providing an interface between behavioral economics and matching analyses.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of interfering with verbal and visual mediation in groups that received different training sequences in the intraverbal naming task. Experiment 1 examined the effects of disrupting verbal mediation during the image-matching test. Participants were assigned to one of four groups. Two groups received tact instruction prior to intraverbal instruction (TI groups) and the other two received the opposite training sequence (IT groups). One TI and one IT group were instructed to engage in a task intended to disrupt verbal mediation during test. The disruption task did not differentially affect the groups based on instruction sequence. Experiment 2 examined the effects of disrupting visual imagery during intraverbal training. Participants were assigned to one of four groups, two TI and two IT. One TI and one IT group were instructed to engage in a task intended to disrupt visualization during intraverbal training. This disruption task differentially affected response speed during test for the IT group. Results indicate that verbal behavior at test may contribute to correct responding yet also point to the availability of an additional source of stimulus control when names are acquired prior to intraverbal training.

Rules can control the listener's behavior, yet few studies have examined variables that quantitatively determine the extent of this control relative to other rules and contingencies. To explore these variables, we employed a novel procedure that required a choice between rules. Participants clicked two buttons on a computer screen to earn points exchangeable for money. During training, participants were exposed to rules from two simulated individuals. Rule compliance was measured using free-operant choice periods. In the test phase, both simulated individuals appeared simultaneously, providing different rules, followed by a free-operant period of extinction to assess participants' preferences. Experiment 1 varied the reinforcement rate associated with each rule provider, showing that participants systematically preferred the rule provider with the highest reinforcement rate. In the control condition without rules, participants' preferences tended toward indifference. Experiment 2 varied rule accuracy. This time, participants' preferences favored the icon correlated with accurate rules. However, preferences were not exclusive to the alternatives instructed by this rule provider and tended to match the reinforcement rate obtained for this rule provider during training. These findings suggest that rule-following behavior is a form of choice governed by the relative distribution of reinforcement available in the listener's environment.

Reward delays are often associated with reduced probability of reward, although standard assessments of delay discounting do not specify degree of reward certainty. Thus, the extent to which estimates of delay discounting are influenced by uncontrolled variance in perceived reward certainty remains unclear. Here we examine 370 participants who were randomly assigned to complete a delay discounting task when reward certainty was either unspecified (n=184) or specified as 100% (n = 186) in the task trials and task instructions. We examined potential group differences in (a) perceived reward certainty across a range of delays, (b) delay discounting, and (c) associations between perceived reward certainty and delay discounting. Delay significantly reduced perceived reward certainty in both groups, although delay did not significantly interact with group to affect perceived certainty. Despite higher perceived reward certainty in the specified group, no significant group difference in delay discounting was observed. Higher perceived reward certainty was associated with lower delay discounting in both groups. However, we found no evidence that specifying reward certainty influences estimates of delay discounting. Future research should examine whether perceived reward certainty moderates associations between delay discounting and health behavior and whether perceived reward certainty is impacted by interventions that change delay discounting.

The purpose of this study was to test Carrigan and Sidman's (1992) hypothesis that the emergence of equivalence relations from the standard matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure is due to the exclusive acquisition of select conditional relations during training. Four groups were compared on tests of the properties of equivalence relations (reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity/equivalence) and on trials with novel stimuli replacing S+ or S- on these tests: standard MTS training; exclusive-select-relations training; exclusive-reject-relations training; and detached-MTS training, which included training on both select and reject relations. Equivalence emergence occurred more frequently in the detached-MTS group. Those in the standard-MTS group who showed equivalence emergence had test results with novel stimuli that were more similar to those in the detached-MTS group than to those in the exclusive-select group. The results suggest that compliance with the criteria for equivalence relations may mask at least two different processes. The first is pseudoequivalence, which is associated with exclusive select control. The second is the authentic formation of equivalence classes, which depends on joint select and reject control. The standard-MTS procedure seems to more frequently promote the second process.

