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Researchers have demonstrated that discriminative learning is facilitated when a particular outcome is associated with each relation to be learned. Our primary purpose in the two experiments reported here was to assess whether the differential outcomes procediue (DOP) would enhance 7-year-old children's learning of symbolic discriminations using three different forms of consequences in which (1) reinforcers are given when correct choices are made ("+"), (2) reinforcers are withdrawn when errors are made ("-"), or (3) children receive a reinforcer following a correct choice and lose one following an incorrect choice ("+/-"), as well as different types of reinforcers (secondary and primary reinforcers. Experiment 1; primary reinforcers alone, Experiment 2). Participants learned the task faster and showed significantly better performance whenever differential outcomes were arranged independently of (1) the way of providing consequences (+, -, or +/-) and (2) the type of reinforcers being used. Interestingly, as in a previous study with 5-year-old children (Martínez, Estévez, Fuentes, & Overmier, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 62(8): 1617-1630, 2009), the use of the DOP also enhanced long-term persistence of learning.
