EFFECTS OF REWARDING CHILDRENS HIGH- AND LOW-AMPLITUDE MOTOR RESPONSES

Forty-eight preschool-age Ss provided baseline amplitude data by striking a target with a mallet seven times. Subsequently, a series of 36 training trials was administered, with half the Ss being rewarded for response amplitudes exceeding their baseline scores, the remaining Ss being rewarded for amplitudes of lower magnitudes than their baseline scores. Analyses of raw response amplitude scores and number of rewarded responses revealed that both groups learned in comparable fashion to respond in accordance with the reward contingency under which they were run. A difference score analysis yielded similar results, except for the first trial block. Reference is made to some related child studies and to implications regarding motivational vs associative interpretations of high magnitude responding. © 1969, Psychonomic Journals, Inc.. All rights reserved.