Fischer S M, Iwata B A, Mazaleski J L
University of Florida, Gainesville 32611, USA.
J Appl Behav Anal. 1997 Summer;30(2):239-49. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1997.30-239.
Results of recent research have shown that noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be effective in reducing the frequency of behavior problems. In typical NCR applications, the reinforcer that is responsible for behavioral maintenance (as demonstrated through a functional analysis) no longer follows occurrences of the target behavior but instead is delivered according to a time-based schedule. Thus, it is unclear if NCR would be effective if the target behavior continued to be reinforced or if arbitrary reinforcers (i.e., those irrelevant to behavioral maintenance) were substituted for the maintaining reinforcers in the NCR procedure. In this study, 2 individuals whose self-injurious behavior (SIB) was maintained by positive reinforcement were exposed to conditions in which arbitrary and maintaining reinforcers were withheld and were delivered either contingently or noncontingently. Results indicated that noncontingent delivery of arbitrary reinforcers was effective in reducing SIB even though occurrences of SIB produced access to the maintaining reinforcer. These results suggest that (a) arbitrary reinforcers may sometimes be substituted for maintaining reinforcers, (b) an important component of NCR procedures is alteration of a behavior's establishing operation, and (c) NCR with arbitrary reinforcers might therefore be effective when maintaining reinforcers cannot be identified or withheld during the course of treatment.
近期研究结果表明，非连续性强化（NCR）在减少行为问题发生频率方面可能有效。在典型的NCR应用中，负责行为维持的强化物（通过功能分析证明）不再跟随目标行为出现而给予，而是根据基于时间的时间表来提供。因此，如果目标行为继续得到强化，或者在NCR程序中用任意强化物（即与行为维持无关的强化物）替代维持强化物，NCR是否会有效尚不清楚。在本研究中，2名通过正强化维持自伤行为（SIB）的个体被置于任意强化物和维持强化物均被 withholding 且要么偶然给予要么非偶然给予的条件下。结果表明，即使SIB的发生能获得维持强化物，非偶然给予任意强化物在减少SIB方面也是有效的。这些结果表明：（a）任意强化物有时可替代维持强化物；（b）NCR程序的一个重要组成部分是改变行为的建立操作；（c）因此，当在治疗过程中无法识别或 withholding 维持强化物时，使用任意强化物的NCR可能有效。
