Age-related preferences for paced and unpaced tasks in chained schedules of reinforcement

Perone, Michael; Baron, Alan

doi:10.1080/03610738308258446

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Younger participants in the present study tended to perform the experimental task more rapidly (i.e., with higher response rates) than older controls. This is consistent with the findings of operant studies comparing the performances of younger adults and cognitively intact older adults (Baron and Menich 1985;Perone and Baron, 1983b;Plaud et al, 1999). Interestingly, older adults with AD also tended to exhibit higher response rates than older controls.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Perone and Baron (1983b) evaluated age-related preferences for paced (i.e., time-limited) and unpaced tasks in 7 healthy younger and 7 healthy older men, using a procedure similar to that just described. Following unpaced, training sessions, some participants were exposed to an "acute" pacing condition, whereas others were exposed to a "chronic" pacing condition.…”

Section: Age-related Changes and Operant Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Operant conditioning in older adults with Alzheimer's disease

Spira¹

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Behavioral interventions are commonly implemented to manage agitation in older adults with dementia. However, the extent to which operant conditioning can occur in this population is unclear. The present study used a button-pressing task to evaluate the sensitivity of the responding of individuals with probable Alzheimer's disease to changes in schedules of reinforcement. Results indicate that operant conditioning can occur in older adults with AD. Specifically, three participants with AD exhibited responding that was highly sensitive to a transition from a fixed interval schedule to an extinction schedule. One participant's responding was sensitive to a more subtle transition. Comparison data is presented from older controls and college students. Clinical implications of findings and suggestions for future research are presented. Operant Conditioning in Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative brain disease that affects approximately four million Americans (Alzheimer's Association, 2002). AD primarily occurs in older adults; approximately 10% of adults over the age of 65, and almost half of those above the age of 85 have the disease (Alzheimer's Association). AD is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, structural abnormalities that are believed to impair normal brain function (Selkoe, 2002) and lead to the dementia associated with the disease (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998). These abnormalities, as well as neuron loss, are observed in limbic structures such as hippocampus, amygdala, and nucleus basalis, and in association cortices responsible for memory and other high-level cognitive processes (Selkoe; Thompson, 2000). AD is the most common cause of dementia (Alzheimer's Association), which the American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines as ".. . the development of multiple cognitive deficits that include memory impairment and. . ." another cognitive disturbance from a list including aphasia (language disturbance), apraxia (motor disturbance), agnosia (inability to recognize objects), and impaired executive functioning (1994, p. 134). A diagnosis of dementia must reflect significant impairment in functioning and a decline from previous functional status (APA). AD is associated with a degenerative dementia leading to complete deterioration of functional capacity, and the eventual death of the affected individual. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, AD was among the ten most common causes of death in 1999 (Kochanek, Smith, & Anderson, 2001).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Age-related Changes and Operant Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%