A Behavioral-Economic Approach to Maximizing Feedback

本研究将探讨行为经济学方法，以管理智障人士的动机变数。在行为经济学中，消费者被视为商品，而支配这些商品的环境偶然性则被视为价格。为了进行分析，我们将首先确定特定商品的个体需求函数。需求函数将消费率与价格联系起来;它们可以通过对价格范围内的消费进行参数评估来获得。需求函数提供了一个更全面的图片性能动态比点估计所产生的传统/目前的方法评估经销商的偏好， 有效性如果消费随着价格上涨而迅速福尔斯，则需求被称为弹性，如果不是，则需求被称为非弹性（即，产量随着价格的上涨而增加）。我们将描述影响需求函数的变量，以及随后对包括收购和业绩在内的相关措施的影响。这些变量包括：（1）由于工作量与工作难度的关系而导致的价格上涨;（2）商品的可替代性。如果一种商品的同时供应增加了对另一种商品的需求弹性，那么商品就是替代品;如果一种商品的消费增加了对另一种商品的需求，那么商品就是补充品。替代性分析将确定由类似经济功能定义的替代物类别。(3)我们还将研究开放与封闭经济的影响。这个维度指的是 商品是在所研究的经济体之外提供的。(4)该项目还将包括研究代币交换系统或“代币经济”的经济动态。“我们将研究用于赚取和交换令牌的时间表操纵对性能准确性，响应率以及任务外或破坏性行为的影响，我们将调查基于计算机的教学的“虚拟令牌”的潜力。我们希望我们的研究结果能够定义一种技术，用于获得个性化的经济概况，这将有助于设计更有效的激励系统，并为设计提供信息 为智力残疾者建立激励系统，方法是制定算法，支持“调整”这种系统以适应个体差异的技术。一系列应用干预研究将展示该研究在特殊教育课堂中对临床和教育问题的应用。

This project will investigate a behavioral economics approach to the management of motivational variables for persons with intellectual disabilities. In behavioral economics, reinforcers are treated as commodities, and the environmental contingencies that govern access to those commodities as the price. To conduct the analysis, we will first determine individual demand functions for specific commodities. Demand functions relate consumption rate to price; they can be obtained by a parametric assessment of consumption over a range of prices. The demand function provides a more comprehensive picture of performance dynamics than the point estimate produced by traditional/current methods of evaluating reinforcer preference and effectiveness. Demand is termed elastic if consumption falls rapidly as price increases, and inelastic if it does not (i.e., output increases as price rises). We will characterize variables that affect demand functions and the subsequent effects on dependent measures that include both acquisition and performance. These variables include (1) price increases due to amount vs. difficulty of work; and (2) substitutability of commodities. Commodities are substitutes if the concurrent availability of one increases the elasticity of demand for another, and complements if increased consumption of one increases demand for the other. Substitutability analyses will identify classes of reinforcers defined by similar economic functions. (3) We will also examine the effects of open vs. closed economies. This dimension refers to the degree to which commodities are available outside of the economy under study. (4) The project will also include research to examine the economic dynamics of token exchange systems, or "token economies." We will study the effects of schedule manipulations for earning and exchanging tokens on performance accuracy, response rate, and off-task or disruptive behavior, and we will investigate the potential for "virtual tokens" for computer-based instruction. We expect the results of our studies to define a technology for obtaining individualized economic profiles that will be useful in designing more effective motivational systems, and to inform designs of motivational systems for persons with intellectual disabilities by producing algorithms to support a technology for "tuning" such systems to accommodate individual differences. A series of applied intervention studies will demonstrate the application of the research to clinical and educational problems in the special-education classroom.