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EFFECTS OF DELAYED REINFORCEMENT ON INFANT VOCALIZATION RATE
Author(s) -
Reeve Lori,
Reeve Kenneth F.,
Brown Ann K.,
Brown John L.,
Poulson Claire L.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1992.58-1
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , computer science , cognitive psychology , social psychology
Three previous studies have failed to demonstrate conditioning in infants using a 3‐s delay of reinforcement. The effects of a delayed reinforcement schedule on vocalization rates therefore were explored in a single‐subject repeated‐reversal experimental design for 3 4‐ to 6‐month‐old normally developing infants. Each infant received delayed social reinforcement from his or her parent for vocalizing. The comparison condition was a schedule of differential reinforcement of behavior other than vocalizations to control for elicitation by social stimulation. An operant level of infant vocalizations was the initial condition, after which the differential reinforcement schedule was implemented in an across‐subjects multiple baseline design. Infants' vocalization rates increased above levels measured during differential reinforcement following onset of the delayed reinforcement condition. Also, vocalization rates decreased during differential reinforcement compared to operant levels. The successful use of delayed reinforcement schedules with infants in this study, as opposed to others, is discussed in terms of procedural differences among them.