Biomedical subjects

François Tonneau

Publications and source records attributed to François Tonneau.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Measuring resistance to change at the within-session level.

Resistance to change is often studied by measuring response rate in various components of a multiple schedule. Response rate in each component is normalized (that is, divided by its baseline level) and then log-transformed. Differential resistance to change is demonstrated if the normalized, log-transformed response rate in one component decreases more slowly than in another component. A problem with normalization, however, is that it can produce artifactual results if the relation between baseline level and disruption is not multiplicative. One way to address this issue is to fit specific models of disruption to untransformed response rates and evaluate whether or not a multiplicative model accounts for the data. Here we present such a test of resistance to change, using within-session response patterns in rats as a data base for fitting models of disruption. By analyzing response rate at a within-session level, we were able to confirm a central prediction of the resistance-to-change framework while discarding normalization artifacts as a plausible explanation of our results.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Windows.

Some models of performance assume that behavior depends on environmental quantities (for example, rates of reinforcement) that are defined over intervals of fixed duration. Although such window models may serve as useful approximations, they are incompatible with well-known properties of behavior (for instance, sensitivity to delay). Window models with variable window length, however, are more difficult to refute. This article examines some implications of the assumption of random window length. Variable windows are shown to produce continuous forgetting and temporal discounting functions, to display properties analogous to parallel aggregation, and to make reasonable predictions about steady-state relations between reinforcement and responding. Issues of interpretation nonetheless suggest that alternatives to window models should be developed.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Function transfer in human operant experiments: the role of stimulus pairings.

Although function transfer often has been studied in complex operant procedures (such as matching to sample), whether operant reinforcement actually produces function transfer in such settings has not been established. The present experiments, with high school students as subjects, suggest that stimulus pairings can promote function transfer in conditions that closely approximate those of matching to sample. In Experiment 1, the subjects showed transfer of operant responding from three geometric figures (C1, C2, C3) to three colored shapes (B1, B2, B3) when the latter were paired with the former. Experiment 2 involved two groups of subjects. In the matching group, subjects matched the colored shapes with the geometric figures; in the yoked group, the shapes were merely paired with the geometric figures, and the schedule of stimulus pairing was yoked to the performance of the subjects in the matching group. Both groups of subjects showed function transfer. Experiment 3 documented function transfer from C stimuli to B stimuli through indirect stimulus pairings (A-B, A-C). In Experiment 4, function transfer was obtained even though the subjects vocalized continuously during the pairing trials, presumably preventing covert verbalization that might mediate transfer effects. Our results are consistent with a Pavlovian account and raise difficulties for current operant theories of function transfer.

Adolescent↗