Maria Helena Hunziker

• PhD
• Principal Investigator at University of São Paulo

Five pilot studies were developed aiming to investigate contingencies that produced, with humans, differential levels of variability (low and high) under negative reinforcement, as well as the effect of the duration of the extinction on the response thus established. In the negative reinforcement phase, the loss of points could be interrupted by em...

O advento da pandemia de Covid-19 implicou cenários desafiadores a cientistas e líderes políticos, que se viram às voltas com uma emergência que demandou tomada de decisão rápida e repleta de incertezas. Nesse contexto, as ciências comportamentais desempenharam papel tão relevante quanto controverso, posto que algumas decisões alegadamente tomadas...

Recentemente surgiram estudos sociológicos que destacam como as experiências geradas pela intersecção de pelo menos dois marcadores sociais, como raça e gêne-ro, produzem experiências ímpares que compõem o que se denominou de "solidão da mulher negra". Mulheres negras relatam o sentimento de que são preteridas pelos homens que, em geral, preferem s...

Since the 1980s, studies on operant behavioral variability have almost exclusively investigated positive reinforcement contingencies. However, this scenario has changed somewhat in the past two decades, so studies on aversive control of behavioral variability are now available. Considering that this literature has not yet been systematized, the pre...

In a previous study, Fonseca Júnior and Hunziker (2017) provided evidence of the control of behavioral variability by avoidance contingencies. However, their study presented three methodological weaknesses: (1) only one contingency reversal was conducted in the experimental design adopted, (2) the lever press was shaped using a positive reinforceme...

Estudos recentes apontam convergências e divergências entre duas ciências comportamentais, a análise do comportamento e a economia comportamental. Mais especificamente, propostas derivadas de cada uma dessas ciências para a regulação da vida em sociedade – a arquitetura de escolhas por meio de nudges, e o planejamento cultural por meio do manejo de...

João Claudio Todorov: Um mestre na ciência e no afeto

Este trabalho revisou a literatura sobre a solidão da mulher negra, buscando entender os significados atribuídos a essa terminologia. Utilizaram-se as bases Portal de Periódicos CAPES, Banco de Teses e Dissertações da CAPES e plataforma BVS, e os descritores “solidão da mulher negra/preta” e “rejeição da mulher negra/preta”. Foram selecionados e an...

Return of fear may be prevented by post-retrieval extinction (PRE), a procedure consisting of presenting a stimulus that was present during conditioning (retrieval cue) prior to extinction training. However, recent evidence suggests that there might be circumstances under which PRE is not effective to prevent the return of fear (boundary conditions...

Murray Sidman's Coercion and its fallout (1989) is a classic on the behaviorist perspective to social issues. The book provided an operational approach to complex behavioral phenomena, paving the way for behavior analysts to address a wide range of human affairs. Nevertheless, the equivalence established by Sidman between coercion and the use of pu...

Embora o feminismo venha sendo estudado sob a perspectiva analítico-comportamental, o conceito de “patriarcado”, fundamental na abordagem feminista, ainda não foi explorado sob essa perspectiva. O presente artigo se propôs a dar início ao preenchimento dessa lacuna partindo dos principais conceitos utilizados no estudo sociológico do patriarcado, e...

To increase the number of aversive stimuli that are available for laboratory research, the hot air blast (HAB) was tested as a negative reinforcer in two escape contingencies. Sixteen naïve rats were exposed to 30 or 60 HAB presentations. For half of the subjects, the escape response was jumping in a shuttle box; for the others, the HAB was interru...

Behavior analysis and behavioral economics represent different traditions, but with relevant points of intersection and complementarity. Recent studies point to convergences and divergences, often in a non-specific way, lacking a careful analysis on some ontological, technical and ethical aspects-particularly those involved in proposals of such sci...

The purpose of this article is to analyze the behavioral aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The variables that control prevention behavior are addressed. Some general contingencies are highlighted, which affect the behavior of virtually everyone, as well as some that reach groups differentially, according to social class, gender, and race. The role...

Experimental data suggest that associative learning can influence defensive avoidance behavior and pain perception in humans. However, whether voluntary movements can become conditioned stimuli and influence pain responses has yet to be evaluated. Forty healthy volunteers participated in this study. Electrocutaneous stimuli applied to the shoulder...

