Children's use of verbal collaterals in DRL performance

This study examines the effects of a verbal collateral (counting) on a series of three differential reinforcement of low rates of response (DRL) tasks with progressively longer interresponse time requirements (DRL-2, DRL-6 and DRL-12). Forty-eight 10-year-old children, divided according to sex and conceptual tempo (fast-inaccurate vs. slow-accurate) participated in DRL training, half of them being instructed to count aloud between responses. Counting was found to be related to faster learning of all the tasks and to greater efficiency in obtaining reinforcement in most cases. It also eliminated differences due to sex and conceptual tempo except in DRL-12. However, it had the disadvantage of causing inexact temporal discrimination. The results were replicated in a group of 8-year-old subjects performing the same tasks.