Conditioning Reinforcers
Contents
- Conditioning Reinforcers
- An Attempt to Establish Approval as a Learned Reinforcer
- Conditioning Procedure Materials as Reinforcers
- Using an SD Procedure to Establishing Social Praise as a Conditioned Reinforcer
- The Effects of a Token Economy & Continuous Reinforcement on Skill Acquisition
- Teaching with Acoustical Guidance During Structured Play Activities
Conditioning Reinforcers
Hilary Barns (2015)
Abstract
Behavior analysis often uses the consequence of a behavior to either increase or decrease the preceding action. When trying to increase behavior, a highly preferred stimulus is presented after the behavior occurs. However, there are times when no preferred stimuli can be determined, and thus desired behavior does not increase. The current study sought to strengthen and condition reinforcers for a child with autism. The student was chosen because he displayed passivity or low engagement with a variety of toys, and lack of interest in edible reinforcers. Previous research has shown that non preferred stimuli could become conditioned reinforcers by pairing the non-preferred stimuli with preferred stimuli (Greer, Becker, Saxe, Mirabella 1985; Singer-Dudek, Oblak & Greer, 2011). For our study, the participant was required to appropriately engage with a toy for a specified interval of time, after which, access to a highly preferred reinforcer was provided. This current study was beneficial to our classroom because there are many children who display limited amounts of toy play.
Keywords
conditioning reinforcers, play skills
Materials
An Attempt to Establish Approval as a Learned Reinforcer
Kelly Kohler (2014)
Abstract
Approval does not function as a powerful reinforcer for many children with autism, making it difficult to reinforce appropriate behavior in a functional and consistent manner. The current study first assessed the effects of establishing approval (“Nice,” accompanied by a smile and nod) and nonsense words as discriminative stimuli, with the intent that they might also become learned reinforcers. We conducted several experiments to assess the effectiveness of approval as a reinforcer, including tests on learning new responses (receptive, expressive, free- operant, and simple simultaneous discriminations) and tests on the performance of previously mastered responses (receptive and expressive responses). Despite the effectiveness of the approval statement as a discriminative stimulus, it seemed to act as a very weak reinforcer, at best. We then assessed the effects of response-contingent pairings on the establishment of a learned reinforcer. For the current participant, the response-contingent pairing method seemed to be an effective method for establishing a learned reinforcer. Using this procedure, we were able to maintain the value of the learned reinforcer, as long as it continued to be paired with an unlearned reinforcer contingent on another response.
Conditioning Procedure Materials as Reinforcers
Kirsten Powers (2014)
Abstract
In this study, stimulus-stimulus pairing was used to condition neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers to increase attending and motivation. Stimulus-stimulus pairing has been shown to condition books as reinforcers and as a result increase appropriate play and attending to the book (Longano & Greer, 2006). The study was conducted with a child who is diagnosed with autism in an Early Childhood Special Education classroom. During training trials, the tangible materials used in a specific procedure were paired with the preferred stimulus. A pre- and post-test was also conducted to evaluate if the neutral stimulus became a reinforcer. After the pairing procedure was implemented, the participant progressed through the procedure at a quicker rate compared to baseline. This suggests that by establishing the procedure materials as reinforcers, attending and motivation both increased to result in progress on a previously difficult procedure for the participant.
Keywords
conditioning reinforcers, autism,
Materials
Using an SD Procedure to Establishing Social Praise as a Conditioned Reinforcer
Lisa Sickman (2013)
Abstract
The SD (discriminative stimulus) procedure and the pairing procedure are two methods used to establish social praise as a conditioned reinforcer in children with autism. The pairing procedure is used daily in an informal manner at the site of the intervention and has not effectively altered the value of social praise for the child who participated in the intervention. The SD procedure was used in this intervention because the literature reports it can be effective. The main goal of this project was to determine whether we could effectively alter the reinforcing value of short social praise statements in children with autism. The procedure used a single subject research design with pre and post-tests. The intervention consisted of delivering a short praise statement (“Terrific!”) which indicated that if the child then completed the desired behavior – holding their hand out in front of them – they would receive a tangible reinforcer. The praise statement’s reinforcing value was measured using a variety of pre and post-intervention tests, including reinforcer assessments.
Keywords
conditioning reinforcers, praise, social praise, social reinforcers
Materials
The Effects of a Token Economy & Continuous Reinforcement on Skill Acquisition
Nina Gerencser (2012)
Abstract
There have been many benefits associated with token economies for a variety of populations, but few empirical studies include young, non-verbal children with developmental disabilities. Token economies are used for several reasons with this population. The establishment of tokens as conditioned reinforcers would seem to be an essential component of an effective token economy. A one-factor within subjects design was used to compare and contrast the effectiveness of two types of reinforcement schedules, a token economy and a continuous reinforcement schedule. The participant was a 3-year-old boy diagnosed with Down syndrome, in an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) classroom. The rate of acquisition of new discriminations of 3-D and 2-D objects was measured based on the number of trials and the amount of instructional time in each condition. The results discuss the effectiveness of a token economy and whether a token economy or continuous reinforcement should be used in the acquisition of a new skill. This study will aid in the future implementation of reinforcement procedures in the ECSE classroom.
Keywords
token economy, learned/conditioned reinforcer, continuous reinforcement
Materials
Teaching with Acoustical Guidance During Structured Play Activities
Steve Sparks (2012)
Project Description
I will be using Teaching with Acoustical Guidance (TAG) to reinforce correct chains of behavior during structured play activities. For my project a click will be paired with a child’s preferred reinforcers thus establishing the click as a learned reinforcer. The click will then be used to reinforce components of behaviors necessary for the child to complete different play activities. Baseline data was measured on the percentage of play behaviors the child completed independently.. During the intervention data were collected on the number of independent behaviors emitted after the introduction of the click as a reinforcer. The results show that independent play skills increased across n structured play activities.
Keywords
conditioning reinforcers, structured play, teaching with acoustical guidance