Cooperation involves an individual's choice that benefits both themself and others -in contrast to selfishness, which benefits the individual only-and has been suggested to be more likely when the benefit to others, discounted as a function of their social distance (i.e., social discounting), exceeds the undiscounted cost to the cooperator. To test this hypothesis, we exposed 126 participants to eight, one-shot reward matrices of prisoner's dilemma games, among which socially discounted benefits and undiscounted costs systematically varied. Increasing benefits and increasing costs increased and decreased, respectively, the percentage of cooperators across the matrices. Then, 111 participants from the original sample completed one of five iterated, 40-trial reward matrices programmed to play a tit-for-tat strategy, among which benefits and costs varied. Overall, increasing benefits and increasing costs increased and decreased, respectively, cooperation across trials. This tendency, however, was more clearly observed in later than earlier trials. Both in one-shot and in iterated games, the effect of costs was greater than that of benefits and the effects of both benefits and costs decreased at extreme values. These findings suggest that cost-benefit balance, modulated by social discounting, determines degree of cooperation in both one-shot and repeated-trial cooperation tasks.

Decreasing funding for nonhuman animal research decreases the opportunity for students and researchers to explore the behavior of many species in many contexts. In the long run, this will reduce variability within the experimental analysis of behavior around what species are being researched and what questions are being asked. New technologies, however, offer students and researchers the opportunity to observe the behavior of organisms in everyday environments in cost-effective ways. In this article, a backyard birding setup is described that costs ~US$150 and allows for ongoing data collection of a local backyard bird population (Aves) in feeding competition with eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). In these wild populations, a reversal design demonstrated extinction, class-specific learning rates, interclass competition, and the influence of these on a birder's behavior. This work shows one way the experimental analysis of behavior might be injected with greater variation by students and researchers being alert to and measuring the wildness in our everyday environments.

Traditionally, the experimental analysis of behavior has relied on the single discrete response paradigm (e.g., key pecks, lever presses, screen clicks) to identify behavioral patterns. However, the development and availability of new technology allow researchers to move beyond this paradigm and use other features to detect schedules. Thus, our study used spatiotemporal data to compare the accuracy of four machine learning algorithms (i.e., logistic regression, support vector classifiers, random forests, and artificial neural networks) in detecting the presence and the components of time-based schedules in 12 rats involved in a behavioral experiment. Using spatiotemporal data, the algorithms accurately identified the presence or absence of programmed schedules and correctly differentiated between fixed- and variable-space schedules. That said, our analyses failed to identify an algorithm to discriminate fixed-time from variable-time schedules. Furthermore, none of the algorithms performed systematically better than the others. Our findings provide preliminary support for the utility of using spatiotemporal data with machine learning to detect stimulus schedules.

This study was an investigation of the utility of behavioral economic demand curves (quantitative models showing how consumption changes with price) in assessing acceptance of hypothetical HIV vaccines among sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). Two experiments used simulated purchase tasks (hypothetical scenarios measuring purchasing decisions). SGMs were recruited through Reddit and LGBTQ+ community organizations across the United States. In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to nine instructional sets combining varying vaccine administration modes (oral, mucosal, or subcutaneous) with different dosage schedules (one dose, two doses, or one dose annually). Experiment 2 examined how bundling HIV vaccines with one of nine health commodities affected demand. Participants also responded to questions assessing demographics, HIV risk behaviors, experiences of racial discrimination, and trust in institutions. The results demonstrated that the exponentiated demand equation effectively modeled vaccine acceptance across conditions (median R = 0.92). Contrary to expectations, vaccine characteristics had a minimal influence on demand (Q₀: R = 0.007; log α: R = 0.001). Instead, individual factors significantly influenced demand intensity (consumption when price = 0; Q₀) and price sensitivity (sensitivity of consumption to increasing price; α). Significant predictors of Q₀ included injection drug use history, experiences of racial discrimination, and trust in science. Low household income was the strongest predictor of log α. Bundling HIV vaccines with other health commodities showed subtle effects on acceptance, with condoms and dental examinations significantly differing from the reference category. These findings suggest that behavioral economic approaches can inform policy decisions about pricing, bundling strategies and targeted interventions to maximize HIV vaccine uptake among SGMs who face disproportionate HIV risk without requiring exposure to non-market-ready vaccines.

