CHARLES HUGHES: So, now let's talk about properties and dimensions of behavior. This information is critical when deciding which aspects of behavior to change and to measure. So, a property-- a property is a fundamental quality of a phenomenon. So, a property is a fundamental quality of a phenomenon. A dimensional quantity is a quantifiable aspect of a property. So, a dimensional quantity is a quantifiable aspect of a property. So, we're going to start with the fundamental property of something called temporal locus.

So, temporal locus is a single-- a single response occurs in time. More specifically, a response occurs at a certain point in time in relation to a proceeding environmental event. Thus, one of the fundamental properties of a single response is temporal locus. So, a single response occurs in time and more specifically, a response occurs at a certain point in time in relation to a proceeding environmental event. Thus, one of the fundamental properties of a single response is temporal locus.

Now, the property of a temporal locus involves a response and its relation to an event that occurred right before it. Therefore, a dimensional quantity we can measure related to temporal locus is the time between the environmental event, which is often referred to as a stimulus, and the beginning of the response. That period of time between the stimulus and the response is called latency.

Now, one school situation that comes to mind with regards to latency is how long it takes between when a teacher tells her students to "open your books to page 42" and the length of time it takes for a student to do so. Another example of latency is related to American football. The quarterback says, "hike" and the center hands the ball to him. The amount of time between saying hike and when the ball is actually hiked is latency.

OK, so the dimensional quantity that's associated with temporal locus is latency, which is the amount of time between a stimulus and a response. So, the dimensional quantity associated with temporal locus is latency, which is the amount of time between a stimulus and response. Now, the property of temporal locus involves a response and its relation to an event that occurred right before it. Therefore, a dimensional quantity we can measure related to temporal locus is the time between the environmental event, which is often referred to as a stimulus, and the beginning of the response. That period of time is called latency.

Now, for example, one school situation that comes to mind with regard to the latency is how long it takes between when a teacher tells her students to "open your books to page 42" and the length of time it actually takes the students to do so. Now, another example of latency is related to American football. Say the quarterback says, "hike", then the center hands the ball to him and the play starts. The amount of time between saying the word "hike", which is the stimulus, and when the ball is actually hiked is called the latency. Now you're going to see an animation which illustrates latency, which is the time between a stimulus and the behavior.

[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

-Hi, class. Can you tell me what nine times nine is?

-Huh?

-Oh, I know it.

-81?

[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

PROFESSOR: So, in the animation that you just watched, we have the teacher's asking what is nine times nine. And then, a student responds. But if you count the time between the teacher asking the question and the student response, the time was 11 seconds between those two. So, I could say that the latency of answering this question was 11 seconds. Another related example would be the amount of time the teacher's saying, "Line up for lunch" and when the students actually begin to line up.

Now, the next fundamental property has to do with how long a response lasts, or its temporal extent. A second fundamental property of a single response is derived from the fact that a response occupies a certain amount of time. This property is called temporal extent. So, a second fundamental property of a single response is derived from the fact that a response occupies a certain amount of time. And this property is called temporal extent.

The dimensional quantity associated with temporal extent is duration, which is the amount of time between the beginning and the end of the response. So, the dimensional quantity associated with temporal extent is duration, which is the amount of time between the beginning and the end of the response.

[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

-Teacher, Dillon's falling asleep in class. Teacher, Rebecca ripped my paper. Teacher, Olivia said a bad word. Teacher, he poked me with his pencil. Teacher, Jessica's working ahead. Teacher, Robert wrote all over his desk. Teacher, Julia's passing notes.

[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

PROFESSOR: OK, in that animation, what we had was a student exhibiting what we often call tattle-taling behavior. Now, if we were looking at the duration of that, we would basically look at how long that class of behavior lasted. I counted that she kept doing it for 25 seconds. So, one could say the duration of her tattle-telling behavior, which is not a great description, was 25 seconds. So again, duration is how long a particular behavior or class of behaviors lasts.

Because duration is how long behavior lasts, it's often measured when we want students to work on a particular task longer or that we want them to be off task for a shorter amount of time. It's a quantity of concern also when we're trying to measure, say, the length of a tantrum or how long it takes a student to get from one class to the next. Now, while the last two properties and quantities that we've talked about dealt with temporal aspects, that is time, the next properties and quantities deal with the frequency of responses or how often the behavior occurs.

So, a third fundamental property is repeatability through time. It refers to the fact that a response can reoccur. So, a third fundamental property of behavior is repeatability through time. It refers to the fact that a response can reoccur. Countability is the dimensional quantity associated with repeatability, which is the number of responses or cycles of the response class. So, countability is the dimensional quantity associated with repeatability, which is the number of responses or cycles of the response class.

Simply stated, we are often concerned with how many times a behavior or response occurs. That is, the behavior may not be occurring enough or the behavior may be occurring too often. So, take a look at another animation, here.

