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| Learning To Read: Basic Processes and Implications To Practice |
| Wednesday, November 12, 2025 |
| 8:00 AM–8:50 AM |
| Altis Grand Hotel; Level -1; Londres |
| Area: EDC; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Marcelo Frota Lobato Benvenuti (University of São Paulo) |
| Presenting Author: MARTHA HUBNER (University of São Paulo) |
| Abstract: For Skinner (1957), if reading larger units, such as words, are taught, the control by smaller units, such as phonemes and syllables can emerge, without direct training. Basic researches during fifteen years have been conducting in order to verify this statement and check what are the relevant variables. Experiments were conducted at USP verbal operant laboratory (LEOV) in Brazil with pre-school children, from 3 to 4 years old. Through equivalence-based instruction and systematic recombination of minimal verbal units of disyllabic words in Portuguese, thirty neurotypical pre-school children learned to read twelve disyllabic words and were tested for generalization in reading new words, composed by the same units (syllables and letters) of the learned ones, with recombination of its positions in the words. The design was pre and post tests intra participants, but also with inter participants comparisons between several experimental variables effects upon 30 participant’s performances. Results were individually analysed and showed that the main experimental variable to produce minimal verbal unit control in reading was the systematic recombination of these units in three sets of four disyllabic words. After this procedure was conducted, all children improved reading scores (next to 100% of accurate reading) with a completely new set of four disyllabic words. At the level of phoneme unit, teaching this unit only produced accurate reading of new words, when teaching phonemes was combined with systematic recombination of the syllable unit. Positive implications for practice will be pointed out, highlighting the possibility to teach reading to ASD children with few errors. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
Learning Objectives: 1. define recombinative reading
2. describe basic processes that produce recombinative reading
3. describe the main variables that produced recombinative reading |
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| MARTHA HUBNER (University of São Paulo) |
 Dr. Hübner has graduated in Psychology at Catholic University, in São Paulo (PUCSP, 1979), Brazil, and completed her Master and Doctor Degrees in Experimental Psychology at USP (University of São Paulo, 1982 and 1990, respectively). Dr. Hübner’s master thesis (on autism and verbal behavior) and doctoral dissertation (on equivalence and reading) are considered to be the first ones with these themes in the history of Behavior Analysis in Brazil. She is currently a full professor at the University of São Paulo. She was president of the Brazilian Association of Psychology (SBP) from 2002 to 2005 and she coordinated the Graduate Program in Experimental Psychology at USP from 2005 to November 2012. She was also president of the Brazilian Association of Psychology and Behavioral Medicine. (ABPMC) from 2008 to 2011. In 2014, she was elected President of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI, from 2014 to 2017), having served on the Executive Board of ABAI from 2009 to 2014 (May) as an elected International Representative. She is a researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology in Behavior, with studies about verbal behavior, equivalence, bidirectional naming and recombinative reading (INCT-ECCE). Dr. Hübner has been published scientific papers in the main national Journals and international journal, such as The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Psychological Record, among others. Dr. Hübner has teaching, research and application experience, mainly in the following topics: verbal behavior, learning, reading, stimulus equivalence, recombinative reading, autism, both in basic and applied behavior analysis domains. In May 2018, she received the Award for "International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis", granted by ABAI. In May 2022, she also received the award for “Effective presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media”, from the same Association.
In 2013, when she was the Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Experimental Psychology at University of São Paulo, the Program received the award of Enduring Programmatic Contributions in Behavior Analysis. |
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| Brains Beyond Computers |
| Wednesday, November 12, 2025 |
| 9:00 AM–9:50 AM |
| Altis Grand Hotel; Level -1; Londres |
| Area: PCH; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Armando Machado (University of Aveiro, Portugal) |
| Presenting Author: ROMAIN BRETTE (Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics) |
| Abstract: Mainstreams theories of the brain are rooted in engineering concepts, such as computation, code, control, information, reverse-engineering, optimization. Living organisms are machines and the brain is a computer. It is rather ironic that, in the process of expelling God and magic from mind studies, cognitive science has persistently insisted that the brain is a machine, i.e., an artifact made by someone for a purpose using knowledge and planning. But the machine view of life is so engrained in scientific culture that it seems very difficult for many scientists to imagine that living organisms could be something else than machines, or that brains could be something else than computers. Starting from a discussion of our biological nature, I will show how many traditional concepts of brain and mind science, such as computation, information or prediction, are poorly suited to the study of biological cognition. As it turns out, living organisms are not actually engineered, and this makes considerable differences in the way neurons work, interact with each other, and are organized. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
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| ROMAIN BRETTE (Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics) |
