Year: 1992
Type: article
Abstract: Operant responses of 16 children (mean age 6 years and 1 month) were reinforced according to different fixed-interval schedules (with interreinforcer intervals of 20, 30, or 40 s) in which the reinforcers were either 20-s or 40-s presentations of a cartoon. In another procedure, they received training on a self-control paradigm in which both reinforcer delay (0.5 s or 40 s) and reinforcer duration (20 s or 40 s of cartoons) varied, and subjects were offered a choice between various combinations of delay and duration. Individual differences in behavior under the self-control procedure were precisely mirrored by individual differences under the fixed-interval schedule. Children who chose the smaller immediate reinforcer on the self-control procedure (impulsive) produced short postreinforcement pauses and high response rates in the fixed-interval conditions, and both measures changed little with changes in fixed-interval value. Conversely, children who chose the larger delayed reinforcer in the self-control condition (the self-controlled subjects) exhibited lower response rates and long postreinforcement pauses, which changed systematically with changes in the interval, in their fixed-interval performances.
Authors: J. C. Darcheville, V. Rivière, J. H. Wearden
Institution: University of Manchester
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2076077412