PHBA8240 Complex stimulus control - research and application Course description

Complex stimulus control has origins in behavioral psychology, especially within the areas of discrimination learning and behavioral analysis. Research areas that give the possibility of exploring more complex stimulus-response relations and to study how responses are governed by multiple features, contexts, or relational aspects of stimuli. Important topics within these research areas are conditional discrimination and Matching-to-Sample, stimulus equivalence and relational frame theory, transfer(formation) of function, contextual and compound stimulus control, and applications in clinical and educational settings. Research on complex stimulus control has implications for therapy, education, and cognitive science.

General admission requirements for the Ph.D. Degree in Health Sciences.

The course can also be offered to students who have been admitted to the "Health Science Research Programme, 60 ECTS", by prior approval from the supervisor and based on given guidelines for the research programme.

On completion of the course, the PhD candidate has achieved the following learning outcomes, defined in terms of knowledge, skills, and general competence:

Knowledge

The Phd candidate

• can describe complex stimulus control by accounting for

• how combinations of stimuli or relations among stimuli rather than simple stimuli influence behavior
• how individuals react to multiple stimulus dimensions
• how contextual control and relational control guide behavior
• how transfer(formation) of function influence behavior

Skills

The PhD candidate can

• describe the research strategies and main findings of the initial research on complex stimulus control
• discuss symbolic behavior
• describe and discuss the evolution of the field of equivalence research, with emphasis on theoretical explanation
• discuss motivational operations
• discuss attending properties of stimuli
• design and execute experiments within stimulus control
• describe motor and sensory systems
• perform data analysis and interpretation

General Competence

The Phd candidate

• understands how multiple features, contexts, or relations among stimuli influence behavior
• has competence about identifying stimulus features and relations
• can apply discrimination and generalization principles
• can use Matching-to-Sample (MTS) and conditional discrimination techniques
• understands the importance of stimulus equivalence and relational frame theory
• can apply knowledge about emergent relations in applied settings

The course consists of 10 days, 9:15 am -1:00 pm. However, the students should discuss and work on different projects out-of-class during the ten days. The students are required to give two presentations and also serve as discussant for two presentations. The format will be like a "mini conference" in which each speaker gives a presentation of maximum 18-20 min. Another student will serve as discussant and will give a constructive review of 15 min. A high level of student participation is expected. Assignments as presenters, discussants, and chapters/articles will be completed on Day 1.

• All papers approved,
• attendance in at least 80 % of the seminars

The examination is an essay focusing on stimulus control. The essay could be based on papers from the reading list and/or presentations at the course. The paper should be maximum 10 pages, double space, front page and references included.

All

Pass /Fail

One internal examiner