A Comparison of the Effects of Reinforcement and Response Cost on the Selective Attention of Learning Disabled Children

Abstract

This experiment, like others in a series by the present authors, examines attentional processes in learning disabled youngsters. This particular study is controversial in that it proposes that learning disabled children may be capable of better verbal learning than they demonstrate — they simply fail to produce, though they allegedly possess the capability. Comments regarding this “production deficiency hypothesis” are invited. — G.M.S.

To investigate the effects of reinforcement and response cost on the selective attention and verbal rehearsal performance of learning disabled children, a modified version of Hagen's Central-Incidental task was administered to 48 children enrolled in a private residential school for children with learning disabilities. A reinforcement condition facilitated both selective attention and verbal rehearsal (as measured by primacy effect), but a response cost condition did not. The results were discussed in relation to a “production deficiency” in learning disabled children.

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