Response Sequence Differences between Preschoolers and College Students on a Stereotypy Procedure

Abstract

40 preschool children and 11 college students were asked to move a marker through a computer matrix to accumulate points and hear music. An operant conditioning view suggests that each of the 252 functionally equivalent response sequences has an initially equal likelihood of occurring, but the present data indicated they do not. Most subjects showed a preference for one response sequence within about 20 trials. Preschool children preferred response sequences in which the marker moved along the perimeter of the matrix. College students preferred response sequences in which the marker moved along the diagonal of the matrix.