144 boys and girls in Grades 2 and 6 were presented a 2-choice simultaneous brightness-discrimination task. Ss were either verbally reinforced for correct responses (Rn), verbally punished for incorrect responses (Wn), or verbally reinforced for correct and punished for incorrect responses (RW). Two levels of task complexity defined as the number of irrelevant stimulus dimensions were utilized. Regardless of Ss' sex, age, or the complexity of the task, the Rn combination produced significantly slower learning than did the nearly equivalent Wn and RW combinations. The simple task was learned significantly more rapidly than the complex task.
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