A review of "noncontingent" reinforcement as treatment for the aberrant behavior of individuals with developmental disabilities

The term noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) refers to the delivery of an abe rrant behavior's known reinforcer on a response-independent basis. The typi cal result is a decrease in responding from baseline (i.e., reinforcement) levels. NCR has become one of the most reported function-based treatments f or aberrant behavior in the recent literature. The purpose of this review i s to briefly discuss the history of the procedure and summarize the finding s from the treatment research literature. The review is organized into the following sections: (a) basic research on NCR, (b) NCR as a control procedu re, (c) NCR as a function-based treatment, (d) considerations in the progra mming of NCR schedules, (e) behavior-change mechanisms underlying NCR effec ts, and (f) directions for future research. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.