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Las aportaciones de Skinner al campo de la psicología evolutiva o desarrollo psicológico son el objetivo del presente trabajo. En tal intento, el primer paso es acotar el término a la par que el contenido. El segundo paso consiste en hacer explícitos ciertos tópicos de la obra de Skinner con una especial importancia en relación a la procedencia del desarrollo psicológico humano, es decir historia filogenética y ontogenética. Continúa con la mención al análisis de las principales teorías del desarrollo más cultural mente arraigadas entre nosotros, y ellas en relación a la posición funcional o conductual del desarrollo. Se concluye con un ejemplo de esta aproximación aplicado al desarrollo de ciertas habilidades, de especial importancia en estos momentos, como son la formación y mantenimiento de valores y creencias.

Private events can have a dominant function in human behavior, especially with regard to the experience of self and selfing behavior. This article presents the building of selfing behavior throughout the early interactions of responding to others` behaviors and discusses the impact of learning to relate (i.e., learning human language). Special focus is on the significant impact of deictic and hierarchical framing in building self-contents, overaching abstract motivations, the abstraction of I, and the subsequent derivation of more self-contents. Also covered are the patterns of responding in coordination with one`s own behavior (psychological inflexibility) and responding hierarchically (psychological flexibility); and hierarchical responding as the final common pathway for the many faces of therapeutic processes towards building psychological flexibility. Finally, the experimental evidence that has been signaling this path for years is summarized.

Background ADHD is described as a chronic condition with associated social, academic, and mental risks. The present work analyses the current clinical state, occupation, and daily life interference of children detected with ADHD symptoms in two cohorts (2004 and 2009). Methods 134 clinical subjects with ADHD diagnosis detected in 2004 or 2009, were asked to run voluntary interviews. Ninety-four (94) cases answered questions about their current clinical and occupational statement, symptoms (SNAP-IV), and difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). Results 60.70% of the sample has no current treatment. Rates for inattention and hyperactive/impulsivity symptoms subsets went down. A total of 66.2% shows current difficulties but with a moderate interference in their daily life. The working/academic dimension is the most affected sphere in terms of impairment. Conclusions hyperactive/impulsivity subset and global ADHD rates go down as people grow up. Even if patients retain some difficulties, these are not serious enough for forcing them into clinical treatment. Main points in Public Health Significance are the followings: (a) these results question ADHD chronicity and higher risk of mental conditions in adulthood. Hyperactive and impulsivity, inattention, and global ADHD symptoms remain in one-third of the sample after 5 or 10 years after the diagnosis, (b) the higher risk of mental disorders and academic failure should be also questioned as most of the sample did not receive any treatment for a psychological condition after 5 or 10 years of ADHD diagnosis and most of them had a productive occupation at the follow-up moment, (c) ADHD rates are were higher when they are assessed by a relative caregiver. This might be linked with a possible cultural “psychopathologization” of childhood.

Conducting direct replication studies is crucial for the progress of science because they increase our confidence in the effect of the independent variables under the same or mostly the same experimental conditions. Pendrous et al. (2020) recently published an “extended direct replication” with negative results concerning the study by Sierra et al. (2016) and suggested the disparity in results was due to the supposed more stringent conditions of their study. However, a detailed comparison of the studies reveals that (a) they differed in many relevant aspects (e.g., participants' characteristics, experimental task, procedure, and experimental protocols) that preclude considering Pendrous et al.'s study as a “direct replication,” (b) the replication study did not specify some methodological strengths of the original study, and (c) the replication study had unnoticed methodological problems. In the replication study: (a) there was an overrepresentation of females, (b) there were notable differences across experimental conditions in the naive status of the participants in terms of previous ACT/RFT knowledge and experience with the cold pressor task, (c) 21.4% of the participants were not native English speakers, (d) compensation was not the same for all participants, and (e) there were differences in the pauses prompting for relational elaboration across the experimental conditions. These methodological problems might limit the conclusions reached in the replication study. We call for greater precision in reporting and discussing replication studies by highlighting the commonalities and differences between the original and replication studies.

