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1 Special Event #418 B. F. Skinner Lecture Series 5/25/2009 1:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. West 301 AB EAB The Evolutionary Economics of Information Use: From Simple Signals to Learning Chair: James S. MacDonall (Fordham University) Dr. Davied Stephens (University of Minnesota) Dr. David W. Stephens received a bachelor’s degree in biology and mathematics from the University of Utah in 1978. He received a doctoral degree (D.Phil.) from Oxford University in 1982. From 1982 until 1989, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of British Columbia, the University of Utah, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1989, he joined the biology faculty at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In 1997, he took up his present position at the Twin Cities Campus of the University of Minnesota, where he serves as a Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. In 1990 he received a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. His is the author (with J. R. Krebs) of Foraging Theory, and editor (with J. S. Brown & R. C. Ydenberg) of the recently published Foraging: behavior and ecology. His work on animal foraging and decision-making has influenced many disciplines and it is widely cited in biology, economics, computer science, neuroscience, psychology, robotics and anthropology. Abstract: Animals use signals in many situations: to attract mates, to avoid noxious food items, to defend resources. The value of signals depends, obviously enough, on how potential receivers respond. This presentation develops simple ideas about when receivers should value signals, and argues that these simple principles apply quite generally to situations in which animals use experience to modify their behavior. Part 1 will introduce the basic approach of behavioral ecology and explain how this has been applied to signaling. Following this tradition, I will develop a simple model of ‘receiver economics’ that emphasizes the interaction between signal reliability and environmental uncertainty. I will discuss experimental tests of this model from my laboratory. In part 2, I will review long-standing ideas about the evolution of learning. These ideas emphasize the statistical properties of the environment (e.g. change and predictability), but they have proved very difficult to study. My laboratory has tested these ideas by controlling patterns of change and predictability for Drosophila over many generations. These studies confirm many of our basic claims. Importantly, the principles involved here closely parallel our studies of animal signal use, and this suggests that same basic economic principle may guide information-use in many situations. #419 Paper Session 5/25/2009 1:30 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. North 122 A EDC Learning and Generalization Chair: Matthew Burns (University of Minnesota) Determining Academic Intervention Efficiency with Maintenance or Generalization Data Rather than Acquisition. (Experimental Analysis) MATTHEW BURNS (University of Minnesota) Abstract: The instructional efficiency of academic interventions is an important construct when selecting an appropriate intervention. Analysts and interventionists have defined efficiency as time needed to reach mastery. However, maintenance and generalization of the skill are at least as important as acquisition of the skill. Thus, the presentation will provide data that compare efficiency metrics using initial learning and maintenance with 25 fourth-grade students. Each student was taught the pronunciation and English translation for 12 words from the Esperanto international language with two instructional conditions. The first condition was traditional drill (TD) rehearsal with all unknown words, and the second was incremental rehearsal (IR) with one unknown and eight known words. Results indicated that although the IR condition led to significantly more words being retained, TD was significantly more efficient using initial learning. However, the two conditions were equally efficient when maintenance data were used. Implications for tiered intervention systems will be discussed. Skill Development Articles Addressing Generalization: A Continuation of a Component Analysis. (Applied Behavior Analysis) KIMBERLY P. WEBER (Gonzaga University), Kim Killu (University of Michigan - Dearborn), Shannon Hayter (Gonzaga University), Nicole H Lustig (Gonzaga University) Abstract: The field of behavior analysis has long had the technology and resources to promote the generalization and maintenance of behavior change. Thus, it seems imperative that behavior analysts utilize the available resources to preserve the very skills that they strive to teach and train. A previous investigation (Killu & Weber, 2008) indicated that there is relatively little research representing a comprehensive approach to training for generalized outcomes. This investigation extended the component analysis in addressing the status of generalization and maintenance within instructional programming for individuals with disabilities to specify the types of generalization used to train and measure the acquisition of functional skills. Results are discussed along with implications for the effectiveness of intervention and the viability of applied behavior analysis. #420 Tutorial 5/25/2009 1:30 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. West 301 CD OBM; Service Delivery BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Karolyn A. Smalley, M.A. A Systemic Change in a Health Care Organization Chair: Heather M. McGee (Western Michigan University) KAROLYN A. SMALLEY (The Performance Puzzle) Dr. Karolyn A. Smalley, a Performance and Instructional Systems Consultant, is a graduate of Michigan State University, the programmed-learning workshop of the University of Michigan, and the MA program in Industrial / Organizational Psychology at Western Michigan University. She helps improve performance at the organization, process and the job level for large, medium and small business organizations. She specializes in process improvement projects, performance management systems, and instructional systems. Karolyn combines her understanding of performance systems and instruction to define organizational change strategies and tactics that provide sustainable results to the organization. In addition, she has successfully, developed, mentored and coached individuals at all levels of the organization. Abstract: Today’s health care environment is tumultuous, uncertain and costly. Governmental regulations and fee structures change frequently. Pharmaceutical and device companies create new products and technologies. Professional medical associations develop new guidelines and protocols to meet these changes. How does a medical practice improve or maintain profitability in the face of these changes? Practice leadership knows the practice must become more efficient. Usually there is no lack of ideas or solutions on how to do this. However, what is less well known are which variables to select and monitor in order to determine success. This presentation is about one practice that had seen a steady increase in overhead and a 3-year trend of reduced net income for physicians. A reasonable solution had been identified. However, the practice had a history of poorly implementing solutions. Consultants were hired to help determine if the practice had identified the correct solution and to recommend implementation strategies and tactics that would enable the practice to succeed. One and a half years after the consultants made their recommendations, the practice saw a 299% increase in profitability. In addition, the administrator could supply anecdotal information that demonstrated the practice had learned to identify the correct variables, collect data and implement an appropriate solution. #421 International Symposium 5/25/2009 1:30 p.m. - 2:50 p.m. North 124 B AUT/OTH; Applied Behavior Analysis BACB CE Offered. CE Instructor: Shawn E Kenyon, M.S., BCBA The Effects of Procedural Integrity on Skill Acquisition and Implementation of Behavior Intervention Plans Chair: Shawn E. Kenyon (New England Center for Children) Discussant: Ronnie Detrich (Wing Institute) Abstract: The term procedural integrity refers to the implementation of an intervention as intended (Codding, Feinberg, Dunn, & Pace, 2005) or as the inter-observer agreement measures on the occurrence or non-occurrence of the independent variables (Billingsley, White, & Munson, 1980). High procedural integrity involves an experimenter measuring what they intended to measure, or implementing a treatment plan exactly as it was intended. The current symposium addresses the issue of procedural integrity with respect to skill acquisition and behavior plan implementation. The first study examines varying levels of procedural integrity with respect to prompt delays and the observed effect on the acquisition of visual-visual match to sample tasks. Results from this study suggest a correlation between low integrity levels and the number of errors committed. The two other studies examine systems for improving procedural integrity regarding behavior plan implementation. A system of monitoring staff performance was developed and performance feedback based on the integrity with which behavior plans were implemented was chosen as an intervention. Results from both studies further confirm that performance feedback is an effective intervention for improving procedural integrity. Varying Procedural Integrity Using Progressive Prompt Delay to Teach Visual-Visual Stimulus Relations. PAULA RIBEIRO BRAGA-KENYON and Katherine Helen Yates (New
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