Positive Practice Overcorrection: The Effects of Duration of Positive Practice on Acquisition and Response Reduction

Abstract

The effects of long and short durations of positive practice overcorrection were studied, for reduction of off-task behavior after an instruction to perform an object-placement task. Off-task behavior, correct responses, and approximate responses were all observed. Off-task behavior received positive practice. The short and long practice durations (30 seconds and 3 minutes) produced equally rapid reduction of off-task behavior and acquisition of correct object-placement performance. Over sessions, much less time was required for positive practice when the short practice duration was used. Approximate responses, which also avoided positive practice, occurred at low rates relative to correct responding. Negative side effects were observed to occur primarily during sessions with long positive practice. These results indicate that use of short durations of positive practice can reduce the practice time required and negative side effects, with no loss of training effectiveness either for reducing inappropriate behavior or increasing a desired alternative behavior.

Abatement of intractable vocal stereotypy using an overcorrection procedure

“…According to the functional definition of punishment laid out by Azrin and Holtz (), punishment is identified exclusively by an observed decrease in frequency of a behavior it is made contingent upon, and not painful stimulation or distress on the part of the organism (Hanley, Piazza, Fisher, Maglieri, ). As a case in point, in the current experiment the positive practice overcorrection procedure was easily implemented (e.g., Bob rarely resisted the implementation of overcorrection), had no apparent negative side effects (i.e., crying and aggression were not observed), and its duration of less than 45 s was on the low end of the range cited in reviews of the overcorrection literature (Miltenberger & Fuqua, ; Carey & Bucher, ).…”

“…These reviews of the overcorrection literature (Miltenberger & Fuqua, ; Carey & Bucher, ) have called for parametric analysis of overcorrection duration; however, a parametric analysis was not conducted in this case. It seems likely that the results of such an analysis would lack generality unless data were gathered over large numbers of participants and target behaviors, while acknowledging that the punishing potency of a given procedure and reinforcing potency of a given form of stimulation produced by stereotypy will vary considerably from individual to individual.…”

Effect of Response Practice Variables on Learning Spelling and Sight Vocabulary

“…Few comparative studies have been conducted, and those on the duration of overcorrection have shown that this variable has not been consistently related to response reduction. Some results have shown that increasing the duration of overcorrection increases its effectiveness for reducing inappropriate behaviors (Foxx & Azrin, 1973;Ollendick & Matson, 1976;Sumner, Meuser, Hsu, & Morales, 1974), but other data are not supportive of that finding (Carey & Bucher, 1983;Conley & Wolery, 1980 ). A literature review did not reveal any studies that have evaluated the effects of differences in the number of times subjects were required to practice various tasks (Miltenberger & Fuqua, 1981).…”

Some indirect effects of positive practice overcorrection

“…First described by Azrin (1972, 1973), PP OC involves the interruption of problem behavior followed by a period of physically guided practice of an appropriate alternative response. In addition, PP OC has been successful in treating a number of topographies of problem behavior, such as theft (Azrin & Wesolowski, 1974), floor sprawling (Azrin & Wesolowski, 1975), off-task behavior (Carey & Bucher, 1983), self-stimulatory behavior (Harris & Wolchik, 1979), self-injury (Conley & Wolery, 1980), and pica (Foxx & Martin, 1975). In addition, PP OC has been successful in treating a number of topographies of problem behavior, such as theft (Azrin & Wesolowski, 1974), floor sprawling (Azrin & Wesolowski, 1975), off-task behavior (Carey & Bucher, 1983), self-stimulatory behavior (Harris & Wolchik, 1979), self-injury (Conley & Wolery, 1980), and pica (Foxx & Martin, 1975).…”