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Throughout its history the strategy and tactics of contextual behavioral science (CBS) research have had distinctive features as compared to traditional behavioral science approaches. Continued progress in CBS research can be facilitated by greater clarity about how its strategy and tactics can be brought to bear on current challenges. The present white paper is the result of a 2 1/2-year long process designed to foster consensus among representative producers and consumers of CBS research about the best strategic pathway forward. The Task Force agreed that CBS research should be multilevel, process-based, multidimensional, prosocial, and pragmatic, and provided 33 recommendations to the CBS community arranged across these characteristics. In effect, this report provides a detailed research agenda designed to maximize the impact of CBS as a field. Scientists and practitioners are encouraged to mount this ambitious agenda.

A reversal design was employed for the analysis of transfer of fear and avoidance through equivalence classes. Two 5-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1-D1-E1 and A2-B2-C2-D2-E2) were established. Then B1 and C1 were paired with shock (CS+) and served as SD s in avoidance training (B2 and C2 were trained as CS-/S∆ s for avoidance). Further avoidance training followed with D1 and E1 (as SD s) and D2 and E2 (as S∆ s), with the first presentation of each of these stimuli serving as the first transfer test. Afterwards, aversive conditioning contingencies were reversed: B2 and D2 were paired with shock and trained as SD s for avoidance, B1 and D1 were presented without shock (CS-/S∆ s). Transfer was tested again with C1, E1, C2 and E2. This reversal was implemented to allow for the within-subject replication of transfer effects upon changes in the function of only a subset of each class's elements. Avoidance (key presses) and conditioned fear (skin conductance and heart rate) were simultaneously measured. Results show a clear transfer effect for avoidance, with between- and within-subject replications. For physiological measures, transfer effects in the first test could only be imputed on the basis of group-based inferential statistical analysis. Evidence for between-subject replication was weaker, with only a limited proportion of participants meeting the individual criterion for transfer.

Introduction: Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rates vary between 1% and 20% depending on the type of diagnosis guide used, the test used in the assessment, psychosocial factors, and professional in charge of the assessment. Goal: to describe and compare current clinical ADHD assessment processes in public health system in two cohorts and analyze variables related to final diagnosis. Design: Descriptive, multicenter, longitudinal (retrospective-prospective). Location: primary care (PC) centers in Oviedo, Asturias (Spain). Participants: a Spanish clinical ADHD symptomatic sample (n = 134) from two cohorts (2004 and 2009). Variables: clinical professional in charge of ADHD assessment (PC, mental health professional [MH], neuropediatrician [NP]), type of test used in the assessment, confirmation/disconfirmation of ADHD diagnosis, and final diagnosis. Results: the use of symptoms checklists and the assessments in charge of primary care (PC) and neuropediatrician (NP) professionals show an upward trend from 2004 to 2009. ADHD final diagnosis shows low inter-professional (NP-MH) reliability (kappa = 0.39). Final diagnoses for the same symptoms are different depending on the professional (NP or MH). Discussions: the professional in charge of the assessment appears to be a relevant variable for the final diagnosis. ADHD diagnosis criteria seem not to be clear. This data suggests that ADHD diagnosis must be used with caution to ensure good quality clinical standards when assessing and treating ADHD symptoms. Assessments supported by symptoms checklists and performed by NP or PC could be contributing factors to an ADHD over-diagnosis tendency. Resumen: Introducción: Las ratios del trastorno de déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH) varían entre el 1 y el 20%, dependiendo del tipo de guía diagnóstica utilizada, del test usado en la evaluación, de los factores psicosociales y del profesional a cargo de la evaluación. Objetivo: Describir el proceso actual de evaluación del trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH) en la práctica clínica en el sistema público de salud y analizar las variables relacionadas con el diagnóstico final. Diseño: Estudio descriptivo y longitudinal (retrospectivo-prospectivo). Localización: Centros de atención primaria en Oviedo, Asturias (España). Participantes: Se analiza una muestra española de 134 casos clínicos en dos cohortes (2004 y 2009). Variables: Profesional a cargo de la evaluación, test empleados en la evaluación y diagnóstico final. Resultados: El empleo de listas de síntomas y las evaluaciones a cargo de profesionales de atención primaria (AP) y de neuropediatría (NP) muestran una tendencia al alza entre 2004 y 2009. El diagnóstico final de TDAH muestra una baja fiabilidad interprofesional (kappa = 0,39). Conclusiones: El profesional a cargo de la evaluación parece ser una variable relevante para establecer un diagnóstico final. Los criterios de diagnóstico de TDAH no parecen claros. Estos datos sugieren que el diagnóstico de TDAH debe usarse con precaución para garantizar una práctica clínica de calidad al evaluar y tratar los síntomas de TDAH. Las evaluaciones apoyadas por listas de síntomas y realizadas por NP o AP podrían ser factores que contribuyen a una tendencia de diagnóstico excesivo de TDAH.

