Stephanie M. Peck

Use of a concurrent operants paradigm to evaluate positive reinforcers during treatment of food refusal

The authors evaluated the responsiveness of 4 preschool-aged children to positive reinforcers within a concurrent operants paradigm during mealtimes. The children were presented with two identical, concurrently available sets of food. Each set differed in quantity and quality of positive reinforcement paired with acceptance of each bite of food or in the number of bites of food required to obtain positive reinforcement. Experiment 1 evaluated 1 child’s responsiveness to positive reinforcement while permitting escape from bite offers. Experiment 2 evaluated 2 children’s responsiveness to positive reinforcement when escape extinction occurred. Results from these experiments suggested that the children were responsive to positive reinforcers and chose more often the bites paired with the greater quantity and/or quality of reinforcement. Experiment 3 evaluated 1 child’s responsiveness to positive reinforcement both without and with escape extinction. Results suggested that positive reinforcement affected choice behavior and that escape extinction affected amount of food consumed.

Effects of the High-Probability Request Procedure: Patterns of Responding to Low-Probability Requests

The effects of high probability (high-p) requests on compliance with low-probability (low-p) responses have received increasing attention in investigations aimed at increasing compliance. Differential effects of high-p treatments and at least three distinct patterns of responding to low-p requests have been presented in recent literature. We present a series of case studies with three children who had developmental disabilities and who displayed severe noncompliance. The effects of high-p treatments across several topographies of behavior in a variety of settings are representative of the three patterns presented in recent literature. In Pattern 1, increased compliance to low-p requests was most likely when compliance with high-p requests immediately preceded the low-p requests. In Pattern 2, compliance with low-p requests initially occurred differentially immediately following compliance with high-p requests, but across sessions these effects were sustained in the absence of the high-p requests. In Pattern 3, compliance with high-p requests did not result in compliance with subsequent low-p requests and compliance to high-p requests also decreased across sessions. This paper provides case illustrations of these patterns, a discussion of hypotheses regarding the basis for these differential effects, and implications for future analyses involving high-p procedures.