David P. Jarmolowicz

Excessive discounting of delayed reinforcers as a trans-disease process contributing to addiction and other disease-related vulnerabilities: emerging evidence.

Delay discounting describes the devaluation of a reinforcer as a function of the delay until its receipt. Although all people discount delayed reinforcers, one consistent finding is that substance-dependent individuals tend to discount delayed reinforcers more rapidly than do healthy controls. Moreover, these higher-than-normal discounting rates have been observed in individuals with other behavioral maladies such as pathological gambling, poor health behavior, and overeating. This suggests that high rates of delay discounting may be a trans-disease process (i.e., a process that occurs across a range of disorders, making findings from one disorder relevant to other disorders). In this paper, we argue that delay discounting is a trans-disease process, undergirded by an imbalance between two competing neurobehavioral decision systems. Implications for our understanding of, and treatment for, this trans-disease process are discussed.

Are executive function and impulsivity antipodes? A conceptual reconstruction with special reference to addiction

RationaleAlthough there is considerable interest in how either executive function (EF) or impulsivity relate to addiction, there is little apparent overlap between these research areas.ObjectivesThe present paper aims to determine if components of these two constructs are conceptual antipodes—widely separated on a shared continuum.MethodsEFs and impulsivities were compared and contrasted. Specifically, the definitions of the components of EF and impulsivity, the methods used to measure the various components, the populations of drug users that show deficits in these components, and the neural substrates of these components were compared and contrasted.ResultsEach component of impulsivity had an antipode in EF. EF, however, covered a wider range of phenomena, including compulsivity.ConclusionsImpulsivity functions as an antipode of certain components of EF. Recognition of the relationship between EF and impulsivity may inform the scientific inquiry of behavioral problems such as addiction. Other theoretical implications are discussed.

CHANGING DELAY DISCOUNTING IN THE LIGHT OF THE COMPETING NEUROBEHAVIORAL DECISION SYSTEMS THEORY: A REVIEW

Excessively devaluing delayed reinforcers co-occurs with a wide variety of clinical conditions such as drug dependence, obesity, and excessive gambling. If excessive delay discounting is a trans-disease process that underlies the choice behavior leading to these and other negative health conditions, efforts to change an individuals discount rate are arguably important. Although discount rate is often regarded as a relatively stable trait, descriptions of interventions and environmental manipulations that successfully alter discount rate have begun to appear in the literature. In this review, we compare published examples of procedures that change discount rate and classify them into categories of procedures, including therapeutic interventions, direct manipulation of the executive decision-making system, framing effects, physiological state effects, and acute drug effects. These changes in discount rate are interpreted from the perspective of the competing neurobehavioral decision systems theory, which describes a combination of neurological and behavioral processes that account for delay discounting. We also suggest future directions that researchers could take to identify the mechanistic processes that allow for changes in discount rate and to test whether the competing neurobehavioral decision systems view of delay discounting is correct.

An analysis of functional communication training as an empirically supported treatment for problem behavior displayed by individuals with intellectual disabilities

This paper examines the literature on the use of functional communication training (FCT) as a treatment for problem behavior displayed by individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Criteria for empirically supported treatments developed by Divisions 12 and 16 of the American Psychological Association (Kratochwill & Stoiber, 2002; Task Force, 1995) and adapted by Jennett and Hagopian (2008) for evaluation of single-case research studies were used to examine the support for FCT. Results indicated that FCT far exceeds criteria to be designated as a well-established treatment for problem behavior exhibited by children with ID and children with autism spectrum disorder, and can be characterized as probably efficacious with adults.

The Behavioral Economics and Neuroeconomics of Reinforcer Pathologies: Implications for Etiology and Treatment of Addiction

The current paper presents a novel approach to understanding and treating addiction. Drawing from work in behavioral economics and developments in the new field of neuroeconomics, we describe addiction as pathological patterns of responding resulting from the persistently high valuation of a reinforcer and/or an excessive preference for the immediate consumption of that reinforcer. We further suggest that, as indicated by the competing neurobehavioral decision systems theory, these patterns of pathological choice and consumption result from an imbalance between two distinct neurobehavioral systems. Specifically, pathological patterns of responding result from hyperactivity in the evolutionarily older impulsive system (which values immediate and low-cost reinforcers) and/or hypoactivity in the more recently evolved executive system (which is involved in the valuation of delayed reinforcers). This approach is then used to explain five phenomena that we believe any adequate theory of addiction must address.

Reinforcement schedule thinning following functional communication training: review and recommendations.

This paper extends the Tiger, Hanley, and Bruzek (2008) review of functional communication training (FCT) by reviewing the published literature on reinforcement schedule thinning following FCT As noted by Tiger et al. and others, schedule thinning may be necessary when the newly acquired communication response occurs excessively, to the extent that reinforcing it consistently is not practical in the natural environment. We provide a review of this literature including a discussion of each of the more commonly used schedule arrangements used for this purpose, outcomes obtained, a description of methods for progressing toward the terminal schedule, and a description of supplemental treatment components aimed at maintaining low levels of problem behavior during schedule thinning. Recommendations for schedule thinning are then provided. Finally, conceptual issues related to the reemergence of problem behavior during schedule thinning and areas for future research are discussed.

On distinguishing progressively increasing response requirements for reinforcement

Several different arrangements have been described for increasing the response requirements for reinforcement using the label progressive-ratio schedule. Under the original progressive-ratio schedule, the response requirement is increased after each reinforcer. Subsequently, arrangements have been used in which the number of required responses increases following multiple reinforcers at a single response requirement or between sessions. Following an assessment of the different types of contingencies that result from such progressive response requirements and the labels used to describe them, a set of descriptive labels is suggested for these different types of progressively increasing response requirements.

Temporal patterns of behavior from the scheduling of psychology quizzes.

Temporal patterns of behavior have been observed in real-life performances such as bill passing in the U.S. Congress, in-class studying, and quiz taking. However, the practical utility of understanding these patterns has not been evaluated. The current study demonstrated the presence of temporal patterns of quiz taking in a university-level introductory psychology course and used these patterns to manage the traffic of quiz takers in a computerized testing lab. Results are discussed in terms of the applications of tracking temporal response patterns.

Neuroeconomics: Implications for Understanding and Treating Addictive Behavior

Addiction is vexing, in part, because it is robust. Indeed, most evidence-based treatments result in the majority of individuals returning to substance use either during or after treatment (Carroll et al., 1993; Hall, Havassy & Wasserman, 1991; McKay et al., 1999). One response to this state is to reclassify and treat substance dependence as chronic disorders, as suggested by Arria and McLellan (2012). This, however, does not address the central issue that addiction is robust, and our treatments generally are not.