Study objective: To investigate whether a naturalistic training package including humorous acts can effectively increase the positive social behavior of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Design: A-B-A-B reversal design. Setting: Free play on the floor of a testing room at the university. Participant: A boy (5 years 5 months) with Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Intervention: Full package of (a) tactile events, (b) auditory events, (c) visual events, (d) teasing, (e) delay of reinforcement, and (f) extended contingent imitation. Measure: 3 dependent variables (eye contact, smile, eye contact+smile) were scored at 15-second intervals, using occurrence/non-occurrence data. During each session, 40 intervals were recorded. Results: Increases in the 3 positive social behaviors during the intervention phases. Conclusion: Implementation of the naturalistic training package including humorous acts was effective in increasing the frequency of social behavior in a child with autism spectrum disorder.

Study objective: Factors influencing the preferences for kanji learning of children enrolled in special support classes for students with intellectual disabilities were investigated. Study I examined the children’s preferences for performing a high-preference task after a low-preference task, and Study II, their preferences for a choice opportunity after a low-preference task. Design: Preferences for learning tasks were assessed as follows: In Study I, the children were asked to choose a printed material to perform only low-preference tasks and another printed material to perform high-preference tasks after low-preference tasks. In Study II, the children were asked to choose printed material with choice opportunities for the task after a low-preference task and printed material without choice opportunities. Setting: A classroom. Participants: Children enrolled in elementary school special support classes (N = 4 boys). Independent variables: Having a high preference task (Study I) and having a choice opportunity (Study II). Measure: The children’s choice of printed materials. Results: In Study I, printed materials for high-preference tasks were preferred even when the children had to do many low-preference tasks. In Study II, some of the children preferred printed materials with a choice opportunity, even when they had to perform many low-preference tasks. Conclusion: It is possible that high-preference tasks and choice opportunities could reinforce engagement in low-preference tasks. However, whether they functioned as reinforcers could not be verified strictly, so that remains a task for future research.

The present note reports the development of a low-cost compact device for measuring longhand notetaking by students in university classrooms. To accomplish this, a small switch, connected to the left-button circuit of a wireless mouse, was attached to a ballpoint pen, and the signals from the switch were sent to a laptop computer via the mouse receiver. Visual Basic for Application® was used for recording the data. 3 tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the device. The participants were 64 university students who were asked to write a 10-character Japanese sentence, 6 times per condition. The measures analyzed included the number of writing responses, which was logically equal to the number of strokes detected by the switch, and processing speed, i.e., the number of strokes written per second. 3 switches were compared in the first test. Of those, a plunger switch with a normally-closed circuit was the most appropriate. Subsequently, several improvements were made to the plunger-type device, including decreasing the time for response detection by shortening the switch stroke and attaching an LED that visualized signal detection to assist participants in keeping the pen pressure above the required force for switch actuation. During the third test, the average percentage of detected responses out of the total number of strokes written was 98.5%, using written characters in block style. Thus, the device achieved sufficient accuracy for measuring the students’ handwriting. In another test, it was also confirmed that the device possessed adequate traceable frequency to be able to follow handwriting.

Researchers in behavior analysis have developed effective educational methods, of which positive behavior support (PBS) is representative, that are aimed at enhancing individuals’ quality of life and minimizing problem behaviors. However, methods developed with this approach cannot achieve the expected effects if support people in the target individuals’ environment do not implement the methods. For this reason, supporting those people in their implementation of positive behavior methods is critical. In the present tutorial, this issue is examined by focusing on the situation in the places in the U. S. A. where positive behavior supports are incorporated in the system of education for children with disabilities. The school-wide positive behavior support seen there suggests the importance of systems that construct behavioral contingencies for support people, systems that support those contingencies, and data-based systems. The present situation in Japan is examined from this point of view.

Who was the real “Little Albert,” known as Albert B., who appeared in John B. Watson’s paper on conditioned emotional reactions (Watson & Rayner, 1920)? The 9-month-old boy has been a well-known figure in the history of psychology. Following the study’s conclusion, Albert was taken away, apparently by his family, from the hospital where he had lived since birth, leaving no clue as to his whereabouts thereafter. Recently, Beck, Levinson, & Irons (2009) claimed that Little Albert was actually an infant named Douglas Merritte who developed hydrocephalus in 1922 and died in 1925. Moreover, in 2012, Beck’s group reported some overlooked signs of Albert’s neurological impairment and suggested that Watson might have mistreated the baby had that been the case. However, in 2014, another group of psychologists identified a different baby, Albert Barger, as a more suitable candidate for Albert B. The controversy over “finding Little Albert” is discussed in the present paper.

The present research investigated circumstances under which Skinner boxes were shipped to occupied Japan and the subsequent impact of Skinner boxes on the development of instrumentation for behavioral research in Japan. After World War II, Japan was under Allied occupation from 1945 to 1952. During that time, the Science Council of Japan and the Ministry of Education applied for funding to import scientific equipment from the United States (US). As a result of negotiations, the General Headquarters (GHQ) permitted export of scientific equipment from the US to occupied Japan. In 1949, GHQ allocated Economic Rehabilitation in Occupied Area (EROA) program funds to purchase a Skinner box, and the Japanese Ministry of Education allocated matching funds as well. The first procedure in the process of importing two types of Skinner boxes, one for rats and one for pigeons, was to check their purchase cost against the 1949 budget of the Japanese Ministry of Education for imported machinery. The unit price listed in the application for 1950 was US$500; however, the actual amount paid was US$716. Although the exact arrival date in Japan of the Skinner boxes remains unclear, they were shipped from Harvard University in 1951. The original Skinner box for rats was used at Tokyo University until 1957. The original Skinner box for pigeons was used with modifications at Keio University until 1958. The Japanese manufacturer, Takei Kiki Kogyo Co., Ltd., built prototype experimental boxes in 1953, modeled on the original boxes. The company manufactured various models for pigeons, called the “Takei Skinner box” until the 1970s. The original Skinner box design was used in Japan for only a short period of time. However, the design was widely used as a reference model for developing additional instrumentation for behavioral research during the postwar period.

The present Special Section is based on a symposium held at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association for Behavior Analysis, titled “The beginning of the study of operant conditioning in Japan: Two sets of the experimental apparatus sent from Skinner’s Lab. in early 1950’s”. In terms of a historical view of the study of operant conditioning in Japan in particular, as well as the history of scientific methods in general, it is very important to see how these apparatuses were introduced to Keio University and the University of Tokyo. To this end, we interviewed people who had worked with these Skinner boxes, and listed in a chronological table events that had occurred at both universities. The present Special Section includes an introduction to the chronological table, an interview with Hideo Hirasawa, who is one of the people listed in the table, and a description of how the apparatus for pigeons was used at Keio University, as well as how these Skinner boxes were introduced and developed in Japan. In addition, comments by Dr. Tadasu Oyama, former professor of the University of Tokyo, and a review of studies of operant conditioning in Japan published from the 1940s to the present are included. These articles reveal how Skinner boxes were introduced and developed in Japan, even though some aspects of events that are included in the chronological table are unknown.