It is unknown whether and to what extent common types of attention delivered in early childhood environments are preferred by and function as reinforcers for young children. We assessed children's preference for commonly delivered types of attention across 31 preschool-aged participants (Experiment 1). Next, we conducted a reinforcer assessment (Experiment 2) and a progressive-ratio assessment (Experiment 3) to (a) validate the results of the preference assessment and (b) determine the relative reinforcing efficacy of each type of attention. Results of Experiment 1 showed that most participants preferred conversation or physical interaction. Results of Experiment 2 validated the results of Experiment 1 showing preferred types of attention were more likely to function as reinforcers. Finally, although some types of attention functioned as reinforcers, results of Experiment 3 indicated these reinforcers only maintained responding under relatively dense schedules of reinforcement. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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学龄前儿童不同类型注意力的偏好和强化效果

目前尚不清楚在幼儿环境中提供的常见类型的注意力是否以及在多大程度上被幼儿偏好并作为幼儿的强化物。我们评估了 31 名学龄前参与者（实验 1）中儿童对常见注意力类型的偏好。接下来，我们进行了强化评估（实验 2）和渐进比率评估（实验 3），以 (a) 验证偏好评估的结果和 (b) 确定每种注意力的相对强化效果。实验 1 的结果表明，大多数参与者更喜欢对话或身体互动。实验 2 的结果验证了实验 1 的结果，表明偏好的注意力类型更有可能起到强化作用。最后，尽管某些类型的注意力起到了强化作用，但实验 3 的结果表明这些强化物仅在相对密集的强化时间表下保持反应。讨论了未来研究的临床意义和方向。