A motivating operation (MO) alters both the effectiveness of a stimulus as a reinforcer and the current frequency of all behavior that has been reinforced by that particular stimulus. This article reviews studies that have manipulated a MO during interventions with school-age participants with intellectual disabilities and problem behavior. A…

Incentive and behavior were investigated in the study focusing upon a comparison of the effects of response cost (for errors) and response reward (for correct responses) on verbal performance of mentally retarded subjects. (KW)

To differentiate behaviorally, success-strivers and failure-avoiders within a group of educable mentally handicapped, two experiments were conducted. The effects of learning potential status (gainers, nongainers, high scorers) and motivational style (success strivers, failure avoiders) on discrimination learning when reinforcement was varied was…

In a study of paradigmatic responding, 14 educable mentally retarded (EMR) boys from a training school were matched on chronological age (CA) and Stanford-Binet IQ scores. Six served as controls, six as experimental subjects, and two as training controls. They were pretested individually for a baseline measure of their paradigmatic responses to…

The effects of prompting and confirmation on automated presentation of materials in discrimination learning were studied. Eight pairs of words or pictures were presented to 48 mentally retarded subjects (mean IQ 63, mean chronological age 163.4 months, mean mental age 103.3 months). Each subject's correct responses advanced the program and, in the…

The self-perception theory which predicts that the introduction of extrinsic rewards for behavior that was intrinsically rewarding may decrease overall motivation was tested on 44 mildly retarded institutionalized adolescents. (Author/CL)

A twelve-year-old profoundly retarded, self-abusive and assaultive child who did not feed himself was motivated to feed himself and modify undesirable responses within eight days. (Authors)

Research regarding the establishment of learned reinforcement with mildly retarded children is reviewed. Noted are findings which indicate that educable retarded students, possibly due to cultural differences, are less responsive to social rewards than either nonretarded or more severely retarded children. Characteristics of primary and secondary…