The purpose of the study was to compare three forms of auditory stimulation as reinforcers of adults who are severely retarded and who participated on a task which promotes cardiovascular fitness. Auditory stimulation differed in meaningfulness and was either music, white noise, or pink noise, the latter possessing a tempo quality. The conditions of auditory stimulation were compared with 13 subjects in a modified changing criterion design. Subjects received auditory stimulation if they pedalled at a specified rate above baseline performance. All subjects completed at least 30 sessions, each 15 minutes in duration. It was concluded that only music was an effective reinforcer in promoting continuous work output.
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