Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis

Editorial

2025-12-03T17:34:04-06:00

The second issue of volume 51 of the Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis (MJBA) is divided into two sections. The first section comprises the seven articles that make up this issue and are described below. The second section is a supplement to the first, in which several authors collaborated to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of “Teoría de la conducta: Un análisis de campo y paramétrico” [Behavior theory: A field and parametric analysis], authored by Emilio Ribes and Francisco López. The MJBA editorial team hopes that both sections will not only be well-received by readers but will also meet the disciplinary standards that the journal has historically strived to uphold.

Simplified intensive tact instruction and bidirectional and incidental naming in autistic children

2025-12-03T18:01:35-06:00

The consolidation of Bidirectional Naming (BiN) as the generalized behavioral relation of Incidental Bidirectional Naming (Inc-BiN) is considered fundamental for effective language development. Previous research has shown that Intensive Tact Instruction (ITI), consisting of 100 trials per day implemented three times a week, induced BiN and Inc-BiN in two autistic children. This study evaluated the effects of ITI with 50 daily trials, administered three times per week, on the induction of BiN and Inc-BiN in three autistic children. Participants underwent pretests for BiN and Inc-BiN, ITI sessions, posttests for BiN and Inc-BiN, as well as generalization and maintenance tests for BiN and Inc-BiN. Results showed that, following ITI with up to three stimulus sets, only one participant demonstrated the emergence of BiN, and none demonstrated the emergence of Inc-BiN. The need for further investigation into parametric variations in the implementation of ITI is discussed (e.g., the number of daily or weekly trials and stimulus sets), also considering factors such as the participants' initial verbal repertoire, the reinforcing functions of antecedent and social consequence stimuli, the reinforcing function of observation responses to stimuli, and the impact of requiring or restricting echoic responses.

Social regulation of restrictive eating behavior: A within-subject study

2025-12-03T18:24:51-06:00

Food restriction is a common practice among young people, aimed at modifying body weight through strict dieting, food avoidance, and/or prolonged fasting. This behavior is influenced by social norms of dietary appropriateness, which indicate when it is suitable to eat less (inhibitory norm) or more (augmentative norm), depending on the eating behavior of others. Experimental evidence suggests that restrained eaters are particularly sensitive to these norms; however, methodological limitations have been identified that constrain the generalizability of findings. This study examined the effect of both dietary norms on the eating patterns of male and female university students using a mixed within-subject ABCA′ design, with four experimental groups and both male and female confederate models. Within-subject comparisons allowed the analysis of the effect of each norm, while between-group comparisons assessed differences by experimental condition. The results confirmed the influence of both norms on the amount of food intake, but not on the selection of food type. Differences were observed in the effect of the model depending on the sex of the participant. This study provides relevant evidence on the impact of social modeling on eating patterns, a topic still emerging within behavioral science.

Impact of reward type on rule following

2025-12-03T18:43:28-06:00

This study examined how the type of reinforcer (hypothetical or real) influences rule-governed behavior (RGB) and sensitivity to programmed contingencies. Two experiments were conducted using a decreasing earnings procedure with young adult participants. In Experiment 1, which involved hypothetical rewards, three behavioral patterns emerged: rule followers, rule breakers, and flexible followers. Greater variability in change points and lower adherence to instructed rules were observed, suggesting increased contact with contingencies. In Experiment 2, which involved real monetary rewards, all participants were classified as rule followers, exhibiting greater stability in change points and predominant adherence to the instructed pattern, even when it was suboptimal. The results suggest that real rewards more effectively reinforce rule-following behavior while reducing sensitivity to programmed contingencies. Additionally, real rewards enhance the ecological validity of experimental tasks and promote adherence to imprecise rules. Reinforcement history and the precision of initial rules emerge as key factors in understanding the insensitivity to contingencies observed in both experiments.

Remote behavioral skills training for physicians on COVID-19 death notification

2025-12-03T19:08:29-06:00

Death notification is a frequent and stressful task in critical care. During COVID-19, the number of deaths increased significantly, and health personnel had to deliver this news remotely without preparation. In international research, training protocols have been described that improve physician’s communication skills and self-confidence, as well as remote communication suggestions to COVID-19. However, these recommendations are subjective and ambiguous, which can hinder their replicability. This research adopts the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis to implement a Behavioral Skills Training to identify, validate, and train the behaviors required to properly communicate a remote death notification for COVID-19 in three pilot participants. Nineteen operational definitions of the behaviors were generated and trained on three intensive care residents. Two participants demonstrated strong effect sizes following training, while the third participant did not complete the training. These preliminary results suggest that implementing a remote death notification behavioral skills training program might be feasible and effective, and could also be useful in face-to-face settings.

Comparison of Ámselin and RFC-Extinction schedule effects on frustration responses

2025-12-03T19:26:22-06:00

This paper aimed to compare the performance of the participants in front of Ámselin in its original version and an alternative version that simulates continuous reinforcement (RFC) and extinction conditions in laboratory procedures. Ámselin was administered to 120 university students and four groups were formed and exposed to different phases of each version in the following order: Group 1 Phase 1: original and Phase 2: original, Group 2 Phase 1: RFC and Phase 2: Extinction, Group 3 Phase 1: RFC and Phase 2: original, Group 4 Phase 1: original and Phase 2: Extinction. The results revealed nine differences between the two versions of Ámselin, but 28 had to be found to accept the disparity hypothesis. Therefore, this hypothesis was rejected. Furthermore, Ámselin showed effectiveness in producing frustration responses in participants, confirming results from previous studies.

Variation in task criteria achievement in reading and writing skills of university students

2025-12-03T19:48:08-06:00

Recent research indicates that university students face some limitations related to reading and writing skills. To provide empirical evidence about the teaching-learning conditions that could facilitate the development of these skills, a study to evaluate the effect of varying the level of achievement of two types of tasks on reading and writing skills of university students was conducted. Thirty-six students enrolled in the bachelor’s degree in psychology participated. A pretest-posttest design with a control group was used. In the pre-test and post-test, participants were asked to read an empirical article, complete 13 identification tasks, and write a conclusion. The experimental phase consisted of completing identification and elaboration tasks based on three criteria: 1) behavioral requirements linked to the article, 2) linked to hypothetical cases and unrelated to the article, and 3) unrelated to hypothetical cases and to the article. The results show a facilitating effect on reading performance based on criterion 1 and on writing performance based on criterion 2 tasks. These findings are discussed considering the relationship between task type, achievement criterion, and functional aptitude level.

Contributions of studying food accumulation with a parametric approach: A review

2025-12-03T20:03:40-06:00

The present paper reviews the advances achieved by studying “food accumulation” with a parametric approach. To this end, studies on food accumulation that investigated the effect of three parameters (delay of reinforcement, temporal distribution of trials, and magnitude of reinforcement) are described. These studies showed that the amount of food accumulated increases by lengthening the delay of reinforcement, and that such effect is more marked as the trials are spaced. Besides, it was found that the effect of the delay on food accumulation depends on the magnitude of reinforcement employed: with high magnitudes, lengthening the delay has an increasing effect; with low magnitudes, the typical decreasing effect of the delay of reinforcement is replicated. These findings show that the studies on food accumulation are simply a case of a study on delay of reinforcement with a high magnitude of reinforcement. Some implications from the findings obtained by studying food accumulation with a parametric approach are raised for the established knowledge on the effect of the delay of reinforcement, the temporal distribution of trials, and the magnitude of reinforcement.