The effects of token reinforcement on attending in a young child with autism

The benefits of token economies have been widely established, however there are very few empirical studies on the effects of token reinforcement on the behavior of young children with autism. The establishment of conditioned reinforcers such as tokens may be important in interventions for children with autism. Token reinforcement was used to increase the attending behavior of a young child with autism during discrete trials instruction for academic and communication skills. A reversal design showed that token reinforcement sustained attending only when the back‐up reinforcer was available and was accessed immediately. The results extend and corroborate findings on token reinforcement reported in other applied settings and are also consistent with findings from basic research on conditioned reinforcement. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of a token reinforcement system on journal reshelving

A token reinforcement program involving two levels of token value and backup reinforcers to increase journal reshelving behavior in a large university library was experimentally evaluated. Results showed that instructions (in which signs asked users to reshelve journals) had no impact. By contrast, token reinforcement contingent on reshelving behavior led to a marked increase in journals reshelved. A return to instructions-only conditions, when data were corrected for library usage, showed an increase in unreshelved journals over the token reinforcement period, though the increase was not to baseline levels. For the next 11 months, library staff maintained a modified token program. Follow-up data collected after that interval showed that number of unreshelved journals remained markedly lower than levels at baseline and the first instructions-only period, though they were slightly higher than at the token reinforcement period. Token reinforcement of the variety employed in this study constitutes an efficient, economical means of changing the behavior of library users who fail to reshelve books and journals.     

The effects of token reinforcement,feedback and response cost on standardized test performance

The primary purpose of the present study was to compare the differential effects of token reinforcement, feedback, and response cost on the test performance of delinquent boys. Eighty students were randomly assigned to three experimental groups and one control group of 20 subjects each. Each experimental group received a standard and a modified administration of the verbal section of the WISC. For the token reinforcement group, the modified WISC administration permitted students to earn tokens contingent on correct responses; the response cost group forfeited tokens contingent on incorrect responses; and the feedback group simply received information regarding the accuracy of each response. The control group received two standard WISC administrations. The primary measure was the difference in verbal I.Q. scores between the standard and modified WISC administrations. Results indicated that the token reinforcement and response cost groups achieved significantly higher scores than the feedback and control groups. No significant differences were found between the token reinforcement and response cost groups nor between the feedback and control groups. The implications of these findings for clarifying the relationship between motivational condition and test performance are discussed.     

Differential effects of token reinforcement on instruction-following behavior in retarded students instructed as a group

This study was addressed to the problem of applying behavior modification techniques on a group basis to a class of retarded students with "attentional deficits". Seven boys, age 8 to 15 yr, characterized as showing severe "attentional" problems or disruptive behavior in their respective classrooms, participated daily for 30-min sessions in a special class over a 1.5-month period. In each session, verbal instructions were given to the class as a whole. In control sessions, each appropriate instruction-following response by a child produced praise for that child. In experimental sessions, appropriate responses also produced tokens exchangeable for tangible reinforcers after the session. Token reinforcement differentially maintained instruction-following behavior in four children while one responded appropriately to most instructions and a second improved continuously during the study. While the data suggest that the present approach can be successfully applied to the alteration of instruction-following behavior in retarded children, its major contribution may be that of providing objective quantitative information about such behavior.     

The effects of token reinforcement and feedback on the delusional verbal behavior of chronic paranoid schizophrenics

Prior research with token reinforcement in the psychiatric population has been directed at work adjustment, more than at major symptomatic behaviors. The purpose of the present research, on the other hand, was to investigate the effects of feedback and token reinforcement on the modification of delusional verbal behavior in chronic psychotics. Six male and four female paranoid schizophrenic patients participated in the study. The results indicated that the effects of feedback were effective about half the time in reducing percentage delusional talk, but in at least three cases produced adverse reactions. Token reinforcement, however, showed more consistency and reduced the percentage of delusional verbal behavior in seven of the nine subjects exposed to this procedure. The effects of both feedback and token reinforcement were quite specific to the environment in which they were applied and showed little generalization to other situations. It would appear that using token reinforcement can reduce the percentage delusional speech of chronic paranoid schizophrenics.     

Management of chronic psychiatric patients by a token reinforcement system

A token reinforcement system for the reduction of institutionalized behavior in a chronic psychiatric ward is described. Quantitative assessments were made of the effects of the system on five types of positively reinforced behavior, two types of unreinforced behavior, and two types of fined behavior. To assess whether these effects were a function of the token procedures, three experiments were carried out, the first removing tokens for a brief period, the second making tokens non-contingent on behavior, and the third removing fines in one area while maintaining them in another. The token procedures were found to be the source of the observed improvements.     

