Mullins M, Rincover A
J Exp Child Psychol. 1985 Oct;40(2):350-74. doi: 10.1016/0022-0965(85)90095-5.
The purpose of this study was to assess autistic children's ability to maximize reinforcement, sample among available stimuli, and respond to extinction. Responding to five concurrent reinforcement schedules (CRF, FR 2, FR 4, FR 7, and FR 11) was monitored and compared to groups of mental age-matched and chronological age-matched normal children. When a given child consistently selected a given schedule of reinforcement, it was then put on extinction, and both perseveration and responding to the remaining (intact) schedules of reinforcement were monitored. The results showed, first, that while normal children selected the richest schedule of reinforcement, autistics did not maximize reinforcement, typically selecting one of the thinner schedules available. Second, the autistic children sampled less, and less efficiently, than the normal children. Third, the autistic children proved to be much less responsive to extinction, perseverating longer than the normal children before switching to a new reinforcement schedule. Fourth, whenever extinction proved to be a problem in the autistics, it was quickly achieved by a simple change in the stimulus conditions. These results are discussed as possible "keystone" deficits, which may be causally related to many of the behavioral deficits of autism and which might be important target behaviors for treatment.
本研究的目的是评估自闭症儿童在强化最大化、从可用刺激中进行抽样以及对消退做出反应方面的能力。对五组并行强化程序（连续强化程序、固定比率为2、固定比率为4、固定比率为7和固定比率为11）下的反应进行监测，并与心理年龄匹配和实际年龄匹配的正常儿童组进行比较。当某个特定儿童持续选择某个特定强化程序时，随后使其进入消退阶段，并监测其坚持行为以及对其余（未改变的）强化程序的反应。结果显示，首先，正常儿童会选择最丰富的强化程序，而自闭症儿童不会使强化最大化，通常会选择可用的较稀疏程序之一。其次，自闭症儿童的抽样比正常儿童少，且效率更低。第三，自闭症儿童对消退的反应明显较弱，在切换到新的强化程序之前，他们比正常儿童坚持的时间更长。第四，每当消退在自闭症儿童中成为问题时，通过简单改变刺激条件就能迅速实现消退。这些结果被作为可能的“关键”缺陷进行讨论，这些缺陷可能与自闭症的许多行为缺陷存在因果关系，并且可能是治疗的重要目标行为。
