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Biomedical subjects

A Baron

Publications and source records attributed to A Baron.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1971

Response-dependent and response-independent timeout from an avoidance schedule.

While rats were responding in a single-lever apparatus to avoid electric shock, a signal was presented and followed by a 5-min timeout period when all shocks were omitted. For the response-dependent member of each yoked pair, the first response 60 sec after onset of the pre-timeout signal terminated the signal and initiated timeout. The other, yoked animal was exposed to the same sequence except that signal termination and timeout onset were response independent. Under the response-dependent condition, response rates in the presence of the signal increased relative to baseline rates. Rate increases also occurred when timeout was response independent, but were of lesser magnitude and reliability. Subsequent reversal of the yoking arrangement produced stable and equivalent rate increases under both conditions. Other findings were that increased rates in the presence of the signal diminished when timeout was omitted but were maintained for a time on an avoidance-extinction baseline. In general, the results supported the conclusion of previous experiments that timeout from avoidance can serve as a positive reinforcer. The finding that response-independent presentation of timeout produced rate increases, particularly after a history with response-dependent timeout, was interpreted in terms of adventitious reinforcement of previously established behavior.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1969

Density and delay of punishment of free-operant avoidance.

In two experiments, the free-operant shock-avoidance behavior of rats was punished by electric shock. Two aspects of the schedule of response-produced shock were varied: the frequency of punishment over time (punishment density) and the temporal interval between the punished response and the punishment (punishment delay). The general finding was that response-produced shock suppressed avoidance responding under most of the density-delay combinations studied, and suppression increased as a function of increases in density and decreases in delay. Rate increases of small magnitude also were observed, usually as an initial reaction to the lesser densities and longer delays. Response suppression, while decreasing the number of punishment shocks received, also increased the number of avoidance shocks, so that the total number of shocks received usually was greater than the minimal number possible. The results were discussed from the standpoint of similarities between the effects of punishing positively and negatively reinforced behavior. The finding that subjects did not minimize the total number of shocks suggested that when avoidance behavior is punished, responding is controlled more by the local consequences of responding than by overall shock frequencies during the course of the session.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1969

Effects of instructions and reinforcement-feedback on human operant behavior maintained by fixed-interval reinforcement.

In three experiments, human subjects were trained on a five-component multiple schedule with different fixed intervals of monetary reinforcement scheduled in the different components. Subjects uninstructed about the fixed-interval schedules manifested high and generally equivalent rates regardless of the particular component. By comparison, subjects given instructions about the schedules showed orderly progressions of rates and temporal patterning as a function of the interreinforcement intervals, particularly when feedback about reinforcement was delivered but also when reinforcement-feedback was withheld. Administration of the instructions-reinforcement combination to subjects who had already developed poorly differentiated behavior, however, did not make their behavior substantially better differentiated. When cost was imposed for responding, both instructed and uninstructed subjects showed low and differentiated rates regardless of their prior histories. It was concluded that instructions can have major influences on the establishment and maintenance of human operant behavior.

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