In this paper, time perception as a function of reinforcement and punishment is investigated within a retrospective paradigm. The experiment used a computer game simulating a maze, where the participants controlled an avatar and had to make path choices between left and right to progress. Under punishment (P-), "wrong" choices resulted in the loss...

The Behavior Analysis literature describes two types of control: aversive and positive. A review of specialized publications revealed an objective definition of control through positive reinforcement, but no definition of aversive control. In this paper, we discuss the scientific meaning of the terms “control” and “aversive” from the viewpoint of b...

A divisão binária entre reforçamento positivo e controle aversivo estabelece que os dois tipos de controle são excludentes entre si. Em direção contrária, alguns autores vêm defendendo que essa dicotomia não se sustenta uma vez que contingências de reforçamento positivo podem envolver também funções aversivas. O presente trabalho teve por objetivo...

In this paper, time perception as a function of reinforcement and punishment is investigated within a retrospective paradigm. The experiment used a computer game simulating a maze, where the participants controlled an avatar and had to make path choices between left and right to progress. Under punishment (P-), “wrong” choices resulted in the loss...

Perception is not simply a carbon copy of the real world, but is subject to distortions that may reflect protective drive. This study aimed to investigate whether people with chronic shoulder pain show perceptual distortions of space and body that may promote protective behavior. Eighty-four people with shoulder pain and 51 healthy controls partici...

Experimental evidence suggests that the return of fear may be prevented by post-retrieval extinction (PRE), a procedure consisting of extinction training after the presentation of a retrieval cue. However, attempts to replicate these findings have yielded mixed results, with some studies showing diminished fear responses after PRE, whereas others s...

Esse texto discute o tratamento dogmático que tem sido dado ao controle aversivo analisando duas as-serções bastante difundidas entre analistas do comportamento: 1) o controle aversivo é ineficaz (tem efeito transitório) e 2) ele é prejudicial ao indivíduo (produz efeitos colaterais indesejáveis). Como ponto de partida, aponta-se a falta de precisã...

Este artigo compara dois conjuntos de textos publicados no Brasil, em 1 988 e 201 6, focados na análise domodelo de seleção pelas consequências proposto por Skinner. São apresentados os contextos acadêmicosem que os dois conjuntos foram produzidos, um breve resumo das principais contribuições de cada texto,fazendo uma comparação entre eles para vis...

The aim of this study was to establish whether exposure of pregnant rats to uncontrollable (psychological) stressors might change the likelihood of their offspring to exhibit functional and histopathological abnormalities suggestive of asthma in adulthood. Pregnant rats (n = 16) underwent one of three treatments: electric shocks of a maximum durati...

This paper aims to examine some contributions of neuroscience to the study of stimulus discrimination. Experiments are discussed concerning the discriminative processes involving (1) brain stimulation as antecedent and consequent stimulus, (2) neural activity as response, (3) brain lesions, (4) drugs, and (5) brain changes after exposure to discrim...

RESUMO O objetivo deste trabalho foi examinar aquisição e manutenção da variabilidade reforçada positivamente, tendo como adição apresentação de choque contingente ao padrão não variável. Na primeira fase, ratos (n=16) passaram por reforçamento diferencial da variabilidade, tendo o reforço (água) contingente à emis-são de sequências de quatro respo...

Elenice’s pioneering work opened avenues for several other researchers who were interested in integrating biology and the experimental analysis of behavior. Throughout her career, Elenice developed systematic studies within two lines of investigation: the temporal organization of behavior and learning and memory processes and the neurobiology of le...

Resumo Os objetivos deste estudo foram: verificar se o pareamento CS-US aversivo, sobreposto ao reforçamento po-sitivo de variar ou repetir, altera os padrões mantidos em linha de base; verificar se os padrões de variabilida-de/repetição interferem na supressão condicionada. Ratos foram distribuídos em dois grupos, denominados Variabilidade (VAR) e...

A Propensão Marginal a Consumir é um conceito econômico que descreve uma relação de controle direta da renda pessoal sobre o consumo das pessoas. Este e outros conceitos-chave da Economia como “preço”, “consumo” e “poupança” podem contribuir para estudos sobre o comportamento de consumir dentro da Análise do Comportamento, bem como expor algumas va...

Immediate early genes (IEG) are presumed to be activated in response to stress, novelty, and learning. Evidence supports the involvement of prefrontal and hippocampal areas in stress and learning, but also in the detection of novel events. This study examined whether a previous experience with shocks changes the pattern of Fos and Egr-1 expression...

