Further evaluation of the effects of motivating operations on skill acquisition

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2019

First Committee Member

Graff, Richard B.

Second Committee Member

Pinkston, Jonathan

Third Committee Member

Karsina, Allen

Abstract

"The identification and effective use of reinforcers is crucial when implementing skill acquisition programs with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research has demonstrated that motivating operations can affect preference hierarchies and response rates on simple tasks, but little research has evaluated the effects of motivating operations on skill acquisition. Three individuals with ASD participated in this study. In Phase 1, two edible items from 4 distinct categories of edibles (chocolate, gummy, salty/crunchy, and fruit/vegetable) were evaluated on paired-stimulus preference assessments; one high-preference edible item was identified for each participant. In Phase 2, reinforcer assessments were conducted using the highest-preference edible item identified in Phase 1. For all participants, the high-preference item functioned as a reinforcer for a simple maintenance task. In Phase 3, the motivating operations evaluation, acquisition rate was assessed using simple discrimination tasks. On each trial participants were presented with 3 stimuli, one of which was designated as S+. No prompting was used, and participants were given the reinforcer identified in Phase 2 for correct responses. Simple discrimination sessions were conducted under deprivation and satiation conditions. In the deprivation condition, the participant did not have access to the reinforcer or any other item from the same edible category for 6 hr prior to sessions. In the satiation condition, immediately prior to each session, the participant had 5 min of free access to the other item from the same category as the high-preference edible identified in Phase 1. Two of the 3 participants learned the simple discriminations faster under deprivation conditions when compared to satiation conditions."

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