Autistic and typical children mastered a simultaneous discrimination task with three sets of all-tactile compound stimuli. During training, responding to one stimulus (S+) resulted in rewards whereas responding to the alternative (S-) was extinguished. Test 1 was conducted with recombinations of S+ and S- elements. In Test 2, the test stimulus to…

The differential outcomes effect is a phenomenon where use of a choice-unique outcome for each type of correct choice in a conditional discrimination task increases rate of learning and overall accuracy, as compared to the traditional use of a single, common outcome for all types of correct choices. This phenomenon was successfully demonstrated…

This study assessed the effect of different novelty pairings and reward sequences on the exploratory behavior in successive discrimination learning problems of 60 preschool children from a Head Start program. (BRT)

Three groups of severely retarded and three groups of mildly retarded individuals responded to a series of five 10-trial oddity problems under nonreward conditions. Results suggest that oddity is a stimulus characteristic to which an approach response is made, independent of its concurrent association with reward, and that stimulus value of oddity…

If learning is viewed in terms of the tendency to approach a stimulus that has been rewarded and to avoid a stimulus that has not been rewarded, then it must be concluded that the subjects in this study did not learn. (Author)

In general, the study confirmed the prediction that learning of a discrimination under punishment or a reward-punishment condition is superior to that under reward alone. (Authors)

In both discrimination learning and partial reinforcement, transitions may occur from nonrewarded to rewarded trials (NR transition). In discrimination learning, NR transitions may occur in two different stimulus alternatives (NR different transitions). In partial reward, NR transitions may occur in a single stimulus alternative (NR same…

The effect of stimulus novelty, an attentional variable, on learning set acquisition was investigated. Learning set (LS) acquisition refers to an improvement in performance across a series of problems which have a common basis of solution. The design of this study involved two groups, one in which the positive stimulus on Trial 2 involved the…

In this study of errorless learning a procedure is tested which allows the subject himself to adjust the speed at which a supplementary stimulus aid is withdrawn. A standard match-to-sample apparatus with 1 sample window above and 4 matching (response) windows below was used. Tokens were delivered for correct responses and the correct matching…

To determine whether the distraction effect associated with material rewards in discrimination learning can account for the superior performance of reward groups in probability learning, the performance of 144 school children (preschool, second, and fifth grades) on a two-choice successive discrimination task was compared under three reinforcement…

The age effect in this study was such that younger children required proportionately more experience with reward than nonreward before they were able to improve their performance on reward problems over six sessions. (Author)