Delay of reinforcement effects with reflective and impulsive children. 1978

T D Pitassi, and S I Offenbach

Reflective, impulsive, fast-accurate, and slow-inaccurate second grade boys and girls (N = 156) learned a discrimination task with one of three reinforcement delay conditions: No delay; 10 sec delay with an attentional aid filling the delay period; and 10 sec delay with an unfilled interval. The attentional aid was expected to lead to improved learning task performance (vis-à-vis delay without an aid), especially for impulsive children who would focus on the task more with an aid during the delay. The results indicated that all children learned less well with a delay of feedback, and the attentional aid was ineffective (possibly because it did not prevent competing responses from occurring). The children who did best on the test of Conceptual Tempo (the MFF), the fast-accurates, learned with the fewest errors, while the slow-inaccurate children made the most errors in learning. The results did not support the contention that impulsive children are poor attenders, but did indicate that some components of Conceptual Tempo are related to discrimination learning.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007175 Impulsive Behavior An act performed without delay, reflection, voluntary direction or obvious control in response to a stimulus. Impulsivity,Behavior, Impulsive,Behaviors, Impulsive,Impulsive Behaviors,Impulsivities
D008297 Male Males
D011930 Reaction Time The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed. Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D012055 Reinforcement Schedule A schedule prescribing when the subject is to be reinforced or rewarded in terms of temporal interval in psychological experiments. The schedule may be continuous or intermittent. Reinforcement Schedules,Schedule, Reinforcement,Schedules, Reinforcement
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D003071 Cognition Intellectual or mental process whereby an organism obtains knowledge. Cognitive Function,Cognitions,Cognitive Functions,Function, Cognitive,Functions, Cognitive
D004193 Discrimination Learning Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli. Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001288 Attention Focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of others. It is the act of heeding or taking notice or concentrating. Focus of Attention,Selective Attention,Social Attention,Attention Focus,Attention, Selective,Attention, Social,Selective Attentions

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