Comparing stimulus preference and response force in a conjugate preparation

Comparing and intervening on behavioral demand for snack foods among justice-involved adolescents: A preliminary translational analysis

Obesity may be more prevalent among populations who are of low socioeconomic status, have limited access to nutrient-dense foods, or both. One such population is justice-involved youth. This series of translational experiments builds on previous research on food reinforcement and behavioral demand by (a) assaying demand for snack foods among justice-involved adolescents and (b) evaluating the effect of a nutrition intervention on justice-involved adolescents' demand for healthier alternatives. In Experiment 1, participants completed preference assessments for high- and low-energy-density snack foods and corresponding commodity purchasing tasks. The results indicated significant differences in demand based on energy density and preference. In Experiment 2, justice-involved adolescents received a nutrition intervention. Following intervention, participants repeated preference assessments and commodity purchasing tasks. The researchers used mixed-effects modeling to evaluate the effect of (a) the intervention, (b) participant age, and (c) the amount of intervention received on pre-post differences in demand for healthier alternatives. Results and implications are discussed along with future directions for improving conditions of confinement for justice-involved adolescents.

Comparing stimulus preference and response force in a conjugate preparation: A replication with auditory stimulation

This study examined a conjugate approach for evaluating auditory stimulus preference for 81 participants using force as a continuous response dimension. First, the researchers used a verbal preference assessment to evaluate each participant's preference for listening to five genres of music. This process identified high-preference and low-preference music for each participant. Thereafter, the researchers exposed each participant to the five music genres in a randomized order while using a hand dynamometer to measure their response force to increase the auditory clarity of the music. The results indicate (a) 63% of the participants' high-preference music genres corresponded to the genre for which they exerted the highest mean force and (b) most participants' low-preference music genres corresponded to the genre for which they exerted the lowest mean force. These findings are consistent with those from Davis et al. (2021) and further support using conjugate preparations for measuring the relative value of some stimulus events.

Assessing stimulus preference using response force in a conjugate preparation: A replication and extension

The current study examined 98 participants' preferences for five pictorial stimuli. The researchers used a verbal multiple-stimulus-without-replacement (VMSWO) preference assessment with each participant to identify high-preference and low-preference pictorial stimuli. Next, participants viewed each pictorial stimulus in a randomized order on a computer while using a hand dynamometer that measured the amount of force they exerted to increase or maintain the visual clarity of each image. The results indicate that over 75% of participants' force response ranks corresponded with participants' VMSWO high-preference stimuli, VMSWO low-preference stimuli, or both. The results of the current study provide further evidence for the use of conjugate schedules in the assessment of stimulus preference with potential for use as a reinforcer assessment. Implications along with directions for future research and limitations of the findings are discussed.

Multiple schedules of conjugate reinforcement and extinction: A translational model for assessing automatically reinforced behavior

This study evaluated the extent to which a conjugate reinforcement schedule (CONJ) involving a contingency between pedaling a stationary bike and viewing a preferred movie could serve as a translational preparation for the analysis of automatically reinforced behavior. In part, researchers examined whether providing participants with either an accurate or an inaccurate rule about the extinction (EXT) component of a multiple schedule (MULT) contributed to the development of control by the MULT (CONJ EXT) schedule. Results show schedule control emerged for four of five participants who received the accurate rule and none of the five participants who received the inaccurate rule. In addition, participants who received accurate rules typically increased pedaling during CONJ components that followed two consecutive EXT components, suggesting that they experienced deprivation for audio and visual stimulation generated by pedaling. These preliminary findings suggest that researchers could use this translational preparation to identify matched interventions for some automatically reinforced behavior.

The multiple-stimulus-without-replacement preference assessment tool and its predictive validity

This study demonstrates the use of two web-based programs, one to identify video preferences and the other to assess their reinforcing effects. We used the Multiple-Stimulus-Without-Replacement Preference Assessment Tool (MSWO PAT) to identify the video preference hierarchies of seven participants, ages 4-11 years old. We then used a customized reinforcer assessment program that arranged a concurrent-chains preparation with programmed conjugate schedules of reinforcement. Button presses emitted by participants modulated the quality (volume and opacity) of selected videos on a moment-to-moment basis, allowing us to identify the reinforcing effects of the videos in little time. The results showed that the preference assessment had predictive value for five of seven participants. We discuss the MSWO PAT, parameters that may affect the identification of preferences and the use of conjugate schedules to identify reinforcers.