Research has demonstrated that people with significant intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities can indicate clear preferences through methodologically rigorous assessments. Once preferred items have been identified, they can be used to reinforce new behaviors, which can assist in the development of a meaningful learning experience.…

Two experiments were designed to detect frustration phenomena hitherto only observed in subhuman animals, frustration being defined as the omission of the response item after a correct anticipation in a partial reinforcement schedule. (Authors)

Results of the feedback experiments reported here were: (1) feedback facilitated learning when it followed wrong responses; (2) feedback had no effect on learning following correct responses; (3) feedback consisting of both the stimulus and the response was superior to no feedback, whereas feedback consisting of only the response did not differ…

Affect arousing and energizing properties of positive and negative reinforcing stimuli were investigated. Subjects received positive evaluations (PE), similar attitudes (SA), dissimilar attitudes (DA) or negative evaluations (NE) presented on slides. Pre- and post-slide semantic differentials were filled out by each subject. All subjects then…

Isolation of optimal instructional processes to provide information feedback and to motivate disadvantaged children was the goal of this comparative study of reinforcement contigencies. The subjects were 21 black children from 45 to 65 months of age. Children were ranked on the PPVT and a learning program pretest, then randomly assigned to three…

A study of feedback delay, expectation, and development was conducted in grades four, six, and eight, to assess whether feedback on a school related learning task serves an informational or reinforcing function. Results indicate that feedback serves an informational function and delayed feedback facilitates retention, contrary to reinforcement…

Differential incentive values of verbal stimuli were tested under conditions of high and low reinforcement. Results indicated the 40 fifth grade boys acquired responses faster when high preference items were used. (ST)

In a test of H. Quay's model of differential response tendencies in three basic dimensions of discordant behavior, 36 delinquent boys (10 to 16 years old) divided into three behavior groups-Conduct Disorder, Personality Disorder, Inadequate-Immature-were compared on a verbal paired-associate task under four conditions of task structure: neutral…