Alfred A. Baumeister

Self-Injurious Behavior

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses some aspects of the self-injurious behavior (SIB). The term SIB is used to refer to acts that are usually highly repetitive or stereotyped in character and that results in direct physical damage to the person. The clinical use of the term emphasizes events that are excessive, unusual, bizarre, and without any immediately apparent desirable consequences. SIB represents a serious problem among retarded individuals, particularly those residing in institutions. Clinical impressions of this situation are supported by several surveys that place the prevalence of SIB among the institutional retarded somewhere between 8% and 14%, depending upon the definitions used and the type of institution examined. Of the various forms of SIB, head banging and self-biting are the most common, although the variations seem to be endless. Many cases are extremely severe, resulting in permanent harm or even death. Males exhibit more severe forms of SIB than females, although actual prevalence may be greater among females. Drug therapy and physical restraint have historically represented the most common methods for dealing with SIB. Deliberate and systematic enrichment of the environment either by providing patterned visual and/or auditory stimulation seems to decelerate SIB.

Stereotyped Mannerisms in Mentally Retarded Persons: Animal Models and Theoretical Analyses

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of various animal models of stereotypy. It examines some neurobiological evidence relevant to theoretical explanations of pathological stereotypies and highlights connections between the pathological stereotypies seen in mentally retarded persons and repetitive movement patterns seen elsewhere in nature. The stereotypies observed in human infants involve rhythmic movement patterns, such as kicking, waving, rocking, head banging, and nonnutritive sucking. Despite evidence for central control, large individual differences in the amount of stereotypy have been observed among normal infants. A fuller understanding requires that stereotypies be conceptualized as biobehavioral processes in which neurochemical and neurophysiological events are in dynamic transaction with environmental and behavioral events. Stereotyped behavior exhibited by mentally retarded people is not discontinuous activities; it represents the logical expression of events along a number of biological continua. The chapter presents specific evidence, which shows that stereotypy is linked to traceable neurochemical events, particularly the activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Self-Injurious Behavior A Review and Analysis of Methodological Details of Published Studies

Over 60 published studies of treatment for self-injurious behavior were analyzed. The analysis involved 17 methodological factors which were considered important inclusions in research and reports in this area. Some of the factors evaluated were: quality of subject descriptions, inclusion or omission of reliability data, generalization information, and follow-up procedures. A reference table is provided, listing each study and its respective ratings in the various categories. A brief summary and suggestions for future research are included in the accompanying text.

Levels of Processing, Encoding Strategies, and Memory Development.

Abstract In three experiments, memory for intentionally encoded words was compared with memory for encodings induced by asking semantic, phonemic, or surface questions. Subjects were second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade, and junior and senior high school students. Semantic encodings were more often recalled and recognized than were phonemic and surface (which did not differ). Intentional encodings were as likely to be recalled as semantic but were no more likely than phonemic and surface to be recognized, and this was true whether intentional learning was in anticipation of a recall test or a recognition test. Age trends occurred for recall, for intentional learning, and for induced processing which required subjects to generate word attributes. Age trends were attenuated for recognition and for induced processing which required subjects to verify whether a give attribute applied to the target word.

Suppression of repetitive self-injurious behavior by contingent inhalation of aromatic ammonia.

