ABSTRACT
This study examined the inclusion of familiar and unfamiliar stimuli in a paired-stimulus preference assessment and subsequent progressive-ratio reinforcer assessment for 3 children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results showed that highly preferred unfamiliar stimuli functioned as reinforcers. These findings suggest that the inclusion of unfamiliar stimuli in preference assessments may facilitate the identification of additional reinforcers for children with an ASD.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/rehabilitation , Behavior Therapy , Developmental Disabilities/rehabilitation , Reinforcement, Psychology , Autistic Disorder/psychology , Child, Preschool , Discrimination, Psychological , Female , Humans , Male , Reinforcement Schedule , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
Habituation has recently been addressed within the operant conditioning paradigm. While the literature on this topic is growing, the examination of dishabituation, a fundamental characteristic of habituation, remains limited. This study expanded research on habituation of operant responding in non-human animals to research involving humans. Specifically, dishabituation and stimulus specificity were examined under a variety of conditions involving changes in the reinforcer type, reinforcement schedule, reinforcer amount, and selected properties of the antecedent stimuli for a computerized task with 46 undergraduate students. An additional 3 participants were exposed to a control condition. Evaluation of within session patterns of responding indicates that the introduction of stimulus changes into the operant context reliably produced dishabituation of operant responding in humans.
