Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Autoshaping of abnormal children

C W Deckner, L M Wilcox, S A Maisto

    Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
    |September 1, 1980
    PubMed
    Summary

    Children rapidly learned signal-controlled responding with a novel operant procedure, replicating animal autoshaping studies. However, classical conditioning procedures suppressed this discriminative behavior, indicating potential negative behavioral contrast effects.

    Related Concept Videos

    You might also read

    Related Articles

    Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

    Sort by
    Same author

    Associations of General and Multiracial-Specific Discrimination with Psychological Distress and Substance Use in Multiracial College Students.

    Substance use & misuse·2025
    Same author

    Working memory moderates the association between condom use intentions and behavior among moderate-to-heavy drinking men who have sex with men.

    Journal of behavioral medicine·2019
    Same author

    Representation and measurement of stereoscopic volumes.

    Journal of vision·2016
    Same author

    Body mass index and depressive symptoms in primary care settings: examining the moderating roles of smoking status, alcohol consumption and vigorous exercise.

    Clinical obesity·2014
    Same author

    A 1,4-β-D-glucan-synthase system from Dictyostelium discoideum.

    Planta·2013
    Same author

    Facial expressions and interpretation of emotion-arousing situations in deaf and hearing children.

    Journal of abnormal child psychology·2013

    Area of Science:

    • Behavioral psychology
    • Child development
    • Operant conditioning

    Background:

    • Investigating learning mechanisms in children with developmental abnormalities.
    • Examining the efficacy of terminal operant contingencies in establishing discriminative responding.

    Observation:

    • Three children with developmental abnormalities were exposed to a terminal operant contingency without successive approximation or manual shaping.
    • Children demonstrated rapid acquisition of discriminative responding (panel pressing) when reinforcement was contingent on signal presence.

    Findings:

    • The procedure successfully induced signal-controlled responding, consistent with autoshaping phenomena observed in animal research.
    • Classical conditioning procedures, a form of autoshaping, significantly suppressed discriminative responding in one child.
    • Intrasubject reversal and multiple baseline designs confirmed the reliability of these findings.

    Implications:

    • Rapid acquisition of signal-controlled responding suggests practical applications in educational or therapeutic settings for children.
    • The suppressive effect of classical autoshaping highlights the importance of procedure selection in behavioral interventions.
    • Findings contribute to understanding behavioral contrast and the nuances of autoshaping in human learning.

    Related Experiment Videos