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B.16: Identify examples of motivating operations.

Free practice questions for this part of the BCBA, with an explanation for every option.

Before ABA sessions, a child's caregiver has started letting him use an iPad freely for an hour. During sessions, his mands for the iPad have dropped sharply. The pre-session iPad access most likely functions as a(n):
  1. A. S-delta
    Incorrect. An SΔ signals that reinforcement is unavailable. Here the iPad is still available but less valuable.
  2. B. Establishing operation
    Incorrect. An EO would increase the iPad's value and evoke more manding, the opposite of what was observed.
  3. C. Extinction procedure
    Incorrect. Manding for the iPad is still reinforced in session, so no extinction is in effect.
  4. D. Abolishing operation
    Correct. Satiation reduces the reinforcing value of the iPad and abates behavior that has produced it. That is an abolishing operation.
For one client, the instruction "Come to the table" has reliably come before long work periods. The instruction now evokes aggression that has historically ended the session. The instruction itself is best classified as a:
  1. A. CMO-transitive
    Incorrect. A CMO-T changes the value of another stimulus (for example, a locked door raising the value of a key). It does not make its own removal reinforcing.
  2. B. Unconditioned motivating operation
    Incorrect. A UMO's value-altering effect does not depend on learning. The instruction's effect comes from a history of being correlated with work.
  3. C. CMO-reflexive
    Correct. A stimulus that precedes worsening conditions makes its own termination reinforcing and evokes escape behavior. That is a CMO-R.
  4. D. CMO-surrogate
    Incorrect. A CMO-S acquires its effect by being paired with another MO, such as a stimulus paired with deprivation.
At a group home, a resident eats a bag of salty pretzels during an afternoon movie. Over the next hour, his requests for water rise sharply. The salty snack is best described as a(n):
  1. A. Discriminative stimulus for requesting water
    An SD signals that reinforcement is available for a response. Eating salt does not signal that staff will provide water; it makes water more valuable.
  2. B. Transitive conditioned motivating operation
    A transitive CMO is a learned condition that makes another stimulus valuable because that stimulus is needed to get a reinforcer. The effect of salt on the value of water is biological, not learned.
  3. C. Unconditioned motivating operation (establishing operation)
    Correct. Eating salt makes water more valuable as a reinforcer, and it does so without any learning history. It also evokes behavior that has produced water in the past. This makes it an unconditioned establishing operation.
  4. D. Abolishing operation for water
    An abolishing operation lowers the value of a reinforcer. The value of water went up, and requests for it increased.

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