Modification of perseverative responding that increased earnings but impeded skill acquisition in a job-skills training program.
Adults in a therapeutic workplace working on a computerized keyboarding training program earned vouchers for typing correct characters. Typing technique was evaluated on review steps. Participants could pass the review and earn a bonus, or skip the review and proceed with no bonus. Alternatively, participants could continue practicing on the same step. Participants persistently repeated the same step, which halted progress through the program but allowed them to increase their rate of responding and, as a result, their earnings. Blocking the initiation of practice on review steps and removing payment for practice initiated after prompts (extinction) both produced rapid progress through the program. These results underscore the importance of careful arrangement of the contingencies in adult education programs.
DeFulio
Anthony
A
Center for Learning and Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5200 Eastern Avenue, Suite 142 West, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA. adefuli1@jhmi.edu
Iati
Carina
C
Needham
Mick
M
Silverman
Kenneth
K
D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009271:Naltrexone / Q000009:adverse effects; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D017132:Workplace
D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D009271:Naltrexone