This literature review examines the present level of evidence in support of communication-based treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders. Reviews to date have reported on research published through 2002. The current article included 36 studies published between 2002 and 2007. Best available evidence is presented for seven treatment…

Stressful life events can have profound effects on our cognitive and motor abilities, from those that could be construed as adaptive to those not so. In this review, I discuss the general notion that acute stressful experience necessarily impairs our abilities to learn and remember. The effects of stress on operant conditioning, that is, learned…

This article discusses basic learning processes utilized by children with profound intellectual disabilities, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and habituation. The article also explores how these learning processes may be used in assessing the capabilities and preferences of children with profound intellectual disabilities.…

The purpose of the current article is to highlight the importance of operant techniques in developmental research. Although many researchers employ operant techniques within their individual fields of study, the pervasive nature of these techniques is not often acknowledged in the general literature. The present article describes the history of…

Provides the counselor a current survey of behavior therapy procedures as well as information concerning their applicability and validity. Reviews procedures based on operant learning principles, classical learning principles, and social psychological principles. Examples and case presentations are included. (Author/RC)

The notion of differentially reinforcing low rates of undesirable behavior (DRL) is examined. Further, the status of the full session DRL strategy as alternative to punishment is questioned in context of a strictly operant definition of punishment. A reexamination of the data from some studies reveals the possibility that Ss respond to said DRL…

Psychologists, social workers, and school counselors are increasingly adding neurofeedback (NFT), a controversial alternative or complementary therapy to their treatment plans for patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. NFT involves training the patient in self-regulation of brain wave patterns, employing a standard diagnostic…

Analyzes associative structures underlying goal-directed behavior using well-developed techniques for studying Pavlovian conditioning. Identifies the roles of the stimulus, response, and reinforcer in instrumental learning. A response and its reinforcer must be associated for acquisition and maintenance of instrumental behavior. (Author/LHW)

Examines the theories of Aronfreed, Bandura, Berger, and Hygge. Also reviews experimental evidence published since 1962 which supports theories of observational learning of emotional behavior. While the theories posit that different conditions are necessary to vicarious instigation, most research does not test the theories in any direct way.…

Explores several aspects of behaviorism, including its contributions to current educational practice, its recent unpopularity, and challenges to behavioral researchers in the 1980s. Seventy-two references are appended. (Author/LLS)

Human conditioning research shows that learning is closely related to consciously available contingency knowledge, requires attentional resources, and is influenced by language. This research suggests a cognitive model in which extinction consists of changes in contingency beliefs in long-term memory. Laboratory and clinical evidence on extinction…

Fear extinction refers to the ability to adapt as situations change by learning to suppress a previously learned fear. This process involves a gradual reduction in the capacity of a fear-conditioned stimulus to elicit fear by presenting the conditioned stimulus repeatedly on its own. Fear extinction is context-dependent and is generally considered…

This report reviews current literature on feedback and suggests practical implications of feedback research for educators. A definition of feedback is offered, and past definitions in prior research are noted. An analysis of the current state of knowledge of feedback discusses the historical development of feedback theory and suggests that…

Suggests that the use of the operant conditioning paradigm, as it has been applied to infant social, vocal behavior, fails to take into account the social nature of human infants over and above the rigid theoretical rationale of the Paradigm. (MP)

Discusses a variety of alternative viewpoints about humor and presents some theories about the way humor works. Also addresses the role of humor in education and how it may affect the learning process. Discusses humor as a therapy and as an intervention used to change behavior in children and young adults. (Author/KW)