 Romain Brette is a theoretical neuroscientist at the Institute of Intelligent Systems and Robotics, Paris. He was previously faculty at the Departments of Computer Science and Cognitive Science of Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, then in the Vision Institute, Paris. He has authored over 80 articles on various topics in neuroscience, from cellular biophysics to systems neuroscience, psychophysics and philosophy of neuroscience. He was awarded the early career scientific prize from Fondation pour l’Audition for his work on auditory perception, and the Open Science Free Software Award for his development of the neural simulator Brian. His current work lies at the intersection of microbiology and neuroscience, on the integrative neuroscience of protists. |
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| A Comparison Controlled Study Examining Outcome for Children With Autism Receiving Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) Institute for Child Development, Gdansk, Poland |
| Wednesday, November 12, 2025 |
| 10:30 AM–11:20 AM |
| Altis Grand Hotel; Level -1; Londres |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Armando Machado (University of Aveiro, Portugal) |
| Presenting Author: ANNA BUDZINSKA (Institute for Child Development in Gdansk, Poland) |
| Abstract: Over the past four decades, the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has risen and demands for effective interventions has increased accordingly. The best known comprehensive psychoeducational intervention is Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI; Lovaas, 1993, 2003). EIBI has been evaluated in numerous outcome studies and meta-analyses, and most of these studies suggest that EIBI may be effective in increasing intellectual and adaptive functioning in many preschool-aged children with ASD compared to eclectic treatment and treatment as usual (e.g., Cohen et al., 2006; Eikeseth et al., 2002, 2007, 2012; Eldevik et al., 2009, 2010, 2020; Howard et al., 2005, 2014; Perry et al., 2009; Reichow et al., 2018; Remington et al., 2007; Rodgers et al., 2021; Sallows & Graupner, 2005; Sandbank et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2000; Waters et al., 2020). Another ABA-based comprehensive intervention is the Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) model developed by Krantz and McClannahan originating at the Princeton Child Development Institute (McClannahan & Krantz, 1993, 1997, 2001). Treatment begins in a treatment center for children with ASD, and the children are gradually transferred to mainstream kindergartens or schools once they can function and learn effectively from this developmentally integrated setting. A comprehensive staff-training and consumer evaluation system is employed where all staff members including therapists, supervisors and directors receive annual professional evaluations as well as evaluations by the children’s parents (McClannahan & Krantz, 1993, 2001). Like EIBI, IBI utilizes a number of well-researched ABA principles and procedures, most of which are evidence based. Examples of evidence-based principles and procedures used in the IBI is reinforcement, antecedent-based interventions, task analysis, scripts and script fading procedures, response interruption/redirection, prompting, modeling, extinction, discrete trial teaching, video modeling, functional behavior assessment, and functional communication training (Wong et al., 2015). During the lecture I will present study evaluated the effects of a center-based Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) model for preschool aged children with autism published in Behavior Modification in September 2023 by authors Marta Wójcik, Svein Eikeseth , Philip Eikeseth, Ewa Budzinska, Anna Budzinska. Study shows the outcomes of 25 children receiving IBI in Institute for Child Development, Poland compared to the outcomes of 14 children receiving autism specific, eclectic, special education in different institutions in Poland. After 14?months of treatment, children from the IBI group improved significantly on standard scores in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior and had a significant reduction in autism severity compared to the children in the autism specific, eclectic, special education group. Results suggest that preschool aged children with autism may make large gains in intellectual and adaptive functioning and improvement in autism severity with IBI, and that effects of IBI may be similar to that of EIBI. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe outcomes from study examining outcomes for children receiving IBI services in Poland
2. Describe the IBI model developed by Krantz and McClannahan
3. Describe how EIBI and IBI differ |
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| ANNA BUDZINSKA (Institute for Child Development in Gdansk, Poland) |
 Doctor Anna Budzinska since 20 years is a Director of the Institute for Child Development in Gdansk (IWRD) - the only polish dissemination side of Princeton Child Development Institute. Doctor Budzinska runs the ABA courses at the University of Gdansk. She has made many national and international contributions to autism intervention, including lectures at several universities and foundations on autism e.g. in Austria, Slovakia, Norway. Many times, she presented papers at the Association for Behavior Analysis International Convention. Doctor Budzinska has published many research articles. |
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| Why Race and Ethnicity in Behavior Analysis? |
| Wednesday, November 12, 2025 |
| 2:00 PM–2:50 PM |
| Altis Grand Hotel; Level -1; Londres |
| Area: DEI; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Marcelo Frota Lobato Benvenuti (University of São Paulo) |
| Presenting Author: TAHCITA MEDRADO MIZAEL (University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: Historically, the use of behavior analysis to understand and address social phenomena such as prejudice has been scarce. One might even argue that behavior analysis has failed to address issues pertaining to race and ethnicity in its four domains: theory, basic research, applied research, and service delivery. In the last decade, several behavior analysts have been trying to address concerns related to the absence of such discussions within the field by attempting to show how the field can be an ally when it comes to racially/ethnically marginalizes groups. This presentation aims to show the audience why it is important to understand, assess, and address race and ethnicity in all of its domains. The presentation will encompass Skinner’s preoccupation with social issues and introduce some studies showing that race and ethnicity are not just topics important when it comes to service delivery (e.g., bias in service delivery) but emphasizing how we can use and integrate this knowledge in the other domains as well. |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
