Non Contingent Reinforcement

Question 1

What is non-contingent reinforcement?

Answer 1

• NCR is an antecedent intervention
• Stimuli with known reinforcing properties are delivered on a fixed0time (FT) or variable-time (VT) schedule independent of the learner’s behaviour
• NCR may effectively decrease problem behaviour because reinforcers that maintain the problem behaviour are available freely and frequently

Question 2

What is non-contingent attention?

Answer 2

• Giving the student attention that is not contingent or dependent on any one particular behaviour or accomplishment
• When a student is noticed, he or she ‘feels’ valued and is more likely to engage in the appropriate behaviour (and the problem behaviour decreases)

Question 3

Interventions for escaping from work: Circular/instructional revision

Answer 3

• Changes the task between easy to difficult

- New tasks can evoke problem behaviour

Question 4

Interventions for escaping from work: Demand fading

Answer 4

• Gradually reintroducing tasks after original removal

Question 5

Interventions for escaping from work: Extinction

Answer 5

• Withholding reinforcement

Question 6

Interventions for escaping from work: Noncontingent escape

Answer 6

• Let them get away from demand frequently (give them a break from whatever they are trying to escape from)

Question 7

Interventions for escaping from work: Activity choice

Answer 7

• Let the person choose the order of another task

- Escaping from one it of work by going to another by their choice

Question 8

What is demand fading?

Answer 8

• Eliminate demands
• Slowly fade demands back in
• Immediate reduction in problem behaviour
• Increases tolerance to demands
• Schedule thinning
• Can use without extinction but would be more effective with

Question 9

What is non-contingent escape?

Answer 9

• Scheduled breaks
• NO response requirement
• Immediate reduction
• Labor intensive at first
• Schedule thinning
• Can use without extinction but would be effective with

Question 10

Side-effects of NCR: Incidental reinforcement

Answer 10

• Reinforcer presentation may coincidentally follow aberrant behaviour and therefore reinforce its occurrence

Question 11

Side-effects of NCR: Extinction bursts

Answer 11

• Can occur when an instance of aberrant behaviour is not reinforced
• If an extinction-induced increase in responding culminates with access to reinforcement, the result may be to accidentally reinforce aberrant behaviour

Question 12

What are the advantages of NCR?

Answer 12

• It might reduce extinction-induced behaviour, because the functional reinforcer can be made available frequently despite the elimination of the response-reinforcer contingency
• It ensures that programmed and obtained rates of reinforcement would be the same as or higher than in DRO (given similar scheduled intervals)
• Occurrence of the target response during the DRO intervals results in reinforcer loss, whereas NCR schedules are not affected by the clients behaviour