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ASSESSING POTENCY OF HIGH‐ AND LOW‐PREFERENCE REINFORCERS WITH RESPECT TO RESPONSE RATE AND RESPONSE PATTERNS
Author(s) -
Penrod Becky,
Wallace Michele D.,
Dyer Edwin J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.2008.41-177
Subject(s) - preference , psychology , schedule , reinforcement , developmental psychology , audiology , social psychology , statistics , computer science , medicine , mathematics , operating system
Previous research has suggested that the availability of high‐preference stimuli may override the reinforcing efficacy of concurrently available low‐preference stimuli under relatively low schedule requirements (e.g., fixed‐ratio 1 schedule). It is unknown if similar effects would be obtained under higher schedule requirements. Thus, the current study compared high‐preference and low‐preference reinforcers under progressively increasing schedule requirements. Results for 3 of the 4 participants indicated that high‐preference stimuli maintained responding under higher schedule requirements relative to low‐preference stimuli. For 1 participant, high‐preference and low‐preference stimuli were demonstrated to be equally effective reinforcers under increasing schedule requirements. Implications with respect to rate of performance and response patterns are discussed.