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Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis logoLink to Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
. 1980 Spring;13(1):91–99. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1980.13-91

Intertrial interval duration and learning in autistic children.

R L Koegel, G Dunlap, K Dyer
PMCID: PMC1308109  PMID: 7364701

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of intertrial interval duration on the performance of autistic children during teaching situations. The children were taught under the same conditions existing in their regular programs, except that the length of time between trials was systematically manipulated. With both multiple baseline and repeated reversal designs, two lengths of intertrial interval were employed; short intervals with the SD for any given trial presented approximately one second following the reinforcer for the previous trial versus long intervals with the SD presented four or more seconds following the reinforcer for the previous trial. The results showed that: (1) the short intertrial intervals always produced higher levels of correct responding than the long intervals; and (2) there were improving trends in performance and rapid acquisition with the short intertrial intervals, in contrast to minimal or no change with the long intervals. The results are discussed in terms of utilizing information about child and task characteristics in terms of selecting optimal intervals. The data suggest that manipulations made between trials have a large influence on autistic children's learning.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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