摘要:

This study demonstrates functional independence in the acquisition of mands and tacts. Some subjects first learned to mand the experimenter's placement of objects with the prepositional phrases “On the left” and “On the right.” They were regularly tested for collateral appearance of tacts with these same phrases. Other subjects learned to tact the location of objects with these prepositional phrases and were regularly tested for collateral appearance of mands. All subjects were next trained in the repertoire that had not been trained in the first condition (either tact or mand). After all subjects had learned both to mand and to tact correctly, another assessment of mand‐tact independence was undertaken. Mands (tacts) were reversed and testing assessed collateral reversal of tacts (mands). The results demonstrated that tacts and mands, even when incorporating identical response forms, were functionally independent during acquisition. Subsequent modification of one repertoire (by reversal training) produced collateral reversal in three of nine

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-5

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In conditional‐discrimination procedures with three sets of stimuli, A, B, and C, three stimuli per set (A1A2A3, B1B2B3, and ClC2C3), subjects (children and adults) learned to select Set‐B and Set‐C comparisons conditionally upon Set‐A samples (AlBI, AIC1, A2B2, A2C2, A3B3, A3C3). If the conditional‐discrimination procedures also generated equivalence relations, three 3‐member stimulus classes would be demonstrable, AlBICI, A2B2C2, and A3B3C3. In addition to these three sets, the present experiments used three other sets of stimuli‐D, E, and F. The subjects learned to select Set‐E and Set‐F comparisons conditionally upon Set‐D samples (D1EI, D1FI, D2E2, D2F2, D3E3, D3F3). This established a second group of three 3‐member stimulus classes, D1ElF1, D2E2F2, and D3E3F3. In all, two groups of three 3‐member classes were established by teaching subjects 12 conditional discriminations. The two groups of 3‐member classes were then combined (successfully for 5 of 8 subjects) into a single group of three 6‐member classes by teaching the subjects three more conditional relations (E1C1, E2C2, and E3C3). With three other children, enlarging the classes one member at a time also produced 6‐member classes. As a consequence of class formation, 60 untrained conditional relations emerged from 15 that had been explicitly taught. Six of the subjects also proved capable of naming the stimuli consistently in accord with their class membership, but two subjects demonstrated class formation even in the

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-21

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Six pigeons were exposed to concurrent variable‐interval schedules in which the programmed reinforcer ratios changed from session to session according to a pseudorandom binary sequence. This procedure corresponded to the stochastic identification paradigm (“white‐noise experiment”) of systems theory and enabled the relation between log response ratios in the current session and log reinforcer ratios in all previous sessions to be determined. Such dynamic relations are called linear transfer functions. Both non‐parametric and parametric representations of these, in the form of “impulse‐response functions,” were determined for each bird. The session‐to‐session response ratios resulting from the session‐to‐session pseudorandom binary variations in reinforcer ratios were well predicted by the impulse‐response functions identified for each pigeon. The impulse‐response functions were well fitted by a second‐order dynamic model involving only two parameters: a time constant and a gain. The mean time constant was 0.67 sessions, implying that the effects of abrupt changes in log reinforcer ratios should be 96% complete within about five sessions. The mean gain was 0.53, which was surprisingly low inasmuch as it should equal the sensitivity to reinforcement ratio observed under steady‐state conditions. The same six pigeons were subjected to a similar experiment 10 months following the first. Despite individual differences in impulse‐response functions between birds within each experiment, the impulse‐response functions determined from the two ex

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-43

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Four human subjects worked on all combinations of five variable‐interval schedules and five reinforcer magnitudes (¢/reinforcer) in each of two phases of the experiment. In one phase the force requirement on the operandum was low (1 or 11 N) and in the other it was high (25 or 146 N). Estimates of Herrnstein'skwere obtained at each reinforcer magnitude. The results were: (1) response rate was more sensitive to changes in reinforcement rate at the high than at the low force requirement, (2)kincreased from the beginning to the end of the magnitude range for all subjects at both force requirements, (3) the reciprocal ofkwas a linear function of the reciprocal of reinforcer magnitude for seven of the eight data sets, and (4) the rate of change ofkwas greater at the high than at the low force requirement by an order of magnitude or more. The second and third findings confirm predictions made by linear system theory, and replicate the results of an earlier experiment (McDowell&Wood, 1984). The fourth finding confirms a further prediction of the theory and supports the theory's interpretation of conflicting data on the constancy of Herrnstein'

