ABAT - Applied Behavior Analysis Core ABA Principles Questions and Answers 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A behavior analyst uses a token economy in which students earn tokens for on-task behavior and exchange them for preferred activities. The tokens in this system function as:
- Unconditioned reinforcers
- Conditioned reinforcers (Correct answer)
- Negative reinforcers
- Discriminative stimuli
Correct answer: Conditioned reinforcers
Tokens are conditioned (secondary) reinforcers because they acquire reinforcing value through pairing with backup reinforcers.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a motivating operation (MO) that increases the reinforcing value of water and increases water-seeking behavior?
- Presenting water to a satiated individual
- Allowing a child to drink water before a session
- Depriving an individual of water for several hours (Correct answer)
- Pairing water with a neutral stimulus
Correct answer: Depriving an individual of water for several hours
Water deprivation is an establishing operation (a type of MO) that increases the value of water as a reinforcer and evokes water-seeking behavior.
Question 3: Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) involves:
- Reinforcing a specific alternative behavior that is incompatible with the problem behavior
- Reinforcing the absence of the target problem behavior for a specified interval (Correct answer)
- Reinforcing a lower rate of the problem behavior than baseline
- Reinforcing only approximations of the target behavior
Correct answer: Reinforcing the absence of the target problem behavior for a specified interval
DRO delivers reinforcement contingent on the absence of the target behavior for a set time interval, regardless of what other behaviors occur.
Question 4: A BCBA uses whole-interval recording to measure on-task behavior. This method tends to:
- Overestimate behavior occurrence
- Underestimate behavior occurrence (Correct answer)
- Provide an exact count of behavior occurrences
- Measure latency accurately
Correct answer: Underestimate behavior occurrence
Whole-interval recording requires the behavior to occur throughout the entire interval, which typically results in an underestimate of actual behavior occurrence.
Question 5: Which concept explains why a child who was scolded (punished) for lying will stop lying in front of the teacher but continues to lie at home?
- Response generalization
- Stimulus discrimination (Correct answer)
- Behavioral contrast
- Stimulus overselectivity
Correct answer: Stimulus discrimination
Stimulus discrimination occurs when a behavior is reinforced in the presence of one stimulus (SD) but not another (SΔ), producing differential responding.
Question 6: In shaping, a behavior analyst reinforces successive approximations toward a target behavior. Which concept explains why previously reinforced approximations eventually stop being reinforced?
- Spontaneous recovery
- Differential reinforcement and extinction (Correct answer)
- Behavioral momentum
- Stimulus fading
Correct answer: Differential reinforcement and extinction
In shaping, earlier approximations are placed on extinction while closer approximations are differentially reinforced, gradually moving behavior toward the target.
Question 7: Which of the following best defines 'response cost'?
- The effort required to perform a behavior
- The removal of a specified amount of a reinforcer contingent on a behavior (Correct answer)
- The cost of implementing a reinforcement system
- Increasing the response requirement to access reinforcement
Correct answer: The removal of a specified amount of a reinforcer contingent on a behavior
Response cost is a form of negative punishment in which a quantity of a previously earned reinforcer is removed contingent on the target behavior.
ABAT - Applied Behavior Analysis Core ABA Principles Questions and Answers 5
A behavior analyst uses a token economy in which students earn tokens for on-task behavior and exchange them for preferred activities.
The tokens in this system function as: