Abstract

CORTEZ, Mariéle Diniz; ROSE, Julio Cesar de  and  MONTAGNOLI, Tathianna Amorim Souza. Training and maintenance of correspondence in self-reports of children with and without a history of school failure. Acta comport. [online]. 2013, vol.21, n.2, pp. 139-157. ISSN 0188-8145.

This study investigated, in children with or without a history of school failure, the pattern of corresponding reports on their accuracy in reading as a function of task difficulty, and verified the effects of a correspondence training (continuous and intermittent reinforcement) on the establishment and maintenance of correspondence. Four children with school failure and four children without school failure participated. "Doing" consisted in reading aloud a written word presented on the computer's screen, and "Saying" in reporting whether reading was correct or not after the computer's feedback. Frequency of corresponding reports was assessed as a function of probability of errors in the absence of differential contingencies for reports. Then, correspondence training with continuous (CRF) and intermittent (VR2, VR3, and VR6) reinforcement for corresponding reports was conducted. Maintenance of correspondence in the absence of differential contingencies was verified. There were no pronounced differences on the levels of corresponding reports of errors between children with or without school failure. Correspondence training was effective in producing corresponding reports which were maintained during the intermittent reinforcement phase as well during the subsequent condition conducted in extinction. Error seemed to be a relevant variable for self-report accuracy, independently of the presence or absence of school failure.

Keywords : do-say correspondence; correspondence training; verbal report; school failure; maintenance; intermittent reinforcement.

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