Justin Daigle, MA, BCBA, LBAProgram Director

Functions of Behavior

There are four functions of behavior that have been found through research.

Attention, Escape, Automatic, and Access to Tangibles

Iwata created a Functional Analysis as a way to assess functions of behaviors

Our Education Thus Far…

Presentation Goal:

Review the development and growth of our understanding of

functions

How Did We Get Here?

S.I.B.

Self-Injurious Behavior

Behaviors where the “mentally handicapped” would repeatedly, and without regard to their health, cause physical harm

to themselves without context.

Shorthand Note

1960-70

Towards the end of the “Mental Institution Revolution”

What to do with these severe cases that include self-injury.

Setting

Rapid solutions were needed

This begin a big “boom” in applied behavior analysis

Other fields immediately had a growing interest in what Watson, Skinner, and

others were doing.

Solutions

Published “The Motivation of Self-Injurious Behavior: A review of some

hypothesis”

1977

Meta-Analysis of existing “hypothesis” behind what motivated SIB

E.G. Carr

Positive Reinforcement Hypothesis

Negative Reinforcement Hypothesis

Self-Stimulatory Hypothesis

Organic Hypothesis

Psychodynamic Hypothesis

5 Hypothesis

Cited a Lovaas study: (Lovaas, et al, 1965)

Stated that some hypothesize that receiving a physical reinforcer may

motivate SIB

This has now become “Access”

Positive Sr+ Hypothesis

I want cookie. I can’t speak.

Mom won’t give me cookie.I’m going to hit myself until mom

gives me the cookie because she “doesn’t know what else to do”?

Example - Access

Cited a Carr study: (Carr, et al, 1976)

Stated that some hypothesize that the removal of an adverse stimulus

could motivate SIB

This has now become “Escape”

Negative Sr+ Hypothesis

I dislike the smell of cookies. I cannot talk.

Mom is baking cookies. It makes me sick. She won’t stop.

I begin hitting myself in the head. Mom stops.

Example - Escape

Cited a Carr study: (Carr, 1961)

Stated that some hypothesize that some internal pleasure is derived

from SIB

This has now become “Automatic”

Self-Stimulatory Hypothesis

At this point, highly theoretical

Some saw it as an “excuse explanation”

It is still debated about how SIB could “feel good” to any person

Why stereotypy is often called “stimming”

Self-Stimulatory Hypothesis

Hitting myself in the head feels good

I hit myself in the head

Example - Automatic

Hypothesis that states there are medical reasons to explain SIB

There are medical reasons in some cases, but not in all

A BCBA should ensure a client has consulted a pediatrician and/or neurologist

Organic Hypothesis

Points to (Cain, 1961) to cover them

Mostly traditional psychology attempting to address SIBs with their “theories”

Carr says there is a “lack of evidence” and dismisses this category completely

Psychodynamic Hypothesis

These theories include “Sensory Integration” (remember this was

published back in 1977).

Psychodynamic Hypothesis

Positive Reinforcement (Access)Negative Reinforcement (Escape)

Self-Stimulatory (Automatic) Organic (Medical)

Psychodynamic (Dismissed)

What’s missing?

Review of 5 Hypothesis

Within “Psychodynamic”, Carr pointed out that there was on one exception to the

“lack of evidence”

Lovaas’s “guilt hypothesis”

…which seems silly now, but I’m sure at the time made tons of sense

Attention!?!

“Guilt hypothesis”: Individuals with developmental delays feel guilty about their

actions and engage in SIB as a way to punish themselves.

Every time a client would hit themselves, Lovaas would say something along the lines of “I don’t judge you” or “It’s not your fault”

Attention!?!

There was one huge problem

For the client Lovaas was working with, the “guilt hypothesis” increased the

behavior

Lovaas suggested that maybe social interaction increased SIB

Attention!?!

Thus Lovaas stumbled upon the fourth, and final function:

Attention!

Attention!?!

Carr laid out criteria for which functions we should focus on:

1) “[SIB] rates can be reduced when the reinforcer is removed”

(subject to extinction)

Criteria for Success

2) “[SIB] rates can be increased when reinforcement is made contingent upon the behavior (subject to reinforcement)

3) “[SIB] can come under the control of a stimulus” (subject to stimulus

control)

Criteria for Success

“The review of the literature on [SIB] suggest that a single factor is not

responsible for the motivation of all [SIB]. [O]ne could profitably make a distinction between.. the underlying maintenance of

[SIB].”

It wasn’t until 1994 that someone took him up on his offer.

Treatment Implications

In 2007, researchers with the Kennedy Krieger Institute (within John

Hopkins) suggested a 5th function.

“Interruption of free-operant behavior”

Fell under the umbrella of “access”

Fifth Function?

Recent research suggest that if “access” is a function at all, it happens very infrequently.

This began to movement to return to the original nomenclature:Social Positive (Attention)Social Negative (Escape)Automatic Positive (Stereotypy)Automatic Negative (Pain Alleviation)

Recent Research

If stereotypy is maintained by automatic reinforcement and there are not current assessments to determine what is positive and what is negative reinforcement, is it ethical to eliminate stereotypy?

Ethics

Justin Daigle, MA, BCBA, LBAProgram Director

Extinction

When using an extinction procedure with rats in a Skinner box you will almost always see:

Extinction burstExtinction induced aggression

Side Effects of Extinction

When using an extinction procedure with a client the rate dramatically

decline: 39% had an extinction burst

22% had extinction induced aggression 19% had both simultaneously

58% had no side effects

Side Effects of Extinction

What causes this dramatic change?May be the function – article suggest

that 57% of extinction interventions based on social negative

reinforcement had extinction burst But that is still just over half

Side Effects of Extinction

Current thought: When Extinction is used alone, it will

almost always have the common side effects.

When Extinction is used with another procedure (such as reinforcement) the

side effects are less likely.

Side Effects of Extinction

The authors suggest to independently measure and intervene on aggression and

extinction burst.

Side Effects of Extinction

Extinction-Induced VariabilityIn the article called “Response

Variability”Novel behaviors appear as a

“test” for replacement behaviors.

Utilizing the Side Effects

Field if often criticizes for created “robots”.

Can response variability help that? Remember Carbonne (2010) used

extinction-induced variability to promote verbalizations in non-verbal

children Side effects are ripe for research

Utilizing the Side Effects

Thank you for your time!

Questions?