The concept of metacontingency was taught to undergraduate students of Psychology by using a "game" simulation proposed originally by Vichi, Andery and Glenn (2009). Twenty-five students, distributed into three groups were exposed to six experimental sessions in which they had to make bets and divide the amounts gained. The three groups competed ag...

Esse texto foi escrito com o objetivo de rever uma trajetória pessoal dentro da Psicologia. A idéia básica é relembrar, através de um relato informal, as contingências que controlaram alguns dos comportamentos de escolha que levaram a uma carreira de pesquisadora básica em análise do comportamento. As lembranças se iniciam em fatos de infância, apa...

Three experiments investigated learned helplessness in rats manipulating response topography within-subject and different intervals between treatment and tests among groups. In Experiment 1, rats previously exposed to inescapable shocks were tested under an escape contingency where either jumping or nose poking was required to terminate shocks; tes...

Embora a literatura relativa à análise do comportamento descreva as relações que envolvem controle aver-sivo, esse termo não é, em si, defi nido claramente. O presente texto visa analisar conceitualmente o que signifi ca “controle” e que fatores o caracterizam como “aversivo”. O termo “controle” é analisado funcio-nalmente, considerando-se as proba...

A Propensão Marginal a Consumir é um conceito econômico que descreve uma relação de controle direta da renda pessoal sobre o consumo das pessoas. Este e outros conceitos-chave da Economia como " preço " , " consumo " e " poupança " podem contribuir para estudos sobre o comportamento de consumir dentro da Análise do Comportamento, bem como expor alg...

Variability, previously treated as experimental noise, has become the object of systematic study. In studies of behavior there has been a high level of consistency in data referring to the initial appearance and maintenance of variability. However, research on behavioral variability includes theoretical/conceptual questions that still need to be ad...

Foram realizados dois experimentos com o objetivo de investigar o desamparo aprendido e a imunizaçâo, em ratos, em funçâo do nível de atividade motora da resposta a ser aprendida: "saltar" e "focinhar", classificadas como de alta e baixa atividade, respectivamente. No experimento 1, os animáis foram subrnetidos a duas sesssões, sendo na primeira ex...

Resumo A dor pode ser analisada sob diferentes perspectivas, a depender dos referenciais teóricos que embasam o seu estudo. O presente texto utiliza a perspectiva analítico-comportamental considerando a dor como um comportamento encoberto. São relatados alguns experimentos com animais que exemplificam como a dor pode ser função de aprendizagens ope...

The pain analysis can be done from different perspectives, depending on the theorical basis for this study. The present paper is based on the behavioral analytic perspective, understanding pains as a covert behavior. We analyze some animal studies demonstrating that pain can be a function ontogenetic processes (operant or respondent learning) moreo...

O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar se estímulos aversivos não contingentes (incontroláveis) produzem interferência em um processo de aprendizagem discriminativa reforçada positivamente. Vinte e quatro ratos foram distribuídos em três grupos (n=8) que diferiram entre si quanto ao tratamento recebido na primeira sessão: choques controláveis (C),...

This study attempted to (1) compare the behavioral variability produced by two contingencies, (2) verify whether the order of exposure to these contingencies might interfere with the acquisition and maintenance of variability, and (3) establish how extinction interferes in the reacquisition of variability. Reinforcement was delivered to fourteen ma...

Variability, previously treated as experimental noise, has become the object of systematic study. In studies of behavior there has been a high level of consistency in data referring to the initial appearance and maintenance of variability. However, research on behavioral variability includes theoretical/conceptual questions that still need to be ad...

O controle pela conseqüência talvez seja a principal característica definidora do que se convencionou chamar comportamento operante, e é o que tradicionalmente o distingue do comportamento respondente (Skinner, 1953). A sensibilidade às conseqüências do comportamento foi selecionada ao longo da história evolutiva dos organismos e é o que possibilit...

Entender o controle pelas conseqüências é crucial para a compreensão do comportamento dos organismos como um todo, mas a identificação precisa de qual conseqüência é responsável pela manutenção do responder pode não ser tarefa simples. O presente trabalho teve por objetivo analisar as inter-relações entre duas formas de conseqüenciação possíveis –...

