Romanowich Paul, Lamb R J
University of Texas at San Antonio.
J Appl Behav Anal. 2015 Spring;48(1):25-37. doi: 10.1002/jaba.185. Epub 2015 Jan 30.
Studies indicate that when abstinence is initiated, escalating reinforcement schedules maintain continuous abstinence longer than fixed reinforcement schedules. However, these studies were conducted for shorter durations than most clinical trials and also resulted in larger reinforcer value for escalating participants during the 1st week of the experiment. We tested whether escalating reinforcement schedules maintained abstinence longer than fixed reinforcement schedules in a 12-week clinical trial. Smokers (146) were randomized to an escalating reinforcement schedule, a fixed reinforcement schedule, or a control condition. Escalating reinforcement participants received $5.00 for their first breath carbon monoxide (CO) sample <3 ppm, with a $0.50 increase for each consecutive sample. Fixed reinforcement participants received $19.75 for each breath CO sample <3 ppm. Control participants received payments only for delivering a breath CO sample. Similar proportions of escalating and fixed reinforcement participants met the breath CO criterion at least once. Escalating reinforcement participants maintained criterion breath CO levels longer than fixed reinforcement and control participants. Similar to previous short-term studies, escalating reinforcement schedules maintained longer durations of abstinence than fixed reinforcement schedules during a clinical trial.
研究表明，当开始禁欲时，递增强化计划比固定强化计划能维持更长时间的持续禁欲。然而，这些研究的持续时间比大多数临床试验短，并且在实验的第一周，递增强化组参与者的强化物价值也更高。我们在一项为期12周的临床试验中测试了递增强化计划是否比固定强化计划能维持更长时间的禁欲。146名吸烟者被随机分为递增强化组、固定强化组或对照组。递增强化组参与者首次呼出一氧化碳（CO）样本<3 ppm时可获得5.00美元，每连续一个样本增加0.50美元。固定强化组参与者每次呼出CO样本<3 ppm可获得19.75美元。对照组参与者仅因提供呼出CO样本而获得报酬。递增强化组和固定强化组参与者中至少有一次达到呼出CO标准的比例相似。递增强化组参与者维持标准呼出CO水平的时间比固定强化组和对照组参与者更长。与之前的短期研究相似，在临床试验中，递增强化计划比固定强化计划能维持更长时间的禁欲。
