Effects of reinforcement on concept identification in hyperactive children

Abstract

The effects of continuous and partial reward on the performance of hyperactive and normal children on a concept identification task were compared. Because reduction in information feedback is usually associated with partial reward schedules, the study was designed to yield information regarding the contribution of reduced feedback to performance in the partial reward condition. Previous findings of a performance deficit in hyperactives under partial reward were replicated. The findings help rule out an information feedback explanation for this deficit. The authors suggest that a motivational factor involving the elicitation of frustration when expected rewards fail to appear may be responsible for the poor performance of hyperactives on the partial schedule.

Emotional reactivity in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

“…This finding is consistent with Quay's (1988) model that predicts lower physiological responses to negative consequences in individuals with ADHD, as well as with previous research using a similar self-report form of this measure with adults (Braaten & Rosén, 1997). Previous research on the response of children with ADHD to rewards also suggests that they respond less to rewards, especially intermittent rewards, than do children without ADHD (Barber, Milich, & Welsh, 1996;Parry & Douglas, 1983). These findings suggest that children with ADHD will likely not respond to negative consequences as well as children without ADHD.…”

No Evidence for Inhibitory Deficits or Altered Reward Processing in ADHD

“…In the current adaptation of the MID task, the participants were rewarded immediately after each correct response. As children with ADHD might perform similar to controls under schedules of continuous and immediate reinforcement (e.g., Barber, Milich, & Welsh, 1996;Parry & Douglas, 1983), the chosen reinforcement schedule might be the reason why we did not find any differential reward effects in the ADHD sample. However, for omission errors we did find an interaction between group and reward intensity.…”

The effects of continuous and partial reward on the vigilance task performance of adults with attentional deficits: A pilot investigation

“…These effects did not appear to be due to task difficulty (lack of information/feedback), because the two groups demonstrated equivalent error performance on the CPT across all conditions. Parry and Douglas (1983) also ruled out feedback as a possible explanation for poor performance on a delayed reaction time task for hyperactive children (i.e., by adding a feedback condition to their experiment).…”