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-61

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Pigeons were offered choices between a variable‐time schedule that arranged reinforcers throughout the session and a variable‐time schedule that arranged reinforcers only when the pigeon was spending time on it. The subjects could maximize the overall rate of reinforcement in this situation by biasing their time allocation towards the latter schedule. This arrangement provides an alternative to concurrent variable‐interval variable‐ratio schedules for testing whether animals maximize overall rates or match relative rates, and has the advantage of being free of the asymmetrical response requirements present with those schedules. The results were contrary to those predicted by maximizing: The bias it predicts did not

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-75

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Pigeons keypecked on a two‐key procedure in which their choice ratios during one time period determined the reinforcement rates assigned to each key during the next period (Vaughan, 1981). During each of four phases, which differed in the reinforcement rates they provided for different choice ratios, the duration of these periods was four minutes, duplicating one condition from Vaughan's study. During the other four phases, these periods lasted six seconds. When these periods were long, the results were similar to Vaughan's and appeared compatible with melioration theory. But when these periods were short, the data were consistent with molecular maximizing (see Silberberg&Ziriax, 1982) and were incompatible with melioration, molar maximizing, and matching. In a simulation,statbirds following a molecular‐maximizing algorithm responded on the short‐ and long‐period conditions of this experiment. When the time periods lasted four minutes, the results were similar to Vaughan's and to the results of the four‐minute conditions of this study; when the time periods lasted six seconds, the choice data were similar to the data from real subjects for the six‐second conditions. Thus, a molecular‐maximizing response rule generated choice data comparable to those from the short‐ and long‐period conditions of this experiment. These data show that, among extant accounts, choice on the Vaughan procedure is most compatible with mol

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-83

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The proportion of time allocated to one component of a concurrent variable‐interval variable‐interval schedule was computed for groups of interchangeover times (aggregates) within several intact time series. Variability in obtained proportions decreased as the number of interchangeover times within each aggregate increased; however, modal proportions failed to correspond to overall relative time allocation computed over the course of an entire experimental session, even at the largest aggregate size. The aggregated time series showed periodicities at small aggregate sizes and general trends in local preference at larger aggregate sizes. It is suggested that overall relative time allocation represents a molar extreme in the aggregation of behavior that may not accurately reflect central tendency in the allocation of time to available alternatives within the context of ongoing behav

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-97

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Pigeons were exposed to an ascending series of small fixed‐ratio schedules from fixed‐ratio 1 to 7. Two of those pigeons were later placed on a fixed‐ratio 30 schedule. The two primary dependent variables were the postreinforcement pause and the interresponse time. Changes in these variables under small fixed ratios were sometimes opposite to changes reported with large fixed ratios. For example, postreinforcement pauses decreased in length as the fixed‐ratio requirement increased from fixed‐ratio 1 to fixed‐ratio 3. Also, the interresponse times early in the small fixed‐ratio schedule were shorter than those immediately preceding reinforcement. These findings question the role of interresponse‐time reinforcement in determining temporal patterns of responding under small fixed‐ratio schedules. They also suggest that there may be a limited region in which the independent variable, fixed‐ratio size, does not operate as p

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-115

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Six monkeys self‐administered orally delivered phencyclidine (“angel dust”) and saccharin under concurrent fixed‐ratio 16 schedules during daily three‐hour sessions. Liquid deliveries were contingent upon lip‐contact responses on solenoid‐operated drinking spouts. Three saccharin concentrations (0.003%, 0.03% and 0.3%, wt/vol) were tested in a nonsystematic order. For each saccharin concentration, the following series of phencyclidine concentrations (mg/ml) was presented: 0.25, 0.5, 1, 0.25 (retest), 0.125, 0.0625, 0.0312, 0.25 (retest) and 0 (water with stimuli signaling phencyclidine). As the saccharin concentration increased, the number of drug deliveries decreased, and the peaks of the concentration‐response functions were shifted to the right. The lowest saccharin concentration (0.003%, wt/vol) maintained responding in excess of phencyclidine levels in only one monkey. The two higher saccharin concentrations maintained behavior far in excess of phencyclidine, but saccharin deliveries decreased in some monkeys as phencyclidine concentration and intake (mg/kg) increased. The time course and patterns of phencyclidine‐reinforced responding were also altered when saccharin was concurrently available. The results are discussed in terms of strategies to reduce drug‐reinforced behavior, preference between different reinforcers, and measures of r

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-131

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0022-5002    

DOI:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-145

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY