Effects of motivating operations within reinforcer classes on skill acquisition

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2018

First Committee Member

Bourret, Jason

Second Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Third Committee Member

Graff, Richard

Abstract

"Edible reinforcement is common in the teaching of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Some research has shown that restricting access to reinforcers can act as an establishing operation in increasing their effectiveness. Little research, however, has examined how reinforcer efficacy is affected by the availability of similar sources of reinforcement. Three individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and attending a residential school for individuals with autism participated in this study. Paired-stimulus preference assessments were conducted to identify high-preference items that would be used in subsequent conditions. Following the preference assessments, the rate of mastering a simple discrimination task with presession access to edibles similar to the high-preference edible being earned contingent on correct responding was compared to the rate of mastery when the participants had no presession access to those edibles. Experimental control was demonstrated using a reversal design. Results showed that presession access to an edible within the same category as the reinforcer being used in a skill acquisition program produced a slower rate of learning."

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