Previous studies have demonstrated that discriminative learning is facilitated when a particular outcome is associated with each relation to be learned. When this training procedure is applied (the differential outcomes procedure; DOP), learning is faster and better than when the typical common outcomes procedure or nondifferential outcomes (NDO) is used. Our primary purpose in the two experiments reported here was to assess the potential advantage of DOP in 5-year-old children using three different strategies of reinforcement in which (a) children received a reinforcer following a correct choice (" + "), (b) children lost a reinforcer following an incorrect choice (" - "), or (c) children received a reinforcer following a correct choice and lost one following an incorrect choice (" + / - "). In Experiment 1, we evaluated the effects of the presence of DOP and different types of reinforcement on learning and memory of a symbolic delayed matching-to-sample task using secondary and primary reinforcers. Experiment 2 was similar to the previous one except that only primary reinforcers were used. The results from these experiments indicated that, in general, children learned the task faster and showed higher performance and persistence of learning whenever differential outcomes were arranged independent of whether it was differential gain, loss, or combinations. A novel finding was that they performed the task better when they lost a reinforcer following an incorrect choice (type of training " - ") in both experiments. A further novel finding was that the advantage of the DOP over the nondifferential outcomes training increased in a retention test.

Researchers have demonstrated that discriminative learning is facilitated when a particular outcome is associated with each relation to be learned. Our primary

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<p>Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and Down Syndrome (DS) read better than expected for their mental age. We have measured three basic reading skills (word recognition, phonological awareness, and reading comprehension), and two standard intellectual and verbal measures: the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Tests. The tests were applied to 16 adolescents classified as FXS (<em>M</em> = 14.74 years old, <em>SD</em> = 4.03) and 16 adolescents classified as DS (<em>M</em> = 15.59 years old, <em>SD</em> = 2.35). For comparison purposes, the reading tests were also applied to a typical develop group of 70 children aged between 4.8 and 7.0 years (<em>M</em> = 6.11, <em>SD</em> = 0.71).  Children with DS and FXS exhibited verbal skills superior to their cognitive development, especially in the FXS group. In reading performance, FXS showed a reading level corresponding to 5/6 their age, and for SD 6/7 of the equivalent reading age, however, both groups exhibited a similar reading performance in the three reading skills measured, when nonverbal mental age was controlled.</p>

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