Assessing motivation in children using a progressive ratio task

• Published in: Behavioural processes Vol. 87; no. 2; pp. 203 - 209
• Main Authors: Chelonis, John J., Gravelin, Claire R., Paule, Merle G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.06.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age; Age Factors; Analysis of Variance; Animal ethology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Motivation; Progressive ratio; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Reinforcement (Psychology); Sex; Sex Factors; Time Factors; Children; Motivation; Progressive ratio; Age; Sex; Human; Evaluation; Ratio; Child
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2011.03.008

► The number of responses on this progressive ratio task increased with age. ► Males typically made more responses on this progressive ratio task than females. ► Inter-response time was a more sensitive measure than post-reinforcement pause. The association of age and sex on the performance of a progressive ratio task was studied in 847 children, ages 4–14 years. Variations of this task have been used extensively with animals and to a lesser extent with humans to study factors that affect aspects of motivation. The participants in this study were required to press a response lever for nickel reinforcers during a 10 min period. One response was required to earn the first nickel and each subsequent nickel required an additional 10 more responses. Older children had a significantly higher breakpoint than younger children. This appeared to be mostly the result of older children having significantly shorter inter-response times than younger children. In addition, boys had significantly higher breakpoints than girls, especially at older ages. The results of this study illustrate that both age and sex influence the performance of this task and thus suggest that age and sex influence aspects of motivation in children. Further, characterization of performance of this task by humans facilitates comparisons with animal models and, thus, enhances its translational utility.