Sequential contrast effects with retarded subjects after discrimination learning with and without errors.
Four retarded adults were exposed to a multiple variable interval-extinction schedule of reinforcement. The 2 min components were presented in a random order. Two subjects acquired the discrimination with an errorless procedure. The two other subjects learned the discrimination with errors. The schedule generated sequential contrast effects under both training procedures: response rates during periods of reinforcement were higher when a reinforcement period followed an extinction period than when it followed another reinforcement period. These results were confirmed in a second observation where eight retarded children were exposed to a multiple fixed ratio-extinction schedule of reinforcement. This study is the first demonstration of sequential contrast effects with human subjects during the acquisition of a discrimination without errors. The results are discussed in terms of Terrace's theory of errorless learning.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule