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Fixed-interval performance and self-control in children
J C Darcheville1, V Rivière, J H Wearden
1Université Charles de Gaulle, Lille.
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Children
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Child Development
Background:
- Operant conditioning principles are fundamental to understanding behavior.
- Self-control and impulsivity in children are critical areas of developmental research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between choice behavior in a self-control paradigm and performance on fixed-interval schedules in children.
- To explore individual differences in delay discounting and reinforcement schedules.
Main Methods:
- 16 children (mean age 6 years) participated in operant conditioning tasks.
- Fixed-interval schedules with varying reinforcer durations and intervals were used.
- A self-control paradigm involved choices between immediate and delayed cartoon reinforcers of varying durations.
Main Results:
- Individual differences in self-control choices predicted fixed-interval performance.
- Children choosing immediate, smaller reinforcers (impulsive) showed high, stable response rates and short postreinforcement pauses.
- Children choosing larger, delayed reinforcers (self-controlled) exhibited lower, systematically varying response rates and long postreinforcement pauses.
Conclusions:
- Behavioral patterns in self-control choices directly correlate with performance under fixed-interval schedules in children.
- This study highlights the predictive power of self-control paradigms for understanding operant behavior in young children.
Abstract:
Operant responses of 16 children (mean age 6 years and 1 month) were reinforced according to different fixed-interval schedules (with interreinforcer intervals of 20, 30, or 40 s) in which the reinforcers were either 20-s or 40-s presentations of a cartoon. In another procedure, they received training on a self-control paradigm in which both reinforcer delay (0.5 s or 40 s) and reinforcer duration (20 s or 40 s of cartoons) varied, and subjects were offered a choice between various combinations of delay and duration. Individual differences in behavior under the self-control procedure were precisely mirrored by individual differences under the fixed-interval schedule. Children who chose the smaller immediate reinforcer on the self-control procedure (impulsive) produced short postreinforcement pauses and high response rates in the fixed-interval conditions, and both measures changed little with changes in fixed-interval value. Conversely, children who chose the larger delayed reinforcer in the self-control condition (the self-controlled subjects) exhibited lower response rates and long postreinforcement pauses, which changed systematically with changes in the interval, in their fixed-interval performances.