The relative effectiveness of positive and negative adult preference statements in controlling children's behavior was studied. Results indicated that the adult's antecedent negative comments exerted greater control over the children than did the positive comments. (ST)

It was concluded from the date that satiation plays a determining role in the continued utilization of an acquired response while distraction is a primary determinant of acquisition rate. (Authors)

Three experiments are reported on behavioral inference in children of 3 to 5 years of age. In each experiment the children learned two separate sequences of behavior which they were required to put together in the final test stage in order to obtain a reward. (MS)

The free play of 5 black preschool Head Start children was observed. The variables manipulated in the study were delayed instructions and reinforcement for play with selected toys, and specific versus general instructions; the correspondence between the adult's instructions and reinforcement to the children's play was assessed. The data indicated…

Investigated were the effects of varying instructional explicitness (minimal, general, and explicit) and types of reinforcement (none, extrinsic, and intrinsic or relational) on the learning of an oddity discrimination task by 48 nursery school children. Ss were randomly assigned to six groups where general or minimal instructional explicitness…

As a result of findings of a previous study, this study, which sought to program preschool subjects to wait one minute for reinforcement, used pause-building procedures before delay conditions were started. The children, 3- to 5-year-olds, were designated either Baseline (control) subjects (n=3) or Programmed (experimental) subjects (n=5). Though…

It was the purpose of this study to ascertain whether the culturally disadvantaged child, who appeared to adhere to the principle of immediate gratification, had learned, as a function of his participation in Head Start, a more future-related orientation when compared to his non-Head Start counterparts. One hundred and eighty-seven 4- and…

Each of two experimenters taught one set of 32 prekindergarteners to discriminate four different letter combinations (R-P, Y-V, C-G, and K-X). Each set of children was randomly selected and assigned to two treatment conditions. The treatment consisted of three warm-up trials, 10 actual training trials, and four post-test trials on a…

This study measured the differential effects of simplified and typical verbal antecedents on acquisition of picture discriminations for four preschool children with autism. During baseline probes, participants emitted no correct selection responses to pictures of common stimuli during either simplified or typical verbal antecedent conditions.…

This study examines some variables that may affect two aspects of syntax in Head Start children; the use of descriptors and the use of complete sentences. Thirty-six children were assigned to six experimental conditions in a design which varied adult verbal modeling, feedback, and sex. Children given adult verbal modeling produced significantly…

Reports that praise and extrinsic reinforcers, such as candy, increased the rate of letter recognition in preschool children and that the increase was partially maintained when the reinforcement was removed. (FL)