The effects of procedural integrity errors during auditory–visual conditional discrimination training: A preliminary investigation

Abstract

Abstract Procedural integrity errors have widespread implications for the success or failure of behavior analytic interventions. However, previous research has not examined the effects of procedural integrity errors during auditory–visual conditional discrimination with clinical populations. The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to replicate and extend the work of Carroll, Kodak, and Fisher by evaluating the effects of procedural integrity errors compared with perfect integrity during auditory–visual conditional discrimination training with a child with autism spectrum disorder. A descriptive assessment, which identified omission of reinforcement and omission of error correction as the most common clinician errors, informed error selection. The participant required twice as many sessions to master targets taught under low‐integrity conditions compared with those taught under high‐integrity conditions. These results suggest that procedural integrity errors hinder skill acquisition and affect teaching efficiency. Future researchers should evaluate the effects of errors during auditory–visual conditional discrimination training across task arrangements.