Date of Defense

2-27-2014

Date of Graduation

4-2014

Department

Family and Consumer Sciences

First Advisor

Jessica Frieder

Second Advisor

Thomas Ratkos

Keywords

translational research, bridge research, joint control

Abstract

Although behavior analysts have known about translational research for decades it is only in recent years that the importance of it has been recognized (Mace & Critchfield 2010). Translational research helps to bridge the gap between basic and applied behavior analysis, allowing us to use principles of behavior to solve real world problems, or to use real world problems to guide basic research (McIlvane, 2009). This paper describes how a translational study was conducted concurrent with a joint control study. Four participants were used for this study, ranging from three to five years old. Throughout the joint control study, participants were probed in an attempt to determine if the covert rehearsal skill they were learning (in the context of the joint control study) had transferred to their natural environment. The results of the study were inconclusive. Balancing confounding variables while retaining a naturalistic setting led to a number of factors that affected data and made it difficult to interpret including lack of experimental control, competing reinforcement contingencies, and lack of instructional control. These confounding variables are not unique to this study and may in part be contributing to the lack of translational research in behavior analysis.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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