Frankel F, Freeman B J, Ritvo E, Chikami B, Carr E
Am J Ment Defic. 1976 Jul;81(1):32-40.
The present study was designed to determine if frequency of repetitive photic stimulation could affect the response rate of an operant upon which such stimulation was made contingent. To test this hypothesis, we trained retarded and autistic children, equated for mental age, to pull a lever to obtain photic stimulation of different frequencies. It was found that (a) response rates of autistic children were related to the frequency of stimulation, while retarded children showed no such consistency. (b) The two groups did not differ in the average duration of time they engaged in stereotypies. (c) During a subsequent extinction session, two autistic children ceased responding, but one of two retarded children did not. (d) Noncontingent photic stimulation suppressed a food-motivated operant in one autistic child. These results were interpreted as evidence for frequency-dependent properties of repetitive visual feedback in autistic children. In addition, support was given to the position that performance deficits in autistic children correlating with the occurrence of stereotypies result from competition of different sources of reinforcement.
本研究旨在确定重复性光刺激的频率是否会影响与之相关的操作性反应的速率。为了验证这一假设，我们对智力年龄相当的智障和自闭症儿童进行训练，让他们拉动杠杆以获得不同频率的光刺激。结果发现：（a）自闭症儿童的反应速率与刺激频率有关，而智障儿童则没有这种一致性。（b）两组在进行刻板行为的平均持续时间上没有差异。（c）在随后的消退阶段，两名自闭症儿童停止了反应，但两名智障儿童中有一名没有。（d）非相关性光刺激抑制了一名自闭症儿童的食物驱动操作性行为。这些结果被解释为自闭症儿童重复性视觉反馈频率依赖性特性的证据。此外，还支持了这样一种观点，即自闭症儿童与刻板行为发生相关的行为缺陷是由不同强化源的竞争导致的。