The present investigation used a respondent-type (ReT) training procedure to generate derived false memories. A one-to-many ReT training procedure was implemented in order to establish two stimulus equivalence classes, each consisting of one shape and 24 random words (i.e., Class 1 and Class 2). A partial test for stimulus equivalence with a subset of stimuli from each class followed. Failing an equivalence test resulted in additional ReT training and equivalence testing on new subsets of stimuli. After passing an equivalence test, participants were presented with 12 study-list words from Class 1 for memorization, followed by a distraction task. Finally, free recall and recognition tests for the study-list words were implemented. False recall and false recognition were more frequent for nonstudied Class 1 words than for nonstudied Class 2 words. These derived false-memory effects were more pronounced among those participants exhibiting more training and testing cycles and higher accuracy on stimulus equivalence tests. Furthermore, false recall and false remembering of nonstudied Class 1 words were more frequent for words that had been equivalence-tested than for words that had not been equivalence-tested. These results show how responses to contiguous stimuli could produce derived false memories and also highlight the role played by the equivalence test in increasing their emergence.

Previous research has shown that long-term mindfulness training has beneficial effects on cognitive functioning and emotional regulation, but results are mixed regarding single mindfulness exercises, especially on attention and memory tasks. Thus, the present study aimed to analyse the effects of the Focused Breathing Exercise (FB) on cognitive performance, using standardised tests. Forty-six healthy undergraduate students were randomly assigned either to a FB or a Control condition. Two cognitive tasks (the Concentrated Attention task of the Toulouse-Pierron Factorial Battery and the Logical Memory Subtest I from the Wechsler Memory Scale III), along with mood evaluations (the Positive and Negative Affect Scale), were implemented both before and after the interventions. Results showed no significant differences for the attention task and mood evaluations. Nonetheless, the FB enhanced performance for the memory task significantly more than the Control exercise. The findings highlight that mindfulness does not affect equally all types of cognitive performances. Task characteristics may be important and their analysis can help to disentangle how mindfulness interferes with cognitive processes.

The aim of the current study was to analyze the effect of different types of framing one’s own behavior, as in defusion interactions, on performance in several experimental tasks. For this purpose, in Phase 1 (or pretest), 34 participants performed two experimental tasks that induced discomfort. In Phase 2, participants were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental protocols: the Defusion I protocol was basically made up of deictic framing interactions— I/You, Here/There, Now/Then—to promote flexibility in perspective taking of the psychological content; the Defusion II protocol incorporated not only deictic framing but also hierarchical framing to promote a perspective where the psychological content is experienced in a hierarchical relation with the deictic “'I” and several cues to specify the regulatory or augmental function; and the Control protocol did not include any active protocol component. Finally, in Phase 3 (or posttest), participants repeated the two experimental tasks. Results indicate that all participants’ performance increased after the intervention. However, the superiority of Defusion II condition was shown. Conclusions of the current study are focused on the type of framing involved in the so-called defusion interactions that ensure its efficacy, supported by the improvement of performance observed.

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a core feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and depression. Recently, some studies have shown promising results with brief protocols of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) focused on RNT in the treatment of emotional disorders in adults. The current study analyzes the effect of an individual, 3-session, RNT-focused ACT protocol in the treatment of severe and comorbid GAD and depression. Six adults meeting criteria for both disorders and showing severe symptoms of at least one of them participated in the study. A delayed multiple-baseline design was implemented. All participants completed a 5-week baseline without showing improvement trends in emotional symptoms (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21; DASS-21) and pathological worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire; PSWQ). The ACT protocol was then implemented, and a 3-month follow-up was conducted. Five of the six participants showed clinically significant changes in the DASS-21 and the PSWQ. The standardized mean difference effect sizes for single-case experimental design were very large for emotional symptoms (d = 3.34), pathological worry (d = 4.52), experiential avoidance (d = 3.46), cognitive fusion (d = 3.90), repetitive thinking (d = 4.52), and valued living (d = 0.92 and d = 1.98). No adverse events were observed. Brief, RNT-focused ACT protocols for treating comorbid GAD and depression deserve further empirical tests.

