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)

Investigates third- and fourth-grade children's verbal evaluations of syllables paired with different reward schedules (full, partial, or none) for "pleasantness" and "curiosity." (Author/ED)

The two experiments investigated stimulus novelty which may affect reward and nonreward in a discrimination learning situation at different ages. The first experiment compared two types of "trial one" stimulus procedures on error tendencies following reward and nonreward. The two procedures differed with respect to novelty effects. One group was…

To test the theory that retardates are particularly slow in forming some visual habits, especially attention, a series of experiments were performed using a laboratory device which forced subjects to discriminate between color and form in exchange for an incentive reward. Stochastic models were applied to tests of lower level retardates which…

In this study, the effects of rewards on same-different judgments of size, color, and weight were investigated. Subjects were 45 children at the kindergarten and first-grade level. The children were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) rewarded for reporting black in the identification of the colors of balls contained inside gray jars, (2)…

Study investigated the effect of the stimulus variables of value, chroma, and hue in relation to sex, intelligence, and dimensional attention of kindergarten children using two reward conditions. (Author)