In order to investigate the effect of reinforcement on learning, 21 disadvantaged black children, 4 to 5 years of age, were divided among three treatment groups. Group I children received only feedback (information) as to the correctness or incorrectness of their responses. Group II children received a raisin for each correct response, and group III children received only some form of verbal reinforcement. The task involved answering questions relating to a story by touching a dot located under each response choice with a water pen. The dot was chemically treated to turn either green (correct answer) or red (incorrect answer). Each child was administered a pretest and a posttest (identical tests) over the vocabulary introduced in the story. Each child was subsequently given a new learning situation in which the same type of response was required, but to a slightly different task. The data indicated that although the raisin reward appeared to be a more potent reinforcer, the children learned to use feedback to correct erroneous responses and used it in new learning situations. In fact, tangible and verbal rewards ma y produce emotional side effects disruptive to learning. (WD)