The loss of behavioral flexibility is common across a number of neuropsychiatric illnesses. This may be in part due to the loss of the ability to detect or use changes in action-outcome contingencies to guide behavior. There is growing evidence that the ventral hippocampus plays a critical role in the regulation of flexible behavior and…

Cognitive flexibility refers to various processes which enable behaviors to be modified on the basis of a change in the contingencies between stimuli or responses and their associated outcomes. Reversal learning is a form of cognitive flexibility which measures the ability to adjust responding based on a switch in the stimulus--outcome…

Researchers examined whether contingent experience using a touch screen increased toddlers' ability to learn a word from video. One hundred and sixteen children (24-36 months) watched an on-screen actress label an object: (a) without interacting, (b) with instructions to touch "anywhere" on the screen, or (c) with instructions to touch a…

Six responses to a study on reinforcement contingencies defined by the response deprivation hypothesis (Stanley Aeschleman and Margaret Williams) note interactions, trends, the role of context, a functional approach to learned performance, the substitutability of responses, and the ecology of reinforcement. (DB)

The study with 84 mentally retarded persons (mean IQ 41) concluded that increases of instrumental performance in the response deprivation schedules employed were due to the contingency and not noncontingent deprivation, and that the effectiveness of therapeutic reinforcement programs is influenced by the presence of alternative responses.…

Reinforcement contingencies defined by the response deprivation hypothesis were evaluated with three moderately mentally retarded persons (ages 17, 18, and 19). In the presence of the low probability, freely available response, a consistent reinforcement effect was evident whereas in the presence of a high probability response, the reinforcement…

The authors respond to comments of colleagues concerning their study on reinforcement contingencies defined by the response deprivation hypothesis with moderately mentally retarded persons. They stress the importance of basic research in this area and the need for such research to demonstrate its application to real world problems. (DB)

This study examined the relationship of tutorial enrichment of cognitive processes and reinforcement of lengthened response latency to measurements of impulsivity in 3- and 4-year-old children in a typical preschool setting. In a pretest-posttest control group design, 48 impulsive subjects (24 male and 24 female) were randomly assigned to tutorial…