The current study aimed to design a preliminary implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP) to measure the increased complexity and the flexibility in perspective taking (PT). Undergraduate students (N = 35) from a Spanish university completed a PT scale and a PT task (deictic relational task; DRT) that involved trials with different complexity (reversed and double reversed). Then, participants were asked to complete an IRAP to assess the level of complexity and flexibility involved in perspective-taking framing. Results showed that the IRAP captured the differences, on the one hand, in relational complexity when the participants were asked to respond saying Yes or No to their own perspective and, on the other hand, in relational flexibility when they were asked to change their own perspective. In addition, the IRAP effect correlated with high deictic ability as measured by the DRT (mainly in double-reversed trials). These findings suggest that the IRAP as designed in the present study seems to be a good indicator of complexity and flexibility in PT.

Relational frame theory (RFT) conceptualizes analogy as the establishment of a relation of coordination among common types of relations. This study provided an initial RFT analysis of analogy aptness. Twenty participants initially learned to respond to the structure of analogical tests after which they were trained on two separate relational networks, each consisting of three equivalence classes (Network: 1 F1-G1-H1, F2-G2-H2, F3-G3-H3; Network 2: M1-N1-O1, M2-N2-O2, M3-N3-O3). The node stimuli always appeared with color spots on their backgrounds (F1 and M1: yellow; F2 and M2: red; F3 and M3: blue). In the critical test, participants had to select the more correct response from two options: relating combinatorial relations of coordination with the same color in the node stimuli (e.g., relating G1H1 to N1O1) versus relating combinatorial relations with different colors in the node stimuli (e.g., relating G1H1 to N2O2). The colors of the node stimuli did not appear on the critical test. Ninety percent of participants selected the analogies with common color properties as the more correct ones. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Recent empirical studies have emerged within the acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) literature that demonstrate the utility for considering relational frame theory when designing and developing therapeutic interventions. The current study investigated distinction and hierarchical relations when targeted specifically in a self as context exercise. Participants were also exposed to a practice interval placed between two presentations of a distress-induction task, to determine potentially lasting impacts of the interventions. A second aspect of the research examined the extent to which a focus on the self (as opposed to focusing on a hypothetical object) played a role in the outcomes. We hypothesized that the self-based hierarchical relations intervention would be the most effective in terms of distress reduction (e.g., discomfort). This prediction was somewhat supported as statistical analysis demonstrated that both hierarchical conditions (self and object) showed superiority in terms of stress reduction compared to both distinction conditions. These results are discussed with regard to previous translational research between RFT and ACT.

The current article argues that the conceptual analysis of metaphor as offered by relational frame theory (RFT) illustrates one way in which the theory may be integrated with, and have a constructive influence on, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The article walks through the basic account of metaphor as the relating of relations and summarises the empirical evidence in support of this conceptualization. This understanding is then applied to a number of metaphors that are common to ACT in an attempt to illustrate how the RFT account of metaphor may be useful in aiding ACT practitioners to construct and deconstruct clinical metaphors.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the utility of acceptance-based strategies for coping with pain. The current research comprised three studies (N = 186) that compared the effects of acceptance, distraction, and placebo protocols on the distress and tolerance of experimentally induced radiant heat pain. In Experiment 1, an acceptance intervention was associated with a significant increase in tolerance relative to baseline, distraction was not, and placebo was associated with a significant decrease. Experiment 1A comprised a revised Distraction 2 intervention that was compared with the original acceptance and placebo groups from Experiment 1. This explored the potential impact of defusion on the previous outcome for distraction. Indeed, the results indicated that Distraction 2 was not associated with increased tolerance. In Experiment 2, the Swamp Metaphor was removed from each intervention, but this had no direct impact on outcomes. Again, acceptance showed a significant increase in pain tolerance; distraction did not. The current research offers the first componential analysis of acceptance and distraction in the context of radiant heat pain.

