Okouchi, H. (2009).
Response acquisition by humans with delayed reinforcement.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 91, 377-390.
The present experiment examined whether a response class was acquired by
humans with delayed reinforcement. Eight white circles were presented on
a computer touch screen. If the undergraduates touched two of the eight
circles in a specified sequence (i.e., touching first the upper-left
circle then the bottom-left circle), then the touches initiated an
unsignaled resetting delay culminating in point delivery. Participants
experienced one of three different delays (0 s, 10 s, or 30 s).
Rates of the target two-response sequence were higher with delayed
reinforcement than with no reinforcement. Terminal rates of the
target sequence decreased and postreinforcement pauses increased as a
function of delay duration. Other undergraduates exposed to yoked
schedules of response-independent point deliveries failed to acquire
the sequence. The results demonstrate that a response class was
acquired with delayed reinforcement, extending the generality of
this phenomenon found with nonhuman animals to humans.
Key words: acquisition, reinforcement delay, points exchangeable for money,
response sequence, screen touch, humans