Discounting is a pervasive phenomenon in human decision making and has been extensively studied across disciplines. This article focuses on area under the curve (AUC) as a popular measure of discounting. We provide a comprehensive review of AUC in relation to discounting, focusing on its atheoretical underpinnings and methods to calculate the measure. Additionally, we delve into the limitations of traditional AUC measures and limitations of more recent modifications of AUC (i.e., ordinal and logarithmic AUC). First, authors using AUC do not routinely report whether and how they impute an indifference point at the y-intercept, which is critically important when using the ordinal or logarithmic versions. Additionally, the ordinal version of AUC requires removing the x-axis information (e.g., delay, odds against, social distance, etc.) and replacing them with ordinal values. The logarithmic version of AUC often introduces nonintuitive values on the x-axis that lead to a high likelihood of miscalculations. We propose that authors always impute an indifference point at the y-intercept-when such data were not collected-and propose a novel method to shift indifference points that leads to a more intuitive logarithmic AUC calculation. An R package and Excel workbook to help calculate AUC are also provided and discussed.

As a data-driven science, the field of behavior analysis necessitates accumulating evidence for research and theory development and clinical intervention. The most comprehensive evidence will come from systematic review and meta-analysis of a given topic. Systematic reviews comprise an established set of methods for collecting and synthesizing a body of research to identify trends, examining the strength of evidence and potential sources of bias, and identifying areas in need of further investigation. Despite their utility and widespread use in other disciplines, systematic reviews are underused in many behavior analysis domains. This technical report is part of a series on research synthesis methods in behavior analysis, with Part 1 focusing on systematic reviews and Part 2 focusing on meta-analysis. In Part 1, we provide a step-by-step guide to conducting systematic reviews using current best practices and adhering to international guidelines. Examples of tables and figures commonly included in these types of reviews are also provided. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of these reviews for behavior analysis research, practice, and theory and calling for increased numbers of published systematic reviews in behavior analysis. Finally, we provide annotated references to additional in-depth methodology resources for the interested behavior analyst.

Two experiments examined pigeons' discounting of probabilistic food reinforcers using a concurrent-chains procedure within sessions combined with an adjusting-amount procedure across sessions. The study is the first to evaluate probability discounting functions in nonhuman animals in which the obtained probability equaled that programmed in each session. In Experiment 1, pigeons chose between a smaller, certain and a larger, but probabilistic food reinforcer. In Experiment 2, the probabilities of receiving both reinforcement options were reduced by a common factor, creating a choice situation in which both options were probabilistic: a smaller, more probable reinforcer and a larger, but less probable reinforcer. Results revealed that regardless of whether choices involved a certain versus a probabilistic reinforcer or they involved two probabilistic reinforcers, subjective value decreased systematically as a function of the odds against receipt of the reinforcer and that the data were well described by the hyperboloid discounting function. In addition, no significant effect of reinforcer amount on degree of probability discounting was observed, consistent with results from studies of the discounting of delayed reinforcers by nonhuman animals.

This study investigates the mechanisms that underlie pigeons' performance in the number-left task. After producing x light flashes, pigeons had to choose between a standard option that delivered reinforcement after a fixed number of additional flashes, S = 4, and a number-left option that delivered reinforcement after a variable number of additional flashes, L = 8 - x. In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained with forced and choice trials with 1 ≤ x ≤ 7. During testing, the number of choice trials was simply increased. In Experiment 2, pigeons were trained only with the anchor numerosities x = 1 and x = 7 and during testing unreinforced probe trials introduced the intermediate numerosities, x = 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Performance was similar in both experiments and consistent with a computational mechanism. To test whether performance in the previous experiments was due to the substantial overlap in the induced generalization gradients around the anchor numerosities, in Experiments 3a and 3b, we selected anchor numerosities that were farther apart (x = 5 and x = 50, with S = 12 and L = 53 - x). Yet, pigeons' performance remained similar. We discuss the implications of these findings for the mechanisms that underlie numerosity discrimination.

Research in behavioral economics and the experimental analysis of behavior have involved concurrent progressive ratios (PRs) to examine relative reinforcing efficacy and response allocation between competing alternatives. Despite their ubiquity in the literature, PRs are limited by a lack of generality outside the lab. Duration-based schedules of reinforcement, particularly progressive durations (PDs), may address such limitations. Previous research has identified several similarities between PRs and PDs, but there are no examples of concurrent PDs in the basic literature, limiting their integration within behavioral economics. The present study sought to develop a novel concurrent PD schedule and compare outcomes to a concurrent PR arrangement across several dimensions. The results showed similarities in post-reinforcement pause and differences in breakpoint variability and reinforcers earned. A unit price analysis of switchover patterns revealed differences in predictive fit between concurrent PRs and concurrent PDs.