This study tests the effectiveness of an acceptance/defusion intervention in reducing experimentally induced generalized avoidance. After the formation of two 6-member equivalence classes, 23 participants underwent differential conditioning with two elements from each class: A1 and B1 were paired with mild electric shock, whereas A2 and B2 were paired with earning points. Participants learned to produce avoidance and approach responses to these respective stimuli and subsequently showed transfer of functions to non-directly conditioned equivalent stimuli from Class 1 (i.e., D1 and F1 evoked avoidance responses) and Class 2 (i.e., D2 and F2 evoked approach responses). Participants were then randomly assigned to either a motivational protocol (MOT) in which approaching previously avoided stimuli was given a general value, or to a defusion protocol (DEF) in which defusion (a component of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) was trained while approaching previously avoided stimuli was connected to personally meaningful examples. A post-hoc control group (CMOT) was conducted with 16 participants to control for differences in protocol length between the former two groups. All participants in the DEF group showed a complete suppression of avoidance responding in the presence of Class 1 stimuli (A1-F1 and additional novel stimuli in relation to them), as compared to 40% of participants in the MOT condition and 20% in the CMOT condition. The acceptance/defusion protocol eliminated experimentally induced avoidance responding even for stimuli that elicited autonomic fear responses.

Exposure techniques rely on the assumption that the extinction of the classically conditioned response (i.e., fear) will result in the disruption of limiting forms of avoidance behavior, both directly trained and derived/indirectly established. This report presents translational research that attempts to test this assumption in laboratory conditions in two experiments with human volunteers. The procedure in both experiments included six phases: (1) conditional discrimination training for the formation of two 6-member equivalence classes; (2) classical conditioning of elicited responses to Class 1 (A1/B1) and Class 2 (A2/B2) members in the white context, followed by conditioning of avoidance/approach responses to Class 1/Class 2 members, respectively, in the green context; (3) test for the transfer of avoidance/approach functions and of eliciting respondent functions to D1/F1 and D2/F2 in the green context; (4) extinction of classically conditioned responses to A1/B1 in the white context; (5) test of the effects of respondent extinction on avoidance responding to the A, B, D, and F stimuli in the green context; and (6) test of derived symmetry and equivalence relations. Results show that after successful respondent extinction in the white context, only 33.3% participants stopped showing avoidance behavior in the green context, and that respondent elicitation was reinstalled during the test (Phase 5). In Phase 4 of Experiment 2, in addition to undergoing respondent extinction, participants were instructed that the white and green contexts were similar. Results show that after successful respondent extinction in the white context during Phase 4, only 10% participants stopped showing avoidance behavior in the green context, and that respondent elicitation was almost eliminated during the test (Phase 5). We discuss these findings and their applied implications.

Se presenta la evolucion de ACT a traves de escenarios temporales que van surgiendo al hilo de la necesidad de mejorar y ampliar la comprension del modelo, de los avances en la comprension de sus componentes y de la investigacion en lenguaje desde la Teoria del Marco Relacional. Primero, se presenta ACT en sus primeros anos. Segundo, se presenta un escenario de proliferacion de nuevos terminos, datos y libros, al que continua un escenario de reconsideracion y abordaje para conectar ACT a las bases teoricas y experimentales del lenguaje y la cognicion. Es este ultimo escenario el que se ocupa de intentar una definicion del r epertorio problematico y del nuevo repertorio a partir de las transformaciones que ocurren al responder verbalmente a la propia conducta. Se concluye resaltando la coherencia de formular ACT como una terapia conectada al conocimiento experimental del lenguaje y, por tanto, coherente con la Contextual Behavioral Science , ambito cientifico en el que ACT, como terapia contextual, es una parte de las aplicaciones de dicho conocimiento .

The present study examined the role of derived relations in the generalizability of the evaluative conditioning effect. Healthy university students participated. Four geometrical shapes were first established as discriminative stimuli for the contingent presentation of pictograms (B1, B2, C1, and C2, respectively). We then assessed the reinforcing properties of B1 versus B2, and C1 versus C2 by using simultaneous discrimination tasks: at baseline (baseline assessment), after pairing B1 with aversive slides plus noise and B2 with pleasant slides (test I), and after employing equivalence training and testing to establish B1 as equivalent to C1 and B2 as equivalent to C2 (test II). Most participants (82 %) in the experimental condition, as compared with the control conditions (17 % and 10 %), selected the discriminative shapes for B2 (test I) and C2 (test II) on most trials, replicating and extending previous findings. Subsequently, the geometrical shapes were established as equivalent to the letters X, Y, W, and Z, respectively, which then served as antecedent stimuli in simultaneous discrimination tasks as before (test III). As was expected, only participants in the experimental condition showed preference for the novel letters that were established as equivalent to B2-producing and C2-producing shapes. These findings suggest that the evaluative conditioning effect may extend far beyond the stimulus being de/valuated and narrow the behavioral repertoire.

This study compared an individual, 4-hr intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) versus a no-contact control condition in improving the performance of international-level chess players. Five participants received the brief ACT protocol, with each matched to another chess player with similar characteristics in the control condition. Experimental participants showed significant reductions in the believability and interference of general, unpleasant private events during competitions as well as reductions in the frequency of the treated counterproductive reactions to private events (FCR). Also, as indicated by an objective chess performance measure (ELO performance), all participants in the experimental condition improved their performance during the 7 months after the ACT protocol in comparison to the 7 months prior; however, none of the control participants improved their chess performance. Pretreatment levels and initial changes in FCR and believability significantly predicted the effect sizes on chess performance in the experimental condition.

Contemporary behavior analytic research is making headway in analyzing analogy as the establishment of a relation of coordination among common types of trained or derived relations. Previous studies have been focused on within-domain analogy. The current study expands previous research by analyzing cross-domain analogy as relating relations among separate relational networks and by correlating participants' performance with a standard measure of analogical reasoning. In two experiments, adult participants first completed general intelligence and analogical reasoning tests. Subsequently, they were exposed to a computerized conditional discrimination training procedure designed to create two relational networks, each consisting of two 3-member equivalence classes. The critical test was a two-part analogical test in which participants had to relate combinatorial relations of coordination and distinction between the two relational networks. In Experiment 1, combinatorial relations for each network were individually tested prior to analogical testing, but in Experiment 2 they were not. Across both experiments, 65% of participants passed the analogical test on the first attempt. Moreover, results from the training procedure were strongly correlated with the standard measure of analogical reasoning.

The present study addresses the emergence and reversal of so-called internal and external attributions and difficulty estimations in relation to a series of problem-solving tasks. Fifteen adults between 18 and 25 years old participated. Two 12-member pre-existing arbitrary classes (Category 1 and Category 2) were assessed by employing a stimuli-sorting task. Subsequently, by means of differential cueing and feedback, internal and external attributions were established in relation to three problems labelled with stimuli pertaining to Category 1 (names of African countries) and Category 2 (female first names), respectively. Next, participants were tested for the differential emergence of attributions and difficulty estimations with two novel labels per category. All participants showed emergence. Then, two interven tions designed to reverse the attributions (a general instruction and an illustrated instruction focused on problem difficulty) were implemented with ten and five participants, respectively. The effect of both interventions was subsequently tested with two novel labels per category. Most participants receiving either of the interventions reversed their attributions and difficulty estimations. The conditions that might be responsible for the formation and reversal of attributions are discussed and applied implications are considered.

This controlled preliminary trial determined the feasibility and initial effectiveness of a promising behavioral intervention for smoking: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In a quasi-experimental design, the ACT intervention condition used metaphors and experiential exercises focused on personal values to motivate quitting smoking and enhancing the willingness to experience internal cues to smoke (e.g., urges) and abstinence-related internal distress. The comparison condition was cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)--the current standard in behavioral intervention for smoking cessation. Each treatment was delivered in seven weekly 90-min sessions in a group format to 81 (43 in ACT; 38 in CBT) adult smokers. Results show that the ACT treatment was as feasible as the CBT treatment. They also demonstrate promising evidence of ACT's effectiveness: 30.2% intent-to-treat biochemically-supported 30-day point prevalence at twelve month follow-up, compared with 13.2% in the CBT condition (odds ratio = 5.13; p = .02). Replication in a well-powered, randomized, controlled trial is now needed.

The current study compared the effects of an acceptance versus distraction rationale on coping with experimentally induced pain. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: Full-Acceptance, Full-Distraction, Instruction-only-Acceptance, Instruction-only-Distraction and No-Instructions. Participants completed a simple matching task and were intermittently given the choice either to receive an electric shock and continue, or to avoid the shock and terminate the task. Only the Full-Acceptance strategy (that included experiential exercises and a metaphor) had a significant effect on task tolerance as measured by an increase in the number of shocks delivered post-intervention relative to baseline. In addition, the participants in both of the acceptance conditions showed lower levels of believability in that they were more likely to continue with the task even when reporting more pain. The results support the prediction that acceptance-based interventions work by undermining the behavioural-control functions of pain-related thoughts and feelings, and call for a systematic analysis of how metaphors and exercises work in analogue research.

The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, to compare the effect of establishing a motivational context of values on pain tolerance, believability, and reported pain, with three experimental conditions: pain acceptance (ACT condition), pain control (CONT condition), or no values (untrained condition). Second, the study aimed to isolate the impact of adding the corresponding coping strategies to both the ACT and the CONT conditions. Thirty adults were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions. The participants went through the pain task in two occasions (Test I and Test II). In Test I, the effects of the ACT-values protocol (which established pain as part of valued action), the CONT-values protocol (which established high pain as opposed to valued action), and the no-values protocol, were compared. In Test II, the effect of adding the corresponding coping strategy to each condition (defusion for ACT vs. suppression for CONT) was examined. Test I showed a clear superiority of the ACT-values protocol in increasing tolerance and lowering pain believability. In Test II, the superiority of the ACT protocol was replicated, while the CONT protocol proved useful to reduce reported pain, in accordance with previous studies.

Recent research has demonstrated the transfer of induced mood functions through equivalence relations by means of a musical mood-induction procedure. The research described in this article replicated and extended such work, primarily with the inclusion of a baseline and two types of reversal procedures. First, 16 adult participants were trained and tested for the formation of two three-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1 and A2-B2-C2). A musical mood-induction procedure was used to induce happy and sad mood states in the presence of the B stimuli, and a transfer of mood functions test was administered to determine whether the corresponding mood functions had transferred via equivalence to the C stimuli. Participants were then exposed to either Reversal 1, in which only the functions attached to the B stimuli were reversed, or to Reversal 2, in which the structure of the equivalence classes was altered. At all stages throughout the experiment, participants were asked to rate their current mood state by using mood and incentive rating scales. The findings of the current study replicated the results of previous research in demonstrating a clear transfer of mood functions via equivalence relations. This outcome is compared with the existing literature about mood induction and the transfer of mood functions.

The conditions under which symmetry and equivalence relations develop are still controversial. This paper reports three experiments that attempt to analyze the impact of multiple-exemplar training (MET) in receptive symmetry on the emergence of visual-visual equivalence relations with a very young child, Gloria. At the age of 15 months 24 days (15m24d), Gloria was tested for receptive symmetry and naming and showed no evidence of either repertoire. In the first experiment, MET in immediate and delayed receptive symmetrical responding or listener behavior (from object-sound to immediate and delayed sound-object selection) proceeded for one month with 10 different objects. This was followed, at 16m25d, by a second test conducted with six new objects. Gloria showed generalized receptive symmetry with a 3-hr delay; however no evidence of naming with new objects was found. Experiment 2 began at 17m with the aim of establishing derived visual-visual equivalence relations using a matching-to-sample format with two comparisons. Visual-visual equivalence responding emerged at 19m, although Gloria still had not shown evidence of naming. Experiment 3 (22m to 23m25d) used a three-comparison matching-to-sample procedure to establish visual-visual equivalence. Equivalence responding emerged as in Experiment 2, and naming emerged by the end of Experiment 3. Results are discussed in terms of the history of training in bidirectional relations responsible for the emergence of visual-visual equivalence relations and of their implications for current theories of stimulus equivalence.

Relational training protocols based on Relational Frame Theory (RFT) are showing promising results in increasing intelligence quotient. This case study aimed at analyzing the effect of a training protocol in fluency and flexibility in relational responding on intelligence quotient with a 4-year-old child.The childrsquo;s cognitive and psychomotor development was evaluated before and after the implementation of the training protocol using the McCarthyrsquo;s Aptitudes and Psychomotricity Scale (MSCA). The training protocol consisted of a multiple-exemplar-training (MET) in relational framing in accordance with COORDINATION (Phases 1 and 2), OPPOSITION (Phase 3 and 4), and COMPARISON (Phases 5 and 6). The MET protocol was implemented in approximately 12 hours throughout five and one half months.The training was effective in establishing relational responding in OPPOSITION and COMPARISON frames as well as in promoting fluency and flexibility in all the three types of trained relations. After this training, the child showed an increase above 1.5 SD in the General Cognitive Index of the MSCA (from 106 to 131).This case study adds further empirical evidence of the potential of RFT training to improve cognitive abilities and intelligence.