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A simple surgical procedure is described that makes it possible to deliver liquids directly into the mouth of a freely mobile rat. Data presented show that an 8% sucrose solution delivered by this technique is an effective reinforcer in a variety of simple and discriminative schedules of reinforcement.

The present study attempted to determine how a rhythmic beat affects ongoing behavior. A regular stimulus beat was presented to normal subjects who had been instructed to push a bar from side to side. Other subjects had been instructed to emit a vocal response. The individual vocal and motor responses became synchronized with the individual beats of the rhythm. The time between stimulus beats determined the modal interresponse time. These results indicate a synchronization effect: ongoing behavior tends to become synchronized with an ongoing stimulus rhythm. An attempt was made to apply these findings to the problem of stuttering, which can be considered as a disturbance of the natural rhythm of speech. Stutterers were instructed to synchronize their speech with a simple regular beat presented to them tactually by a portable apparatus. The result was a reduction of 90% or more of the stuttering for each subject during the period of synchronization. This effect endured for extended periods of spontaneous speech as well as for reading aloud and was found to be attributable to the rhythmic nature of the stimulus and not to other factors.

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A behavior control technique is presented, consisting primarily of having a patient give up some portion of his reinforcers (usually money) with the understanding that he must behave in therapeutically prescribed ways in his natural environment to re‐earn the reinforcers. The critical features and requirements of the technique are discussed, various applications are suggested, and implications for research are drawn.

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This teaching machine has been designed and used to train reading and other visual discrimination skills with normal and retarded children. On each frame the subject responds by touching one of three response panels on which are projected the multiple‐choice alternatives. The response panels are coated with a transparent conducting film which allows electronic detection of this simple and direct response. Correct responses are reinforced by the machine naming the stimulus, while auditory reinforcement is absent for an incorrect response. The subject's performance level is continuously computed as an exponentially weighted moving average. The measure is weighted so that it rapidly follows recent changes in performance.

Token reinforcement procedures were designed to modify the behavior of “pre‐delinquent” boys residing in a community‐based, home‐style rehabilitation setting. Points (the tokens) were redeemable for various privileges such as visiting their families, watching TV, and riding bicycles. Points were given by the house‐parents contingent upon specified appropriate behavior and taken away for specified inappropriate behavior. The frequencies of aggressive statements and poor grammar decreased while tidiness, punctuality, and amount of homework completed increased. It was concluded that a token reinforcement procedure, entirely dependent upon back‐up reinforcers naturally available in a home‐style treatment setting, could contribute to an effective and economical rehabilitation program for pre‐delinquents.

Two experiments demonstrated that matching‐to‐sample performance was improved when an explicit observing response was required to the sample stimulus. The first experiment demonstrated that fewer training sessions were required to establish matching with than matching without such a response. The second experiment demonstrated the dependence of established matching accuracy upon this observing response and the development in two of three subjects of a new overt observing response even when none was required by the experimenter.