Scott D. McKenzie, Richard G. Smith, Jason N. Simmons, & Michael J. Soderlund.
Using a stimulus correlated with reprimands to suppress automatically maintained eye poking.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2008,
41, 255-259.
A functional analysis indicated that chronic eye poking exhibited by a woman with
profound mental retardation persisted in the absence of social contingencies. We
initiated a procedure in which a therapist delivered a punisher (mild reprimand) contingent
on eye poking in the presence, but not the absence, of a neutral stimulus (wristbands).
Subsequently, eye poking was suppressed when the participant wore the wristbands
in novel environments without the reprimand contingency.
DESCRIPTORS: generalization, punishment, reprimands, stimulus control