A human-operant evaluation of commission and omission errors during differential reinforcement of other behavior

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) involves the delivery of a reinforcer following the absence of target behavior. Little is known about DRO with fidelity errors. Three experiments examined DRO implemented with various percentages of fidelity with commission (Experiments 1 and 3) and omission (Experiment 2) errors in a human-operant arrangement. Both commission and omission errors degraded the response-suppressing effects of DRO for some participants. In some cases, commission errors resulted in response rates exceeding baseline levels. Experiment 3 evaluated the potential order effects of first experiencing DRO with high fidelity followed by degraded fidelity with commission errors. When exposed to the conditions ordered 100, 60, and 80% fidelity with commission errors, increased response rates occurred more frequently during the degraded fidelity phases than when participants were exposed to fidelity that decreased in a stepwise fashion (i.e., 100 to 80 to 60%).