Plummer S, Baer D M, LeBlanc J M
J Appl Behav Anal. 1977 Winter;10(4):689-705. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1977.10-689.
Two single-subject experiments were conducted with students in special preschool classes. In Experiment I, the subject's disruptive, appropriate, and inappropriate play behaviors were measured as a function of three independent variables: reinforcement, a typical timeout procedure, and regularly paced teacher instructions. In an ABA reversal within a multiple baseline across two teachers, all three independent variables comprised the A conditions and procedural timeout was omitted in B. Experiment II examined a second subject's appropriate and inappropriate eating as a function of the same three variables. Two teachers conducted baseline and paced instruction-plus-reinforcement conditions in multiple baseline across teachers. Subsequently, one teacher performed a series of reversals and replications with various combinations of a typical timeout procedure and reinforcement mixed with paced instructions. The results of both experiments suggest that timeout did not produce response decrement in a punishment paradigm, but rather produced response increment in a negative reinforcement paradigm. These results prevailed, even though a reinforcer was operating in the environment before introducing timeout. Paced instructions (delivering instructions to the child at a set pace regardless of the child's behavior) appears to be an alternative when timeout is not effective and, in conjunction with reinforcement, was demonstrated to reduce inappropriate behavior to near zero.
对特殊学前班的学生进行了两项单主体实验。在实验一中，测量了受测者的破坏性行为、恰当行为和不恰当游戏行为，这些行为是三个自变量的函数：强化、一种典型的暂停程序以及有规律节奏的教师指令。在两位教师间的多基线设计中的ABA反转中，所有三个自变量构成A条件，B条件中省略了程序暂停。实验二考察了另一名受测者的恰当和不恰当进食行为，同样作为这三个变量的函数。两位教师在教师间的多基线设计中进行了基线以及有节奏的指令加强化条件的操作。随后，一位教师用典型的暂停程序和强化与有节奏的指令的各种组合进行了一系列反转和重复操作。两项实验的结果表明，在惩罚范式中暂停并未导致反应减少，而是在负强化范式中导致反应增加。即使在引入暂停之前环境中存在强化物，这些结果依然成立。有节奏的指令（不管孩子的行为如何，以设定的节奏向孩子传达指令）在暂停无效时似乎是一种替代方法，并且与强化相结合，被证明能将不恰当行为减少到接近零。
