Journal of applied behavior analysis
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Biofeedback and rational-emotive therapy in the management of migraine headache.
Twenty-four migraine patients were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (a) self-monitoring of headache activity (waiting list), (b) frontalis EMG biofeedback, (c) digit temperature biofeedback, and (d) digit temperature biofeedback plus Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET). Bidirectional control over the target physiological response was assessed through a reversal design in each session. Following at least a four-week baseline, the three biofeedback groups received 8 to 10, 30-minute sessions of bidirectional biofeedback training, scheduled twice a week. ⋯ Bidirectional digit temperature performance did not improve with training, was demonstrated in only 33% of the biofeedback sessions, was not maintained over time, and was unrelated to improvement in headache activity. EMG subjects reported biofeedback performance to be an easier task and met the performance criterion on 85% of the sessions. The frequency of home practice contributed over 55% of the variance in retrospective estimates of headache improvement but was not related to changes in daily records of headache activity.
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A SURVEY OF LOST AND FOUND CLASSIFIED SECTIONS IN METROPOLITAN AND SMALLER NEWSPAPERS REVEALED DISPARATE RATES BETWEEN LOST ADS AND FOUND ADS: Lost ads greatly outnumbered Found ads, probably because newspapers usually require the finders of lost personal property to pay for Found advertisements. The effect of a Free-Found-Ad policy on the rate of Found advertisements placed in the Lost and Found sections of three community newspapers was investigated using a multiple-baseline design. The results suggested that the Free-Found-Ad policy was effective in increasing the rates of Found ads in all three newspapers. ⋯ The Free-Found-Ad policy appeared to be effective in increasing the amount of personal property returned. The study concluded that community newspapers can provide incentives to increase such help-giving or altruistic behaviors. The implications of this study for a general policy-research strategy are discussed.
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Twelve first-grade students were employed to analyze the effects of (1) Verbal and Visual Feedback, (2) Verbal and Visual Feedback plus immediate rewriting of trained letters with one or more incorrect letter strokes, and (3) Potential Reinforcement on cursive letter strokes. Students practised both a set of trained and a set of untrained letters during each session. ⋯ Performance on the untrained but practiced and trained letter strokes followed the same general trend in response pattern. No consistent pattern of generalization was demonstrated with untrained and unpracticed letter strokes.
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The effect of social reinforcement delivered to target subjects on the attentive behavior of adjacent peers was examined in a classroom setting. In a combined reversal and multiple baseline design, two pairs of mentally retarded children were sequentially exposed to three reinforcement phases. After baseline rates of attentive behavior were obtained, praise was delivered to the target subject in each subject pair for attentive behavior. ⋯ Reinforcing attentive behavior of target subjects increased this behavior in adjacent peers. However, reinforcing inattentive behavior of target subjects also increased the attentive behavior of adjacent peers. The effects obtained through vicarious reinforcement were considered to reflect the discriminative stimulus properties of reinforcement, which may serve as a cue for the performance of nonreinforced peers.