Learning Objectives: 0. To describe how behavior analysts can integrate knowledge about race/ethnicity in its four domains
0. To list at least three ways in which race/ethnicity impacts the work of behavior analysts
0. To explain how behavior analysts that work in experimental research can incorporate race/ethnicity in their research agendas |
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| TAHCITA MEDRADO MIZAEL (University of Edinburgh) |
 Tahcita M. Mizael is a Brazilian clinical psychologist. She holds a BsC, MsC and PhD in Psychology. She has over 10 years of experience researching race relations and behavior analysis. In 2024, Tahcita was the winner of the ABAI Distinguished Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. Currently, she is a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh. |
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| Learning Models of Eating and Weight Disorders |
| Wednesday, November 12, 2025 |
| 4:30 PM–5:20 PM |
| Altis Grand Hotel; Level -1; Londres |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Mark Galizio (University of North Carolina Wilmington) |
| Presenting Author: ANITA JANSEN (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: Learned appetitive responses, or food cue reactivity, are powerful drivers of eating behavior, even in the absence of hunger. These cue-induced desires and cravings can undermine healthy eating habits, contribute to weight gain, and impede weight loss or the maintenance of a reduced weight. Addressing and extinguishing these appetitive responses can be a valuable approach for treating binge eating and overeating. Conversely, restrictive eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, can be understood as learned avoidance behaviors rooted in fear and threat beliefs related to eating. Interventions for these disorders, including exposure therapy, should not only focus on reducing fear but also target the associated avoidance behaviors. This presentation explores the learning mechanisms underlying eating and weight disorders, offering insights into how these processes shape behaviors. It will also discuss the practical implications of these findings, with an emphasis on translating laboratory research into effective (exposure-based) therapeutic interventions for eating and weight disorders. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
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| ANITA JANSEN (Maastricht University) |
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| Relational Framing: How Did It Evolve? |
| Wednesday, November 12, 2025 |
| 5:30 PM–6:20 PM |
| Altis Grand Hotel; Level -1; Londres |
| Area: VBC; Domain: Theory |
| Chair: Marcelo Frota Lobato Benvenuti (University of São Paulo) |
| DERMOT BARNES-HOLMES (Ulster University), Colin Harte (Universidade Federal de São Carlos), Maithri Sivaraman (Teachers College of Columbia University, USA; Tendrils Centre for Autism, India) |
| Abstract: For almost a decade there has been a concerted effort to develop a conceptual framework for systematizing relational frame theory (RFT). The most recent version is known as the Hyper-Dimensional Multi-Level framework and consists of five levels of relational development: (i) mutually entailing, (ii) combinatorial entailing, (iii) relational networking, (iv) relating relations, and (v) relating relational networks. These five levels of relating activity intersect with the four dimensions of; (i) coherence, (ii) complexity, (iii) derivation, and (iv) flexibility. In systematizing RFT in this manner, the developmental nature of the theory is highlighted, not in a stage-like way, but in terms of how relatively simple types of relational responding, such a mutual entailing, appear to provide the historical basis for more complex forms, such as combinatorial entailing and relational networking. When presented in this light, one question that emerges is how these increasingly complex patterns of relational responding evolved across many thousands of years of hominin evolution. In the current presentation we will attempt to identify some likely evolutionary events that were responsible for the gradual growth in relational complexity, focusing on phenomena such as alert calls in primates, tool use, fire and biological adaptation. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify the five levels of relational development of the hyperdimensional multi-level framework
2. Identify the five dimensions of relational responding of the hyper-dimensional multi-level framework
3. Describe how the increasing levels of relational complexity specified in the framework may have evolved |
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| DERMOT BARNES-HOLMES (Ulster University) |
 Dr. Dermot Barnes-Holmes graduated from the University of Ulster in 1985 with a B.Sc. in Psychology and in 1990 with a D.Phil. in behavior analysis. His first tenured position was in the Department of Applied Psychology at University College Cork, where he founded and led the Behavior Analysis and Cognitive Science unit. In 1999 he accepted the foundation professorship in psychology and head-of-department position at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. In 2015 he accepted a life-time senior professorship at Ghent University in Belgium. In 2020 he returned to his alma mater as a full professor at Ulster University. Dr. Barnes-Holmes is known internationally for the analysis of human language and cognition through the development of Relational Frame Theory with Steven C. Hayes, and its application in various psychological settings. He was the world's most prolific author in the experimental analysis of human behaviour between the years 1980 and 1999. He was awarded the Don Hake Translational Research Award in 2012 by the American Psychological Association, is a past president and fellow of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, and a fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis, International. He is also a recipient of the Quad-L Lecture Award from the University of New Mexico and became an Odysseus laureate in 2015 when he received an Odysseus Type 1 award from the Flemish Science Foundation in Belgium. In 2024 Professor Barnes-Holmes will receive the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (SABA) award for the International Dissemination of Behavior Analysis. |
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