Some effects of immediacy on food selectivity
Abstract
Food selectivity is a common problem reported by parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who engage in food selectivity tend to consume a small variety of items that are low in nutritional value. Food selectivity may lead to health risks such as malnourishment and obesity. Therefore, it is important to evaluate ways to increase the consumption of a variety of foods. Thus, the purpose of this study is to extend previous research by examining whether manipulating the delay to reinforcement will increase healthy food selection in a concurrent-operants arrangement. Multiple-stimulus preference assessments were conducted to identify high preferred edibles. Reinforcer assessments were conducted to identify the reinforcing effectiveness of edibles and identify the average breakpoint of demands to implement in the treatment analysis. Fruits were sometimes preferred over snack food edibles, however, the reinforcing effectiveness of fruits was lower. Results of this study showed that a switch in responding from unhealthy food options (i.e., snack food edibles) to healthy food options (i.e., fruits) occurred at the 30 s delay for the first participant and 60-s delay for the second participant during the treatment analysis. Future researchers should evaluate different reinforcement parameters, such as magnitude, to evaluate if a switch in responding will occur from unhealthy foods to healthy foods without the need for a delay.
Degree
M.S.