Three experiments investigated learned helplessness in rats manipulating response requirements, shock duration, and intervals between treatment and testing. In Experiment 1, rats previously exposed to uncontrollable or no shocks were tested under one of four different contingencies of negative reinforcement: FR 1 or FR 2 escape contingency for runn...

Este estudo investigou se a exposição a diferentes contingências de reforçamento positivo, antes do tratamento com choques incontroláveis, pode impedir o desenvolvimento do desamparo aprendido em ratos (efeito de imunização). Foram manipulados cinco grupos de ratos Wistar (n= 8). Sujeitos de três grupos foram submetidos a sessões de reforçamento po...

O objetivo desse experimento foi verificar se a experiência prévia com eventos aversivos incontroláveis interfere na aprendizagem da variabilidade ou da repetição operantes. Ratos (n=45) tiveram a reposta de pressão à barra reforçada positivamente em CRF e FR 4, sendo depois divididos em três grupos, expostos a choques elétricos controláveis, incon...

The aim of the present experiment was to verify whether the previous experience with uncontrollable aversive events interferes in the learning of operant variability and repetition. Rats responses to lever pressure (n=45) were reinforced positively in CRF and FR 4 contingencies and then divided into three groups, exposed to electric shocks that cou...

Esse estudo investigou se o reforçamento positivo da variação ou da repetição pode imunizar o sujeito contra o desamparo aprendido. Ratos foram divididos em três grupos, dois deles submetidos a 10 sessões de reforçamento positivo (variação ou repetição) e o terceiro sem esse tratamento. Em seguida, cada grupo foi subdividido em três, expostos a cho...

RESUMO – O desamparo aprendido tem sido definido como a dificuldade de aprendizagem apresentada por indivíduos que tiveram experiência prévia com estímulos aversivos incontroláveis. O objetivo deste trabalho é fazer uma revisão crítica dos estudos sobre o desamparo aprendido, com animais. Nessa análise, são considerados aspectos conceituais e metod...

Learned helplessness is a learning deficit produced by the previous experience with uncontrollable aversive stimuli. The present paper aims at carrying out a critical review of studies on animal learned helplessness. Conceptual and methodological questions related to learned helplessness are considered, along with its theoretical interpretation. We...

This experiment investigated whether non-contingent (uncontrollable) appetitive stimuli can produce interference on subsequent escape learning (learned helplessness). Rats were divided into three groups (n = 8): contingent (C), non-contingent (NC) or naive (I). In the fi rst phase (treatment), the C animals were exposed to positive reinforcement un...

Learned helplessness effect has been observed across a wide range of species. This paper introduces the basic characteristics oflearned helplessness experiments performed with infrahwnan subjects. A critical analysis of most of these experiments shows procedural and measurement problems in addition to a low defftional precision. Some results produc...

periment, whereas WKYs were more sensitive to the variability contingencies. Thus, behavioral variability was affected by genetic strain and by reinforcement contingency but not by the environment in which the subjects were reared. Key words: behavioral variability, response sequences, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, body weight, response...

The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) may model aspects of human attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For example, just as responses by children with ADHD tend to be variable, so too SHRs often respond more variably than do Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) control rats. The present study asked whether behavioral variability in the SHR strain is in...

It has been shown that uncontrollable shocks that produce learned helplessness also produce long-term opioid analgesia if th animal is re-exposed to shock immediately before the test. The present study was conducted in order to investigate if this effect can be observed 24h after the uncontrollable shock treatment without re-exposure to shock, and...

In order to illustrate the use of animal models in the study of the anxiolytic and antidepressant properties of drugs acting on 5-HT receptors, a series of experiments is described. With electrical stimulation of the midbrain central gray (CG), an aversive area of the brain, the 5-HT-1 receptor antagonist propranolol raised the aversive threshold i...

The effects of the 5-hydroxytryptamine-1A (5-HT1A) receptor agonists on the learned helplessness test were investigated. Rats were submitted to a single session of 60 uncontrollable shocks (10-s duration, 1.0 mA, every 60 +/- 40 s) and then treated twice daily with ip injections of either ipsapirone (13 mg/kg daily) or BAY R 1531 (0.375 mg/kg daily...

This paper was meant as a personal account of my history within Psychology. The basic idea is to recall the contingencies that controlled some of the choices that led to a carrier as a researcher in behavior analysis. The first recollections, seemingly disconnected with that professional activity, began during my childhood and continued through my...