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We examined college students' procrastination when studying for weekly in-class quizzes. Two schedules of online practice quiz delivery were compared using a multiple baseline design. When online study material was made available noncontingently, students usually procrastinated. When access to additional study material was contingent on completing previous study material, studying was more evenly distributed. Overall, the mean gain in percentage correct scores on weekly in-class quizzes relative to pretests was greater during contingent access than during noncontingent access conditions.

The token economy is a well-established and widely used behavioral intervention. A token economy is comprised of six procedural components: the target response(s), a token that functions as a conditioned reinforcer, backup reinforcers, and three interconnected schedules of reinforcement. Despite decades of applied research, the extent to which the procedures of a token economy are described in complete and replicable detail has not been evaluated. Given the inherent complexity of a token economy, an analysis of the procedural descriptions may benefit future token economy research and practice. Articles published between 2000 and 2015 that included implementation of a token economy within an applied setting were identified and reviewed with a focus on evaluating the thoroughness of procedural descriptions. The results show that token economy components are regularly omitted or described in vague terms. Of the articles included in this analysis, only 19% (18 of 96 articles reviewed) included replicable and complete descriptions of all primary components. Missing or vague component descriptions could negatively affect future research or applied practice. Recommendations are provided to improve component descriptions.

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Background Needle phobias are common in children and adults worldwide. One effective intervention for this phobia is exposure therapy where a participant is gradually exposed to increasing levels of the fear‐evoking stimulus while differential reinforcement is applied. This intervention, however, may be difficult to implement with some medical procedures as it may be difficult to obtain unfettered access to medical facilities and equipment for the purposes of exposure. Virtual reality may overcome these obstacles. Methods In this investigation, the present authors developed a low‐cost virtual reality‐based exposure therapy which was used with an adult male with autism spectrum disorder and a history of extreme needle phobia. The effectiveness of this intervention was evaluated using a changing criterions design with generalization probes. Results The intervention quickly increased the participant's compliance in the analogue training setting and the effects were generalized across settings and behaviours, and maintained over time. Conclusions The findings indicate combining virtual reality with exposure therapy may produce an effective intervention for medical phobias. The intervention package may remove barriers associate with traditional exposure therapy and was low‐cost which may increase access to the intervention.