Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

RESISTANCE TO DISRUPTION IN A CLASSROOM SETTING

2011; Wiley; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1901/jaba.2011.44-363

1938-3703

Diana Parry‐Cruwys, Carrie M. Neal, William H. Ahearn, Emily E. Wheeler, Raseeka Premchander, Melissa B. Loeb, William V. Dube,

Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills

Substantial experimental evidence indicates that behavior reinforced on a denser schedule is more resistant to disruption than is behavior reinforced on a thinner schedule. The present experiment studied resistance to disruption in a natural educational environment. Responding during familiar activities was reinforced on a multiple variable‐interval (VI) 7‐s VI 30‐s schedule for 6 participants with developmental disabilities. Resistance to disruption was measured by presenting a distracting item. Response rates in the disruption components were compared to within‐session response rates in prior baseline components. Results were consistent with the predictions of behavioral momentum theory for 5 of 6 participants.