Reinforcement of cooperation between profoundly retarded adults.

An experimental approach to the development and maintenance of cooperation responses in profoundly retarded institutionalized male adults was evaluated in this study. A single-subject reversal design was used for the major experiment which involved automatic recording of cooperative responses. Within a relatively short period, 7 dyads learned independent operation of the cooperation machine. During the first reinforcement period, a high and fairly stable rate of cooperative responding occurred which decreased markedly after several extinction sessions and immediately recovered when reinforcements were reinstituted. The operation of such machines by profoundly retarded subjects resulted in increased social interaction beyond purely mechanistic behavior.