Description
The self injurious behavior of five male children with Lesch Nyhan disease was studied during three learning paradigms: punishment, positive reinforcement and time out from reinforcement following an attempt at self injury. Punishment of self injury by contingent electric finger shock failed to suppress this behavior but positive reinforcement of non self injury and time out procedures were effective. The results stress the importance of environmental factors in the development and control of self injurious behavior, and suggest the presence of an unusual harmful defect which may be related to the specific enzyme deficiency in Lesch Nyhan disease.