[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

-Teacher, Dillon's falling asleep in class. Teacher, Rebecca ripped my paper. Teacher, Olivia said a bad word. Teacher, he poked me with his pencil. Teacher, Jessica's working ahead. Teacher, Robert wrote all over his desk. Teacher, Julia's passing notes.

[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

PROFESSOR: So what you saw was a repeat of the last animation, only we're going to look at this behavior of tattling and we're going to count how many times it occurred. So, we might be looking at how many tattles were there there. And I counted seven different unique tantles, excuse me, tattles from this relatively obnoxious young lady. So, again, that's what accountability does is you identify behavior and you count how often it occurs.

So, the next property and quantity come into play when both repeatability and time are of interest. The fundamental property of a response class is the combination of both repeatability and temporal locus. So, the fundamental property of a response class is the combination of both repeatability and temporal locus. The fact that if behavior repeats and that it occurs in time. Now, from this combination, we could derive several dimensional quantities.

Inter-response time-- inter-response time refers to the time between two successive responses. Usually, it is the time elapsed between the end of a response cycle and the beginning of the next response cycle. Now, there's another mouthful. So, from this combination and the combination of repeatability and temporal locus, from this combination and we can derive several dimensional quantities. Inter-response time, or IRT, refers to the time between two successive responses. Usually, it is the time elapsed between the end of a response cycle and the beginning of the next response cycle.

So, in order to measure IRT, there needs to be at least two responses. We then measure the amount of time that occurred between the end of one response cycle and the beginning of the next one. So, let's take another look at that student and take a look-- this time, we're going to look at measuring IRT.

[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

-Teacher, Dillon's falling asleep in class. Teacher, Rebecca ripped my paper. Teacher, Olivia said a bad word. Teacher, he poked me with his pencil. Teacher, Jessica's working ahead. Teacher, Robert wrote all over his desk. Teacher, Julia's passing notes.

[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

PROFESSOR: So here, if we were wanting to quantify IRT, we would look at the time between she ended one of her tattletales and when she began the other. And so, I looked at and counted the time between her first tattle about a student and how much time elapsed between the end of that one and the beginning in the next one. And she averaged about two to three seconds between each tattle. So, I could say that her IRT was possibly 2.5 seconds. Sometimes we want to know that.

Let's see. Another quantity related to time and repetition is called rate. So, another dimensional quantity related to time and repetition is frequency, also called rate of responding. So, another dimensional quantity related to time and repetition is frequency, also called rate. This is the ratio of the number of responses over some period of time. So, thus we get cycles per unit of time. So, another dimensional quantity related to time and repetition is frequency, which is also called a rate of responding. This is the ratio of the number of responses over some period of time and is referred to as cycles per unit of time.

For example, a common measure used for reading assessment is the number of words read correctly per minute. Later on in this course, guidelines for selecting rate as a dimensional quantity in resulting calculation procedures will be gone over in more detail. Now, rate's relationship with IRT is an inverse one. So, the longer the IRT, the less the rate. That is, the more time between occurrences of behavior, the lower the rate of behavior occurring . And conversely, the shorter the IRT between a series of responses, the greater the rate.

Now, going back to our little student who was doing all of her tattles, we calculated the IRT to be about 2 and 1/2 seconds. Now, if the IRT had-- and that she had tattled seven times. If the IRT had increased to six seconds, that would have a definite impact on the rate of behavior. So, the rate of her tattling would decrease if there was longer periods of time in between. Now, that may seem not important now, but as we get into things, it will be.

So, the final dimensional quantity that we'll cover deals with whether a behavior is increasing or decreasing. So, another dimensional quantity of a response class is celeration. Celeration. This term refers to the direction in behavior, either accelerating or decelerating in rate. So, another dimensional quantity of a response class is celeration. This term refers to the direction in behavior, either accelerating or decelerating in rate.

The key concept is whether a behavior is increasing, or accelerating or decreasing, or decelerating. Now, the easiest way to ascertain celeration is to chart behavioral data over time. You then get a clearer picture of whether the behavior is increasing or decreasing. Now, in later courses, very precise methods for charting behavior as well as quantifying celeration will be provided. Now, I've provided a summary chart for you that shows the fundamental properties of behavior, the dimensional quantity, and the unit of measurement. Since this is information you're going to have to know from my lesson, you can use this chart as a study aid, if you wish.

So, just looking at this chart, you'll see that the first column deals with the fundamental property, such as temporal locus, temporal extent, repeatability, and so on. The middle column looks at the dimensional quantity and deals with what you're measuring, such as am I going to measure latency, duration, IRT, and so on. And the last column is unit of measurement. So, this is just a way of helping you remember what the different properties and quantities are. So, let's stop here and do another self-evaluation exercise before we move on.