The effect of stimulus salience on over-selectivity.

Geraldine et al. (2009) worked with kids with autism who were over-selective. The team first let the child pick one color that always won. Then they stopped paying off that color. They watched to see if the ignored color would now guide choices.

When the winning color no longer paid off, kids started picking the other color. The once-ignored cue took control. This shows you can fix over-selectivity by removing the strong cue.

Murphy et al. (2014) got the same kind of shift, but they did it by making the right answer flash instead of killing the wrong one. Both studies prove that tweaking salience re-balances stimulus control in autism.

Rincover et al. (1975) first showed that autistic kids lock onto one cue and fail to transfer. Geraldine et al. give the next step: extinguish that locked cue so new cues can rule.

McGonigle et al. (2014) looked at social scenes and found that high-interest objects pull gaze away from faces. The color study and the face study both show that high-salience items steal attention; the fix is to tone down or remove the thief.

If your learner only responds to one part of a task, stop reinforcing that part. Withhold the reward tied to the over-selected cue for a few trials. The child will start noticing the other cues you want to teach. Use this trick during matching, sorting, or listener-responding programs when one feature blocks learning.