The effects of differential reinforcement on generalized imitation

The present study examines the transfer of imitative learning to other nonimitative performance conditions and compares imitative and nonimitative performance under contingencies of differential reinforcement for S⁰ behavior, differential reinforcement for nonimitative behavior, and extinction. Many authors have suggested that a child's continued imitative performance of rewarded S^D and unrewarded S^Δ behavior is a function of subtle social cues or experimental demand present in most generalized imitation procedures. The two experiments presented here support that conclusion but also provide evidence that conclusions drawn from such generalized imitation studies were generally accurate. Even though a child's trial-by-trial imitative performance appeared to be a function of procedural artifacts, the child's later performance in the role of a model indicated that a functionally interdependent generalized response class of imitative behavior had been learned while the child imitated. As such, these experiments generally supported Baer's secondary reinforcement hypothesis for imitative performance and suggest that future research employ nonimitative tasks such as reversed imitation as a measure of imitative learning.