Effect of signaled reinforcer magnitude on delayed matching-to-sample performance in individuals with intellectual disabilities

• Effects of signaled reinforcer magnitude on delayed matching-to-sample performance were examined in individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• Matching accuracy was overall higher when the signal indicated the upcoming reinforcer was rich.
• Signaled reinforcer magnitude affected initial discriminability but not rate of forgetting.

The present study investigated effects of signaled reinforcer magnitude in a delayed identity matching-to-sample procedure. Four individuals with intellectual disabilities were trained on conditional discrimination with three geometric stimuli as sample and comparison stimuli. Retention intervals ranged from 0.1 to 16 s. The magnitude of the reinforcer (different durations of access to a video game) was signaled by the background color of the screen. Matching accuracy was overall higher when the larger reinforcer was signaled, independently of retention intervals.