Stephanie A. Contrucci Kuhn, Dorothea C. Lerman, Christina M. Vorndran &Amp; Laura Addison. (2006)
Analysis of factors that affect responding in a two-response chain in
children with developmental disabilities.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
39, 263-280.
A sequence of behaviors consisting of appropriate responses, inappropriate
responses, or a combination of both can be linked together in a behavior
chain. Several operant processes may disrupt behavior chains. For example,
one or more members of the behavior chain may be affected when reinforcement
is withheld for the last response in the chain (extinction), when the last
response is reinforced even if it occurs without the other responses in the
chain (unchaining), or when access to the terminal reinforcer is available i
ndependent of responding (satiation). However, few studies have examined the
effects of these types of procedures on responding that occurs in the context
of behavior chains. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of
three clinically relevant procedures and processes (i.e., extinction, satiation,
and unchaining) on behaviors that occur as part of a behavior chain. Overall,
extinction and satiation resulted in a decrease in both responses in the chain.
During the unchaining procedure, decreases were observed in the first response
in the chain but not in the second response.
DESCRIPTORS: behavior chain, response chain, extinction, satiation