Stimulus Variation and the Acquisition of Behavior: A Comparison of Constant Task and Varied Task Teaching Methods

Abstract

The use of multiple training tasks has been suggested as a means of enhancing motivation in developmentally delayed children. The present study assessed the differential effect of two methods of task presentation on the rate of response acquisition with four autistic children. Sight word identification tasks were taught under two conditions: the Constant Task method in which only trials on the target task were presented during each session and the Varied Task method in which trials for three nontarget tasks were interspersed with trials for the target task during the training sessions. The results showed that the Constant Task condition led to faster response acquisition by two of the children than did the Varied Task condition. No difference between the two training conditions was apparent for two children. The Varied Task method did not lead to more efficient learning in any child. Thus, the use of multiple training tasks during response acquisition may be detrimental to some children. It is possible that the Varied Task method may be most useful in enhancing motivation during maintenance and generalization training.