Motivating Operations

Week 8: Antecedent considerations

Motivation Operations

• Also referred to as:– Value altering effect: establishing/abolishing– Behavior altering effect: Frequency

• Establishing operation: Evocative effect• Abolishing operation: Abative effects

Some clarification

• Not just Frequency: Magnitude• Behavior altering effect is not just due to

encounter with change in reinforcement frequency: Extinction!

• SD is not = MO– SD: Differential availability of reinforcement for a

behavior– MO: differential reinforcer effectiveness of an

environmental event.

Three types of Motivating Operations

• Surrogate: Stimulus paired with another– Not likely to be important to study

• Reflexive: Stimulus that preceded some form of worsening improvement– Thanks and holding doors open for people

• Transitive: Stimulus that alters value of another stimulus– Must be just as available (Dr. asking for scalpel)

8 UMO

• Sex• Temperature• Pain• Food• Water• Sleep• Activity• Oxygen• Key Point: These are not SD’s because to have an SD you must

have an Sdelta (neutral stimulus) to signal unavailability of reinforcement is a possible

Altered States

• Drugs• Anxiety• Do not cause behavior! They interact with

environment however.– Moderation Variables.

What about treatment?

• You will never get rid of the UMO effects• You will only weaken momentarily• Must development treatment that focuses on

acceptable behavior to gain access to the reinforcer

UMOs & Punishment

• Difficult to know for sure• Observation of the abative effect requires the

evocative effect of an MO for reinforcement with respect to the punished behavior.

Multiple Effects

• Evocative effect: Do what you gotta do• Punishment effect: Decreases probability you

engage in the behavior that preceded the MO

SMIRC Model

• Stimulus• Motiviating Operation• Individual• Response• Consequence

Behavior Analytic Problem-Solving Model

Beginning to pull it all together

Components

• Contextual Variables:– Behavior occurs in some contexts but not others

• Antecedent Stimuli: Environmental Triggers• Individual Mediators: Internal Triggers

– UMO & CMO• Individual Behavior Deficits:

– Try to reframe all behavior this way (your turn)• Behavior:

– Not enough R+ or too much response effort• Consequences:

– Consider function (careful of response topography and response class).

Stimulus Discrimination and Stimulus Generalization

3 Types of Stimuli

• Discriminative Stimulus: Reinforcement is available (SD)

• Neutral Stimulus: No reinforcement or punishment is available (SΔ )

• Warning Stimulus: Punishments is available

Discrimination Training

• Learning when to behave and when not to behave

• Reinforcing a response in presence of one stimulus but not another

e. g. Colors

Color Discrimination

What about you?

• When have you engaged in stimulus discrimination today?

Stimulus Control

• Degree of correlation between stimulus and response

• Degree to which a behavior occurs in presence of a specific stimulus– e.g. Traffic light

• Stimulus Generalization Gradient: Probability of response reinforced in one stimulus condition are emitted in the presence of untrained stimuli.

Color Discrimination Revisited

What about you?

• What behaviors do you have that are under stimulus control?

Let’s discriminate

Learning an Alien Language

Effective discrimination training

• Choose distinct signals• Minimize opportunities for error– Minimize stimulus array

• Maximize Number of learning trials• Make use of rules

Stimulus Generalization

• Responding similarly across two or more stimuli

√ The more the stimuli are alike the more likely the response to take place

e.g. finding your car

What about you?

• What behaviors/responses do you generalize across settings?

• Can that response always be generalized?

• Should that response always be generalized?

Classes of Stimuli

Stimulus Class: Set of stimuli with similar characteristics in common

AKA: Concept

Equivalence Class: Set of stimuli with different characteristics, but represent the same thing

e.g. Written name, verbal name, picture of person

Inducing Stimuli Classes

√ Explicit training is not necessarily needed to induce stimulus control across stimuli

• Symmetry: A = B• Reflexivity: A = A• Transivity: A = B; B = C; A = C

Discriminating discrimination among other discriminative stimuli

Stimulus discrimination and escapee.g. hailing a taxi out in the cold: Must

have no patrons in it.

Stimulus discrimination and punishmente.g. Boiling pan: Do not touch or you get burned.

Stimulus Discrimination and Differential Reinforcement

DR- 2 responses (right way and wrong way)and 1 stimuluse.g. Asking mom for money

SD- Two stimuli (Right signal wrong Signal) and 1 responsee.g. Asking mom OR dad for money?

Requirements for stimulus control

• Attention of the subject

• Sensory capabilities of the subject

• The stimulus must stand out relative to other stimuli.