ABAT FREE Procedures and Intervention Questions and Answers 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A behavior analyst wants to reduce a client's self-injurious behavior by teaching an alternative communicative response that serves the same function. This procedure is best described as:
- Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO)
- Functional communication training (FCT) (Correct answer)
- Extinction with punishment
- Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR)
Correct answer: Functional communication training (FCT)
FCT replaces problem behavior by teaching a functionally equivalent communication response that accesses the same reinforcer.
Question 2: During a behavioral assessment, a practitioner systematically manipulates antecedent conditions across test and control conditions to identify the function of a behavior. This assessment is called:
- Descriptive assessment
- Indirect assessment
- Functional analysis (experimental) (Correct answer)
- Scatter plot analysis
Correct answer: Functional analysis (experimental)
A functional analysis (experimental functional analysis) involves direct manipulation of antecedent and consequence variables under controlled conditions to identify behavioral function.
Question 3: A BCBA is using a procedure where the client must complete a previously reinforced response before gaining access to a preferred activity. This procedure is known as:
- Premack principle (Correct answer)
- Response cost
- Backward chaining
- Stimulus fading
Correct answer: Premack principle
The Premack principle states that a high-probability behavior can serve as a reinforcer for a low-probability behavior.
Question 4: An intervention involves removing all sources of reinforcement for a problem behavior while simultaneously reinforcing an alternative behavior. The reduction in problem behavior over time is primarily the result of:
- Punishment
- Habituation
- Extinction (Correct answer)
- Satiation
Correct answer: Extinction
Extinction involves withholding the reinforcer that previously maintained the problem behavior, leading to a decrease in that behavior.
Question 5: A practitioner provides a preferred item to a client on a fixed-time schedule regardless of the client's behavior to reduce escape-motivated aggression. This procedure is:
- Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) (Correct answer)
- Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA)
- Fixed ratio schedule
- Response interruption and redirection (RIRD)
Correct answer: Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR)
NCR delivers reinforcers on a time-based schedule independent of behavior, reducing the motivation to engage in problem behavior to access that reinforcer.
Question 6: When introducing a new skill, a behavior analyst provides full physical guidance and gradually removes prompts as the learner demonstrates the behavior independently. This prompt-fading strategy is called:
- Most-to-least prompting (Correct answer)
- Least-to-most prompting
- Time delay
- Stimulus shaping
Correct answer: Most-to-least prompting
Most-to-least prompting begins with the most intrusive prompt and systematically fades to less intrusive prompts as the learner acquires the skill.
Question 7: A behavior analyst increases the time between the presentation of a discriminative stimulus and delivery of a prompt to encourage independent responding. This procedure is called:
- Stimulus fading
- Time delay (Correct answer)
- Errorless learning
- Backward chaining
Correct answer: Time delay
Time delay inserts a pause between the SD and the prompt, giving the learner an opportunity to respond independently before assistance is provided.
ABAT FREE Procedures and Intervention Questions and Answers 3
A behavior analyst wants to reduce a client's self-injurious behavior by teaching an alternative communicative response that serves the same function.
This procedure is best described as: