ABA FLASHCARDS
QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS
GRADED A+ 2025-2026
Abative Effect - ANS-a decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been
reinforced by the stimulus that is increased in reinforcing effectiveness by the same
motivating operation. Ex: Food ingestion abates (decreases the current frequency of)
behavior that has been reinforced by food.
Abolishing Operation - ANS-A motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing
effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event. Ex: the reinforcing effectiveness of food is
abolished as a result of food ingestion.
Adjunctive Behavior / Schedule-Induced Behavior - ANS-Behavior that occurs as a
collateral effect of a schedule of periodic reinforcement for other behavior: time filling
or interim activities (doodling, idle talking, smoking, drinking) that are induced by
schedules of reinforcement during times when reinforcement is unlikely to be
delivered.
Antecedent - ANS-Environmental condition or stimulus change existing or occurring
prior to a behavior of interest.
Antecedent Intervention - ANS-A behavior change strategy that manipulates
contingency independent antecedent stimuli (motivating operations)
Applied Behavior Analysis - ANS-The science in which tactics derived from the
principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and
experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement of
behavior.
,Arbitrary Stimulus Class - ANS-Antecedent stimuli that evoke the same response but
do not resemble each other in physical form or share a relational aspect such as bigger
or under (ex: peanuts, cheese, coconut milk are members of the same arbitrary
stimulus class if the evoke the response "sources of protein".)
Artifact - ANS-An outcome or result that appears to exist because of the way it is
measured but in fact does not correspond to what actually occurred.
Autoclitic - ANS-a secondary verbal operant in which some aspect of a speakers own
verbal behavior functions as an Sd or MO for additional speaker verbal behavior. The
autoclitic relation can be thought of as verbal behavior about verbal behavior.
Automatic Reinforcement - ANS-Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social
mediation of others.
Automacity of Reinforcement - ANS-Refers to the fact that behavior is modified by its
consequences irrespective of the person's awareness; a person does not have to
recognize or verbalize the relation between her behavior and a reinforcing
consequence, or even know a consequence has occurred, for reinforcement to work.
Aversive Stimulus - ANS-In general an unpleasant or noxious stimulus, more
technically, a stimulus change or condition that functions (a) to evoke a behavior that
has terminated it in the past; (b) as a punisher when presented following behavior,
and/or (c) as a reinforcer when withdrawn following behavior.
Backward Chaining - ANS-...Treatment procedure in which a trainer completes all but
the last behavior in a chain, which is performed by the learner, who then
receivesreinforcement for completing the chain. When learner shows competence in
performing the final step in the chain, the trainer performs al but the last two
behaviors in the chain, the learner emits the final two steps to compelte the chain, and
reinforcement is delivered.
Back up reinforcers - ANS-...Tangible objects, activiites or privledges that serve as
reinforcers and that can be purchased with tokens
, Baseline - ANS-condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not
present
Behavior - ANS-...activity of living organisms. A portion of a humans interaction with
their environment that is characterized by detectable displacement in space though
time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least
one aspect of the environment.
Behavior Altering Effect - ANS-...an alteration in the current frequency of a behavior
that has been reinforced by a stimulus that has been altered in effectiveness by the
same motivating operation
Behavioral Contrast - ANS-... a phenomenon in which change in one component of a
multiple schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that
component is accompanied by a change in the response rate in the opposite direction
on the other, unaltered component of the schedule
Behavioral Cusp - ANS-...a behavior that has sudden and dramatic consequences that
extend well beyond the idiosyncratic change itself because it exposes the person to
new environments, reinforcers, contingencies, responses, and stimulus controls.
Behavioral Momentum - ANS-A metaphor to describe a rate of responding and its
resistance to change following an alteration in reinforcement conditions.
Behaviorism - ANS-The philosophy of a science of behavior there are various forms of
behaviorism.
Component Analysis - ANS-...an experiment designed to identify the active elements of
a treatment condition, the relative contributions of different variables in a treatment
package, and/or the necessary and sufficient components of an intervention.
....compares levels of responding across successive phases in which the intervention is
implemented with one or more components left out
Concurrent Schedule - ANS-...a schedule of reinforcement in which two or more
contingencies of reinforcement (elements) operate independently and simultaneously
for two or more behaviors
QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS
GRADED A+ 2025-2026
Abative Effect - ANS-a decrease in the current frequency of behavior that has been
reinforced by the stimulus that is increased in reinforcing effectiveness by the same
motivating operation. Ex: Food ingestion abates (decreases the current frequency of)
behavior that has been reinforced by food.
Abolishing Operation - ANS-A motivating operation that decreases the reinforcing
effectiveness of a stimulus, object, or event. Ex: the reinforcing effectiveness of food is
abolished as a result of food ingestion.
Adjunctive Behavior / Schedule-Induced Behavior - ANS-Behavior that occurs as a
collateral effect of a schedule of periodic reinforcement for other behavior: time filling
or interim activities (doodling, idle talking, smoking, drinking) that are induced by
schedules of reinforcement during times when reinforcement is unlikely to be
delivered.
Antecedent - ANS-Environmental condition or stimulus change existing or occurring
prior to a behavior of interest.
Antecedent Intervention - ANS-A behavior change strategy that manipulates
contingency independent antecedent stimuli (motivating operations)
Applied Behavior Analysis - ANS-The science in which tactics derived from the
principles of behavior are applied to improve socially significant behavior and
experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for the improvement of
behavior.
,Arbitrary Stimulus Class - ANS-Antecedent stimuli that evoke the same response but
do not resemble each other in physical form or share a relational aspect such as bigger
or under (ex: peanuts, cheese, coconut milk are members of the same arbitrary
stimulus class if the evoke the response "sources of protein".)
Artifact - ANS-An outcome or result that appears to exist because of the way it is
measured but in fact does not correspond to what actually occurred.
Autoclitic - ANS-a secondary verbal operant in which some aspect of a speakers own
verbal behavior functions as an Sd or MO for additional speaker verbal behavior. The
autoclitic relation can be thought of as verbal behavior about verbal behavior.
Automatic Reinforcement - ANS-Reinforcement that occurs independent of the social
mediation of others.
Automacity of Reinforcement - ANS-Refers to the fact that behavior is modified by its
consequences irrespective of the person's awareness; a person does not have to
recognize or verbalize the relation between her behavior and a reinforcing
consequence, or even know a consequence has occurred, for reinforcement to work.
Aversive Stimulus - ANS-In general an unpleasant or noxious stimulus, more
technically, a stimulus change or condition that functions (a) to evoke a behavior that
has terminated it in the past; (b) as a punisher when presented following behavior,
and/or (c) as a reinforcer when withdrawn following behavior.
Backward Chaining - ANS-...Treatment procedure in which a trainer completes all but
the last behavior in a chain, which is performed by the learner, who then
receivesreinforcement for completing the chain. When learner shows competence in
performing the final step in the chain, the trainer performs al but the last two
behaviors in the chain, the learner emits the final two steps to compelte the chain, and
reinforcement is delivered.
Back up reinforcers - ANS-...Tangible objects, activiites or privledges that serve as
reinforcers and that can be purchased with tokens
, Baseline - ANS-condition of an experiment in which the independent variable is not
present
Behavior - ANS-...activity of living organisms. A portion of a humans interaction with
their environment that is characterized by detectable displacement in space though
time of some part of the organism and that results in a measurable change in at least
one aspect of the environment.
Behavior Altering Effect - ANS-...an alteration in the current frequency of a behavior
that has been reinforced by a stimulus that has been altered in effectiveness by the
same motivating operation
Behavioral Contrast - ANS-... a phenomenon in which change in one component of a
multiple schedule that increases or decreases the rate of responding on that
component is accompanied by a change in the response rate in the opposite direction
on the other, unaltered component of the schedule
Behavioral Cusp - ANS-...a behavior that has sudden and dramatic consequences that
extend well beyond the idiosyncratic change itself because it exposes the person to
new environments, reinforcers, contingencies, responses, and stimulus controls.
Behavioral Momentum - ANS-A metaphor to describe a rate of responding and its
resistance to change following an alteration in reinforcement conditions.
Behaviorism - ANS-The philosophy of a science of behavior there are various forms of
behaviorism.
Component Analysis - ANS-...an experiment designed to identify the active elements of
a treatment condition, the relative contributions of different variables in a treatment
package, and/or the necessary and sufficient components of an intervention.
....compares levels of responding across successive phases in which the intervention is
implemented with one or more components left out
Concurrent Schedule - ANS-...a schedule of reinforcement in which two or more
contingencies of reinforcement (elements) operate independently and simultaneously
for two or more behaviors
