What is the amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of response classes?

1.     A feature of an event that can be measured is called a(n):

2.     A feature of data that appears to exist because of the way the data is measured or examined is called an artifact.

3.     A procedure that allows for the simultaneously recording of multiple behaviors across multiple dimensions is called ______________.

4.     A procedure that can be used to measure a continuous behavior, such as academic engagement, is _____________________.

5.     A topographical definition classifies behaviors in terms of their common effects on the environment.

6.     A(n) ________ behavior is a behavior that produces indirect benefits to clients by potentially increasing opportunities for participation in other environments.

7.     All of the following are measurable dimensional quantities except:

8.     An anecdotal observation is a form of direct, continuous observation of all behaviors of interest and the environmental conditions.

9.     An ecological assessment is an essential component in applied behavioral analysis.

10.  Explicit behavior definitions are important to the practitioner of applied behavior analysis for all of the following except:

11.  If you are interested in amount of time it takes a student to begin a task after the teacher has given an instruction you would measure _________________.

12.  Improving academic grades is not a good target behavior because academic grades:

13.  Learning a pivotal behavior can result in modification of other behaviors that have not yet been learned.

14.  Measurement is the process of applying qualitative labels to events.

15.  One benefit of measurement is that it helps practitioners verify the legitimacy of different treatments.

16.  Permanent product measurement may be more accurate, complete, and continuous for all of the following reasons except:

17.  The amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a response class is called response latency.

18.  The belief that individuals with disabilities should be physically and socially integrated into society to the maximum extent possible is called habilitation.

19.  The force or intensity of a behavioral response is called:

20.  The number of response opportunities needed to achieve a predetermined level of performance is called trials-to-criterion.

21.  The preferred method of behavioral assessment to determine which behaviors to target for change is ____________ _____________.

22.  The procedure of observing and recording behavior during intervals or at specific moments in time is called ___________.

23.  When interviewing a significant other about a client's behavior, the behavior analyst should ask variations of all of the following types of questions except:

24.  When prioritizing behaviors for change, a chronic behavior _____________ when compared to a more recently acquired behavior.

25.  _________________ measurement facilitates data collection for interobserver agreement and treatment integrity.

Target Terms: Duration, Latency, Interresponse Time (IRT)

What is the amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of response classes?

Duration 

Definition: The amount of time during which a behavior happens; long long the behavior takes.  

Example in an everyday context: You read every night for 45 minutes before you go to bed. 


Example in clinical context: A student engages in tantrum behavior for eight minutes during music class. 


Example in supervision/consultation context: A supervisor assigns a practice quiz to their supervisee. The supervisee takes 18 minutes to fill out all their responses.  


Why it matters: How long a behavior lasts matters a lot in determining whether it is harmful or beneficial. For example, taking a 20 minute nap in the afternoon is different from sleeping 6 hours during the day. Crying for a few minutes once on a while is different from crying in every class or meeting. Exercising for two minutes twice a week is unlikely to have a major impact on health or fitness, but exercising two hours per day might lead to an increased susceptibility to injury.

Latency

Definition: The time between an opportunity to emit a behavior and when the behavior is initiated. 

Example in everyday context: Your phone beeps because you received a text message. You reach over to check your phone 30 seconds later. 


Example in clinical context: A client is asked by a staff member to put their shoes on. The client sits in their bed for 15 minutes before they begin to move off their bed to put their shoes on. 


Example in supervision/consultation context: A supervisor asks their supervisee, “What is the definition of latency?” The supervisee begins to recite the definition 2 seconds after being asked. 


Why it matters: Decreasing latency can generally increase a person’s ability to both contact reinforcement more quickly and develop more adaptive social repertoires. For example, taking two hours to do something your boss asked you to do will probably be problematic, and taking 5 minutes to respond to a social greeting will likely not make you many new friends!

Interresponse Time (IRT)

Definition: The amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a behavior. IRT is measured from the end of the first response to the beginning of the second response (and so forth if there are more than two responses).

Example in everyday context: You are texting a friend a lengthy amount of information regarding a mutual acquaintance. Because you do not want to write out one long message before sending, you instead write out a few sentences at a time and send them as they are written. The time in between hitting “send” and initiating the next test message is the interresponse time. 


Example in clinical context: A patient is engaging in vocal outbursts which the behavior analyst is tracking. They record the time that elapses between the end of each vocal outburst and the beginning of the following one. 


Example in supervision/consultation context: A supervisor is working with a trainee on entering behavioral data into a spreadsheet. The amount of time between the end of entering on data point and the beginning of the behavior of entering the next data point is the IRT.


Why it matters: Interresponse time is a frequent measurement used to examine the effects of schedules of reinforcement guided by rate of response. 

What measures the period of time between the opportunity to respond and the response itself?

Response latency or response time or reaction time is defined as the duration between the delivery of a given stimulus and the reply to that particular stimulus.

What term refers to the number of responses occurring in a unit of time?

Count: The number of responses emitted during an observation period. Rate/frequency: A ratio of count per observation time; often expressed as count per standard unit of time (e.g., per minute, per hour, per day).

What system is used to measure the amount of time between the antecedent stimulus and the onset of the behavior?

Response latency is a measure of the elapsed time between the onset of a stimulus and the initiation of a subsequent response. Inter-response time is the amount of time that elapses between two consecutive instances of a response class.

Is a measure of how rates of response change over time?

Celeration: how rate of responding changes over time.

What are the 4 measurable dimensions of behavior?

Behavior has at least six dimensions, these are: frequency or rate, duration, latency, topography, locus, and force.