Abstract

This report describes an effort to train adolescents and young adults with mental retardation to modify their rates of pedaling exercycles during 10-min self-paced exercise sessions an public school setting using commercially available heart rate (HR) monitors. A signal sounded when participants heart rates fell outside their predetermined cardiorespiratory conditioning ranges. During Study 1 most participants consistently avoided the alarm by pedaling at rates that maintained their HRs above their cirterion levels. Study 2 included a more intensive warm-up period on the treadmill. All subjects but one consistently responded to the signal, maintaining HRs within the criterion range. Two of the participants in Study 2 were exposed to a positive reinforcement condition, with music contingent on maintaining HRs above a present lower limit. Two subjects participated in maintenance phases and continued to exhibit relatively high HRs during exercise in the absence of signals from the HR monitor. Verf.-Referat