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EVALUATION OF ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE REINFORCER VALUE USING PROGRESSIVE‐RATIO SCHEDULES
Author(s) -
Francisco Monica T.,
Borrero John C.,
Sy Jolene R.
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.2008.41-189
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , preference , audiology , schedule , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , statistics , medicine , mathematics , computer science , operating system
We evaluated behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities using progressive‐ratio (PR) schedules. High‐ and low‐preference stimuli were determined based on the results of a paired‐stimulus preference assessment and were evaluated in subsequent reinforcer and PR assessments using concurrent and single schedules of presentation. In Experiment 1, results showed that for 2 of 3 participants, stimuli determined to be low‐preference functioned as reinforcers when evaluated independent of high‐preference stimuli. Further, the results from Experiment 2 showed that low‐preference stimuli also functioned as reinforcers under gradually increasing PR requirements. Results suggest that for cases in which a high‐preference stimulus is unavailable or impractical, the contingent delivery of relatively less preferred stimuli may maintain appropriate behavior, even as schedule requirements increase.