Programmed training of visual discriminations: a comparison of techniques

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Technology
• Special Education

Background:

• Discrimination training is crucial for cognitive development in children with intellectual disabilities.
• Traditional trial-and-error methods may be less efficient for this population.
• Microcomputer-based interventions offer novel approaches to learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of three distinct discrimination training procedures for mentally handicapped children.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of graded stimulus fading and graded prompt fading against trial-and-error learning.
• To analyze learning outcomes based on criterion attainment, trials to criterion, and error rates.

Main Methods:

• Three groups of mentally handicapped children were trained on a shape discrimination task using a microcomputer.
• Training procedures included graded stimulus fading, graded prompt fading (behavior modification approximation), and trial-and-error learning.
• Learning efficiency was assessed by the number of children reaching criterion, trials to criterion, and errors made.

Main Results:

• Both graded stimulus fading and graded prompt fading were significantly superior to trial-and-error learning.
• The two programmed techniques showed equivalent effectiveness in terms of learning steps and fading criteria.
• While error rates remained significantly lower with programmed techniques over additional problems, differences in trials to criterion diminished.

Conclusions:

• Programmed learning techniques, specifically graded stimulus fading and graded prompt fading, enhance discrimination learning in mentally handicapped children.
• These methods are more effective than trial-and-error learning, leading to better performance and fewer errors.
• The findings support the use of errorless learning strategies in applied educational settings for children with intellectual disabilities.