Modifying behavioral variability in moderately depressed students.
Paying students for new response patterns snapped them out of repetitive behavior almost instantly.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hopkinson et al. (2003) worked with college students who felt moderately depressed.
The students pressed four colored keys on a computer.
Some earned points no matter what they pressed.
Others earned points only when they made new, non-repeating patterns.
Before the game, half the students also heard a short tip: “Try different sequences.”
What they found
When points were free, depressed students kept hitting the same key order again and again.
When points required new patterns, their sequences quickly became as varied as non-depressed students.
The tiny instruction alone helped a little, but adding the payoff for variety did the real work.
How this fits with other research
Dugdale et al. (2000) showed the same payoff trick works for teens with autism.
Both studies prove you can reinforce variability itself, not just the “right” answer.
Ribeiro et al. (2022) went further: college students learned hard piano-like patterns faster when the rule said “never repeat the last ten moves.”
Together, the picture is clear—across ages and diagnoses, lag-style payoffs loosen rigid behavior.
Why it matters
If a client keeps repeating the same phrase, route, or play script, try reinforcing “a way you haven’t done before.”
Set a simple lag rule—any new form counts—and deliver praise or tokens the moment it happens.
One sentence of instruction plus immediate payoff can break a repetitive loop in minutes, giving you a low-effort tool for rigid, depressed, or autistic learners alike.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study asked whether response sequences generated by moderately depressed students are more repetitive than those generated by nondepressed students and whether sequence variability can be increased in those identified as depressed. Seventy-five undergraduate students completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and were divided into moderately depressed and nondepressed groups. Some of the students had received class instruction concerning behavioral variability; others did not. All students participated in a two-phase, computer-game procedure in which response-sequence variability was measured. When reinforcement was provided independently of sequence variability, the depressed participants responded more repetitively than did the nondepressed. When high sequence variability was required for reinforcement, variability increased significantly in all participants, with the depressed achieving the same high levels as the nondepressed. The students who had been instructed about variability responded more variably throughout than the noninstructed. Therefore, both direct reinforcement and instruction increased behavioral variability of depressed individuals, a goal of some therapies for depression.
Behavior modification, 2003 · doi:10.1177/0145445503251605