Definitions

Consequences. Events that are contingent upon designated behaviors. In the context of this teaching curriculum, consequences are often arranged by experimenters/teachers as part of a three-term contingency: antecedent-behavior-consequence. For example, given the spoken word ³Cat² and pictures of a cat, dog, and bird (antecedent), touching the picture of the cat (response) is followed by praise and a token (consequence). The consequence is termed a reinforcer if experience with the contingency increases the frequency of the behavior in the presence of the antecedent, or maintains it at some frequency greater than that which would occur without the consequence.

Response shaping or successive approximation. A nonverbal type of instruction in which a new form of behavior is established by gradually changing the form of some current behavior. It is implemented by (1) determining an effective reinforcing consequence, (2) determining the form of the target behavior, (3) identifying some current behavior as a starting point, (4) establishing a criterion so that the reinforcer follows the current behavior only when it deviates a small amount in the direction of the target, and (5) periodically adjusting the criterion for reinforcement in small increments so that the behavior increasingly conforms to the target.

Successive discrimination or go/no-go task. A type of discrete-trials discrimination procedure in which the stimuli are presented individually, for some predetermined duration. If the stimulus is one designated as positive (S+) by the experimenter/teacher, then a correct response is some easily detected behavior (e.g., pressing a button) emitted while the stimulus is present. If the stimulus is one designated as negative (S-), then a correct response is any behavior other than the one that is correct for S+ (e.g., waiting until the trial is over without pressing the button). Typically, reinforcers follow correct responses on trials with S+; often, reinforcers do not follow correct responses on trials with S-. Example: Serna, Stoddard, & McIlvane (1992).