ON THE RELATION BETWEEN REINFORCER EFFICACY AND PREFERENCE

Most research on stimulus preference and reinforcer assessment involves a preference assessment that is followed by a reinforcer assessment. Typically, the most and least preferred stimuli are tested as reinforcers. In the current study, we first quantified the reinforcing efficacies of six food ite...

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Published inJournal of applied behavior analysis Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 95 - 100
Main Authors Lee, May S. H., Yu, C. T., Martin, Toby L., Martin, Garry L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2010
Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
The Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Subjects
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Adults
Biological and medical sciences
Conditioning, Operant
Data Analysis
Developmental Disabilities
Developmental Disabilities - psychology
Evaluation Methods
Female
Food
Food Preferences - psychology
Humans
Intellectual deficiency
Male
Medical sciences
Observation
Observer Variation
Positive Reinforcement
preference
Preference Ranking
Preferences
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reinforcement (Psychology)
reinforcer assessment
Response rates
Schedules
Studies
Human
developmental disabilities
Evaluation
Efficiency
reinforcer assessment
preference
Reinforcement
Adult
Developmental disorder
Stimulus preference
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Summary:Most research on stimulus preference and reinforcer assessment involves a preference assessment that is followed by a reinforcer assessment. Typically, the most and least preferred stimuli are tested as reinforcers. In the current study, we first quantified the reinforcing efficacies of six food items and then assessed relative preference for each item. Relative preference ranking and reinforcer efficacies showed almost perfect concordance for 1 participant and partial concordance for the other. Discordance tended to occur with the weakest reinforcers.
Bibliography:istex:30F90702F6344ACBD14E3DD376F915FF897C8153
ark:/67375/WNG-VLQHX4H6-3
ArticleID:JABA2575
We thank the participants and staff at St. Amant for their cooperation throughout the study and Jennifer Thorsteinsson, Leah Enns, Breanne Byiers, Richard Patton, Quinn Senkow, Duong Nguyen, Kerri Walters, Aynsley Verbeke, and Colleen Murphy for their assistance with interobserver agreement assessments. This research was supported by Grant MOP‐77604 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and funding from the Province of Manitoba, through the Manitoba Research and Innovation Fund.
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ISSN:0021-8855
1938-3703
DOI:10.1901/jaba.2010.43-95