Piazza, C. C., Roane, H. S., Keeney, K. M., Boney, B. R., & Abt, K. A. (2002).
Varying response effort in the treatment of pica maintained by automatic reinforcement.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
35, 233-246.
Pica is a life-threatening behavior displayed by many individuals
with developmental disabilities. In the current study, automatic
reinforcement maintained the pica of 3 participants. Following
functional analyses of pica, response-effort manipulations were
conducted in which the effort to obtain pica or alternative items
was varied systematically. Several general relations emerged as a
result of the study. First, levels of pica were reduced relative
to baseline when alternative items were available independent of
the effort required to obtain alternative items or pica. Second,
increasing the effort for alternative items resulted in increases
in pica relative to when effort for alternative items was low.
Third, increasing response effort for pica produced reductions in
pica relative to baseline when alternative items were
unavailable. Fourth, the highest levels of pica occurred when the
effort to engage in pica was low or medium and no alternative
items were available. These findings are discussed in terms of
the relative effects of quality of reinforcement and response
effort on behavior.
DESCRIPTORS: _automatic reinforcement, functional analysis, pica,
response effort