Second-order schedules of token reinforcement: effects of varying the schedule of food presentation

In the initial link of a complex schedule, one discriminative stimulus was presented and lever pressing produced tokens on fixed-ratio schedules. In the terminal link, signalled by a second discriminative stimulus, deposits of the tokens produced food. With two rats, the terminal link was presented after each sixth component schedule of token reinforcement was completed. With the other two rats, the terminal link was presented following the first component schedule completed after a fixed interval. During the terminal link, each token deposit initially produced food. The schedule of food presentation was subsequently increased such that an increasing number of token deposits in the terminal link was required for each food presentation. Rates of lever pressing in the initial link were inversely related to the schedule of food presentation in the terminal link. These results are similar to those of experiments that have varied schedules of food presentation in chained schedules. Rates and patterns of responding controlled throughout the initial link were more similar to those ordinarily controlled by second-order brief-stimulus schedules than to those controlled by comparable extended chained schedules.     

Peer and college-student tutoring as reinforcement in a token economy

Eighteen second-grade children initially received feedback in the form of nonredeemable tokens for reducing their disruptive classroom behavior. Four types of tutoring were then introduced in a Latin Square Design: noncontingent tutoring from fifth-grade peers, contingent peer tutoring, noncontingent college tutoring, and contingent college tutoring. No significant difference was found in the level of disruptive behavior of those children tutored by fifth-grade peers or college students, but contingent tutoring was significantly effective in reducing disruptive classroom behavior.     

An analysis of the value of token reinforcement using a multiple-schedule assessment

Token systems are widely used in clinical settings, necessitating the development of methods to evaluate the reinforcing value of these systems. In the current paper, we replicated the use of a multiple-schedule reinforcer assessment (MSA; Smaby, MacDonald, Ahearn, & Dube, 2007) to evaluate the components of a token economy system for 4 learners with autism. Token systems had reinforcing value similar to primary reinforcers for 2 of the 4 learners, but resulted in lower rates of responding than primary reinforcers for the other 2 learners. Differentiated responding across learners may warrant variation in clinical recommendations on the use of tokens. The results of this study support formal assessment of token system effectiveness, and the MSA procedure provides an efficient method by which to conduct such assessments.     

Second-order schedules of token reinforcement with pigeons: effects of fixed- and variable-ratio exchange schedules

Pigeons' key pecks produced food under second-order schedules of token reinforcement, with light-emitting diodes serving as token reinforcers. In Experiment 1, tokens were earned according to a fixed-ratio 50 schedule and were exchanged for food according to either fixed-ratio or variable-ratio exchange schedules, with schedule type varied across conditions. In Experiment 2, schedule type was varied within sessions using a multiple schedule. In one component, tokens were earned according to a fixed-ratio 50 schedule and exchanged according to a variable-ratio schedule. In the other component, tokens were earned according to a variable-ratio 50 schedule and exchanged according to a fixed-ratio schedule. In both experiments, the number of responses per exchange was varied parametrically across conditions, ranging from 50 to 400 responses. Response rates decreased systematically with increases in the fixed-ratio exchange schedules, but were much less affected by changes in the variable-ratio exchange schedules. Response rates were consistently higher under variable-ratio exchange schedules than tinder comparable fixed-ratio exchange schedules, especially at higher exchange ratios. These response-rate differences were due both to greater pre-ratio pausing and to lower local rates tinder the fixed-ratio exchange schedules. Local response rates increased with proximity to food under the higher fixed-ratio exchange schedules, indicative of discriminative control by the tokens.     

The effects of token procedures on a teacher's social contacts with her students

The effects of a token system on a teacher's rate of social contacts with her students were investigated in a public school kindergarten. A group of six children were observed daily during a 20-min handwriting lesson. The children were divided into two groups (A and B) of three children each. Five conditions were imposed sequentially: (1) baseline without tokens, (2) contingent tokens for Group A, noncontingent tokens for Group B, (3) contingent tokens for Group B, noncontingent tokens for Group A, (4) reinstatement of condition 2, and (5) contingent tokens for both groups. It was consistently observed that the teacher's rate of social contact was higher with the children receiving the contingent tokens than with those who received noncontingent tokens.     

A token reinforcement program in a public school: a replication and systematic analysis

A base rate of disruptive behavior was obtained for seven children in a second-grade class of 21 children. Rules, Educational Structure, and Praising Appropriate Behavior while Ignoring Disruptive Behavior were introduced successively; none of these procedures consistently reduced disruptive behavior. However, a combination of Rules, Educational Structure, and Praise and Ignoring nearly eliminated disruptive behavior of one child. When the Token Reinforcement Program was introduced, the frequency of disruptive behavior declined in five of the six remaining children. Withdrawal of the Token Reinforcement Program increased disruptive behavior in these five children, and reinstatement of the Token Reinforcement Program reduced disruptive behavior in four of these five. Follow-up data indicated that the teacher was able to transfer control from the token and back-up reinforcers to the reinforcers existing within the educational setting, such as stars and occasional pieces of candy. Improvements in academic achievement during the year may have been related to the Token Program, and attendance records appeared to be enhanced during the Token phases. The Token Program was utilized only in the afternoon, and the data did not indicate any generalization of appropriate behavior from the afternoon to the morning.