Effects of Magnitude on the Displacement of Leisure Items by Edible Items During Preference Assessments.
Let kids play with toys for 5–10 minutes during preference tests so edibles do not fake a win.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team ran paired-choice preference tests. They gave kids two items at a time: one edible and one leisure.
They changed how long the child could play with the leisure item. Short turns were 30 seconds. Long turns were 5 or 10 minutes.
What they found
When leisure time was short, kids almost always picked the edible. When leisure time grew to 5–10 min, the same toys won more trials.
Longer access kept leisure items from being pushed out of the top spots.
How this fits with other research
White et al. (2021) looked at ten earlier studies and saw no fixed rule that edibles beat tangibles. Their big-picture view matches Sievers et al. (2020): the method you use decides the winner.
Horrocks et al. (2008) used the same paired-stimulus format with auditory toys and also saw clear preference shifts. Both papers show the format works; B et al. add the twist of changing access length.
Reid et al. (1999) warned that caregiver lists can be wrong. B et al. give a fix: give longer turns before you rank the items.
Why it matters
If you run a quick 30-second preference test, edibles can look like the only winners. You might then build a reinforcer menu that is mostly food. Try giving 5–10 minutes of toy time during the test. You could uncover stronger, longer-lasting leisure reinforcers and cut the need for constant edible delivery.
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Join Free →In your next paired-choice test, set a 5-minute timer for the leisure side and record if it still loses to the edible.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Studies on preference assessments have shown that when both edible and leisure items are compared, edible items tend to displace leisure items in preference hierarchies. However, the mechanisms behind this process are currently unclear. One possibility is that displacement may be a product of the relatively brief periods of access to leisure items typically used in preference assessments. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine whether the duration of access to leisure items affects displacement. In this study, participants chose between preferred leisure items and the edible items that had previously been shown to displace those leisure items in a preference hierarchy. Duration of access to the leisure item was systematically increased across series to identify the magnitude at which leisure items became more preferred than edible items. Results indicate that as the duration of access to leisure items increases, displacement decreases.
Behavior modification, 2020 · doi:10.1177/0145445519843937