Miller, N., & Neuringer, A. (2000).
Reinforcing variability in adolescents with autism.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
33, 151-165.
Five adolescents with autism, 5 adult control participants, and 4
child controls received rewards for varying their sequences of
responses while playing a computer game. In preceding and
following phases, rewards were provided at approximately the same
rate but were independent of variability. The most important
finding was that, when reinforced, variability increased
significantly in all groups. Reinforced variability could provide
the necessary behavioral substrate for individuals with autism to
learn new responses.
DESCRIPTORS: autism, operant variability, response stereotypy,
percentile reinforcement, noncontingent reinforcement