Incentivizing physical activity for preschool children using token reinforcement

ORCID

Carolynn S. Kohn: 0000-0002-2156-4898

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis

Department

Psychology

ISSN

0021-8855

Volume

Online first

DOI

10.1002/jaba.536

Publication Date

1-13-2019

Abstract

We combined several single‐subject designs to assess the effects of contingent and noncontingent token reinforcement on moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) exhibited by 4 preschool‐aged children. Higher overall levels and longer bouts of MVPA reliably occurred when tokens were delivered contingent on MVPA for 3 of the 4 children when compared to baseline (no token) and for 2 of the 4 children when compared to noncontingent‐token conditions. The present study demonstrated that the delivery of tokens contingent on MVPA can increase and maintain MVPA exhibited by preschool‐aged children, resulting in more MVPA than in baseline conditions and conditions in which tokens are awarded without respect to MVPA. These results demonstrate that token economies can be used to increase MVPA and they add to the evidence base supporting the use of token economies to address a range of behavior problems.

Comments

This study is based on a thesis submitted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. degree at the University of the Pacific under the supervision of the second and third authors. We thank Kelly Roughgarden, Nancy Thao, Carla Burji, and Maria Arita for their assistance with data collection.

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