Visually discriminated behavior in a "blind" adolescent retardate.

A 16-yr-old retarded male, diagnosed organically blind and treated by those around him as a blind person, was given practice in discriminating visual stimuli. After training, he responded with significantly better than chance accuracy in a choice situation in which stimuli were as small as 18 pt Futura Medium type. In addition, he was trained to look at the experimenter's eyes when instructed to do so. Control procedures revealed that it was the reinforcement contingency that functioned to establish and maintain eye contact. Eye contact with the experimenter generalized in a limited way to situations in which this behavior was not reinforced, though not to a neutral individual. When the boy was required to use visual cues to help himself in a cafeteria line, he soon emitted the necessary behaviors, where formerly he had been assisted by others. Resumption of assistance markedly decreased self-help, suggesting that continued use of any newly learned skills would depend on the response of the individuals in his environment. The boy also learned eating behavior that appeared to require the use of visual cues.