Optimal integration of positive and negative outcomes during learning varies depending on an environment's reward statistics. The present study investigated the extent to which children, adolescents, and adults (N = 142 8-25 year-olds, 55% female, 42% White, 31% Asian, 17% mixed race, and 8% Black; data collected in 2021) adapt their weighting of…

Previous studies have examined the maturation of learning and memory abilities during early stages of development. By comparison, much less is known about the ontogeny of learning and memory during later stages of development, including adolescence. In Experiment 1, we tested the ability of adolescent and adult rats to learn a Pavlovian negative…

The current study examined whether monetary incentives could increase engagement and achievement in a job-skills training program for unemployed, homeless, alcohol-dependent adults. Participants (n?=?124) were randomized to a no-reinforcement group (n?=?39), during which access to the training program was provided but no incentives were given; a…

Background: The quality of support provided to people with disability who show challenging behaviour could be influenced by the quality of the behaviour support plans (BSPs) on which staff rely for direction. This study investigated the content validity of the Behaviour Support Plan Quality Evaluation tool (BSP-QEII), originally developed to guide…

Typical assessments of temporal discounting involve presenting choices between hypothetical monetary outcomes. Participants choose between smaller immediate rewards and larger delayed rewards to determine how the passage of time affects the subjective value of reinforcement. Few studies, however, have compared such discounting to actual…

The relative effectiveness of alternative reward structures in strengthening individual task performance was investigated by operationalizing six reward structure treatments--each of which combined one of two levels of differential group rewarding with one of three levels of differential rewarding within groups. Twelve males and twelve females…

Examines the relationship between probability learning and aging by studying the performance of 48 young and 48 old adults in a probability learning task which used different reinforcement procedures and material rewards. (CM)

Experiments examined the effect of work requirements in combination with reinforcement schedules on the choice behavior of six adults with mental retardation and seven typical preschoolers. Results showed that participants' responding was largely controlled by the reinforcement received for responding to each level of work. (Author/CR)

In two experiments involving a two-choice marble dropping game children responded more to social control than to the magnitude of the reward. (ST)

This study compared the addition of two self-management strategies to typical supervision to improve productivity of eight mentally retarded workers in a sheltered workshop. Both strategies--(1) self monitoring plus goal setting and social contingencies and (2) addition of a monetary bonus for productivity--were equally effective in improving…