A Translational Investigation of Reinforced Behavioral Variability: Implications for Promoting Behavioral Variability in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Behavioral variability is sometimes adaptive and can be maintained by the delivery of reinforcement. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show restricted and repetitive behaviors. Therefore, interventions to promote behavioral variability in individuals with ASD are needed. The present line of research was designed to inform such interventions by investigating reinforced behavioral variability from basic, applied, and translational perspectives. Each of these laboratory studies involved participants making sequences of well-defined responses, which were compared to previous responses. Responses that meet a variability contingency (i.e., were sufficiently different from previous responses) produced rewards. Studies 1 and 2 were basic experiments, in which we demonstrated a recurrence of reinforced behavioral variability in pigeons and college students, respectively. Study 3 was an applied experiment designed to assess choice for variability in children with ASD. Study 4 was a translational experiment investigating the viability of a rat model of ASD. This translational line of research should be continued to better understand reinforced behavioral variability and its implications for ASD