Two institutionalized children who exhibited high rates of severely self-injurious behaviors were punished with aromatic ammonia inhalation on a response-contingent basis. This contingency was applied throughout all aspects of each childs institutional program which focused on teaching of self-help skills. Suppression of the self-injurious responses was both rapid and general. The contingency was maintained for 2 months, although there was no responding after the first 5 days. Follow-up sessions, conducted 4 months after the punishment contingency was removed, revealed that suppression effects were highly durable. Aromatic ammonia inhalation appears to be an effective alternative for decelerating extremely maladaptive behaviors that do not yield to more conventional nonaversive forms of therapy. However, the procedure should be used with great caution, for it may involve risk to the subject.Two institutionalized children who exhibited high rates of severely self-injurious behaviors were punished with aromatic ammonia inhalation on a response-contingent basis. This contingency was applied throughout all aspects of each childs institutional program which focused on teaching of self-help skills. Suppression of the self-injurious responses was both rapid and general. The contingency was maintained for 2 months, although there was no responding after the first 5 days. Follow-up sessions, conducted 4 months after the punishment contingency was removed, revealed that suppression effects were highly durable. Aromatic ammonia inhalation appears to be an effective alternative for decelerating extremely maladaptive behaviors that do not yield to more conventional nonaversive forms of therapy. However, the procedure should be used with great caution, for it may involve risk to the subject.

A Plea for Consideration of Ecological Validity in the Experimental Psychology of Mental Retardation.

The point was raised that, despite considerable experimental effort, laboratory research concerning learning, memory, and cognition, more generally, has not produced a very remarkable increase in our understanding of retarded behavior. Our principal contention in this paper is that the experimental psychology of mental retardation, while basically seeking causal relations between theoretical constructs and retarded behavior, is suffering from some metatheoretical and methodological shortcomings. These include, basically, a prevalent failure to consider the ecological aspects of the phenomenon of mental retardation. Implications of ecological validity are important with respect to the basis upon which subjects are selected for experimentation, the rationale underlying manipulation of independent variables, the choice of dependent variables, and the definition of the boundaries that limit generalizations. Some suggestions were offered for the purpose of guiding experimental research toward more meaningful and socially relevant goals.

The influence of rotary vestibular stimulation upon motor development of nonhandicapped and down syndrome infants

The vestibular system plays a major role in the expression of early motor behavior. Previous research has cited extensive neural connections between the vestibular apparatus and the motor system. Accordingly, some therapists have implemented programs of supplemental vestibular stimulation to improve motor and cognitive abilities in children with delayed motor development. In the present study a quantifiable regimen of supplemental rotary vestibular stimulation was administered in a cross-over longitudinal design to nonhandicapped and Down syndrome infants. Time constants, considered a measure of habituation in the vestibular system, were derived from postrotary nystagmus. Results indicated that supplemental rotary vestibular stimulation produced no measurable gain in motor ability beyond that evident in control periods. In addition, it was determined that children exhibited greater gains in motor skills in the early phase of the study, regardless of experimental condition. A positive correlation was found between changes in time constant and motor development.

Biomedical and Social Aspects of Pediatric AIDS.

Pediatric AIDS is a major cause of developmental and physical disability and death among infants and children in the United States. In this paper, the authors elaborate the notion that pediatric AIDS is a complex bio-ecological problem, review the biomedical aspects of pediatric AIDS, and explore relevant economic, political, and social issues. This ecological framework sets the stage for efforts to improve the quality of early intervention decisions. The premise is that society must move toward a conceptualization of AIDS-related intervention practices and social policy based on the notion of a unified community and body politic, stressing mutual aid and voluntary cooperation. This conceptualization is consistent with public health values and represents a fruitful route to effective national and local policy. An overview of early intervention options is presented.

Early Motor Development and Stereotyped Behavior: The Effects of Semi-Circular Canal Stimulation

This paper was presented at a conference entitled, “The Development of Control, Coordination and Skill in the Mentally Handicapped”, September 28-29, 1984, held at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland. The conference was supported by the NICHD and the National Institute for Handicapped Research. Work on this paper was supported by NICHD grants (HD17650 and HD07226).

Memory scanning by children: Meaningfulness and mediation☆

Abstract Two experiments were performed for the purpose of isolating factors that influence speed of memory scanning by children. The first experiment revealed an interaction involving age and type of stimulus. Young children required relatively greater time to process ambiguous stimuli. The second experiment, involving a pretraining phase designed to induce mediation, showed that preschool children scan representations more rapidly when given instructions to apply a mediator.