O Jato de Ar Quente Como um Estímulo Aversivo em Contingências de Fuga em Ratos

To increase the number of aversive stimuli that are available for laboratory research, the hot air blast (HAB) was tested as a negative reinforcer in two escape contingencies. Sixteen naïve rats were exposed to 30 or 60 HAB presentations. For half of the subjects, the escape response was jumping in a shuttle box; for the others, the HAB was interrupted after a nose poke response. The results showed that seven of eight subjects (87.5%) in each group learned the required escape response. These data confirm the negative reinforcing function of the HAB, which may be an alternative aversive stimulus to be adopted in research with nonhumans subjects.Keywords: escape; negative reinforcement; hot air blast; aversive control.

THE (NON) DEFINITION OF AVERSIVE CONTROL IN BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

The Behavior Analysis literature describes two types of control: aversive and positive. A review of specialized publications revealed an objective definition of control through positive reinforcement, but no definition of aversive control. In this paper, we discuss the scientific meaning of the terms “control” and “aversive” from the viewpoint of behavior analysis. We focus on the relational probabilities between responses and stimuli that occur during the continuous interaction between organisms and the environment. The term “control” is assumed to mean that one event (the controlled one) is changed by the occurrence of another event (the controller). The aversiveness of the control is analyzed as a function of “operations” (addition and subtraction of the stimulus), their “effects” (the increase or decrease of the response probability) and the “nature of the stimulus” involved (aversive or appetitive). We conclude that an analysis of processes, operations, and the nature of the stimulus was unable to identify a factor common to all the behavioral relations defined as aversive. We consider that without clear criteria for classifying a control as aversive, it would be more parsimonious to talk about behavioral control without using the aversive/positive dichotomy. However, if this dichotomy is maintained, the development of an objective analysis of elicited (emotional) responses may offer a way to characterize the aversive/positive distinction. Key words: control; aversive control; positive control; behavior analysis; conceptual questions.

AVERSIVE CONTROL IN BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS: AN ANALYSIS OF JEAB AND JABA PUBLICATIONS (1958-2018)

We analyzed the frequency of publications on aversive control and publication trends concerning specific aversive contingencies. The articles were published between 1958 and 2018 in two journals: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) and Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA). We selected articles that presented at least one of the following descriptors in the title, abstract, or keywords: aversive, avoidance, escape, negative reinforcement, and punishment. We verified that the publication frequency on aversive control was higher in JEAB than in JABA until the 1990s, at which point the trend was reversed. An irregular increase has been observed in JEAB publications on the topic since 2000. The rise of applied research on aversive control is related to growing interest in negative reinforcement. This significant decrease in studies on aversive control may be related to stricter ethical regulations in research and related to the assertions of some authors to reduce the aversive control use. The increase in applied studies since the 1990s appears to be related to the greater use of functional assessments and the development of treatments for behavioral problems that result from negative reinforcement contingencies. Key words: aversive control, aversive contingencies, Behavior Analysis, publication.