The effects of type of reinforcer, schedule of reinforcement, sex and personality on response rates of mentally retarded children.
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Adolescent↗
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SOME NOTES ON CONDITIONED SUPPRESSION AND REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES.
Two pigeons were trained on an FR 150 schedule of reinforcement. An Estes-Skinner conditioned suppression procedure was then superimposed on this performance at varied intervals. If the CS occurred during the early stages of the ratio run, complete suppression resulted. If the CS occurred during the later stages of the run, the birds continued to respond until the reinforcement was obtained, which was then followed by complete suppression.
Animals↗
Effects of reinforcement scheduling on simultaneous discrimination performance.
Pigeons were trained on a discrete-trials, simultaneous discrimination procedure, with confusable stimuli such that asymptotic performance was about 85% correct. Trials were terminated if no response occurred within 2 sec of stimulus onset, so that probability of responding was free to vary. The schedule of reinforcement for correct responses was varied, with the following results: (1) there was no relation between frequency of reinforcement and accuracy of responding. (2) In extinction, the probability of responding fell to low levels, but accuracy remained roughly constant. (3) When reinforcement was available after a fixed number of trials or after a fixed number of correct responses, the probability of responding increased with successive trials after reinforcement, but accuracy was generally constant. (4) When every fifth correct response was reinforced, accuracy decreased immediately after reinforcement if the birds were required to respond on every trial.
Animals↗
Concurrent reinforcement schedules: behavior change and maintenance without extinction.
We evaluated the effects of concurrent schedules of reinforcement on negatively reinforced problem behavior and task completion with 3 children with autism. Results indicated that problem behavior occurred at high levels and relatively few tasks were completed when problem behavior produced a break (from tasks) and task completion produced either no consequence or a break. By contrast, problem behavior was eliminated and tasks were completed when problem behavior produced a break and task completion produced a break with access to preferred activities. Treatment gains were maintained without the use of extinction when the response requirement was increased and the schedule of reinforcement was thinned.
Aggression↗
EFFECTS OF VARYING CYCLE LENGTH IN A TAU REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE.
A temporally defined reinforcement schedule within the tau system of classification was studied, with pigeons as subjects and with cycle length as the independent variable. As cycle length decreased, response rates increased, responses-per-reinforcement went through a maximum, while the number of reinforcements-per-session increased. The first two functions are attributed to changes in the discriminability of the tau(D) and tau(Delta) components of the cycle, while the latter seems to result from changes in the relative durations of reinforcement time and tau(Delta) time.
Animals↗
REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE GENERATED BY AN ON-LINE DIGITAL COMPUTER.
A LINC digital computer was used to generate an autoregressive schedule of reinforcement. On such a schedule the probability of reinforcement is a function of the similarity in duration of the intervals between successive responses. A detailed analysis of the data obtained from monkeys on this schedule demonstrated two distinct tendencies in their behavior: a tendency for periodic response and a tendency for serial dependence between successive interresponse times.
Animals↗
The effects of continuous versus partial reinforcement schedules on associative learning, memory and extinction in Lymnaea stagnalis.
A continuous schedule of reinforcement (CR) in an operant conditioning procedure results in the acquisition of associative learning and the formation of long-term memory. A 50 % partial reinforcement (PR) schedule does not result in learning. The sequence of PR-CR training has different and significant effects on memory retention and resistance to extinction. A CR/PR schedule results in a longer-lasting memory than a PR/CR schedule. Moreover, the memory produced by the CR/PR schedule is resistant to extinction training. In contrast, extinction occurs following the PR/CR schedule.
Animals↗
Recent reinforcement-schedule research and applied behavior analysis.
Reinforcement schedules are considered in relation to applied behavior analysis by examining several recent laboratory experiments with humans and other animals. The experiments are drawn from three areas of contemporary schedule research: behavioral history effects on schedule performance, the role of instructions in schedule performance of humans, and dynamic schedules of reinforcement. All of the experiments are discussed in relation to the role of behavioral history in current schedule performance. The paper concludes by extracting from the experiments some more general issues concerning reinforcement schedules in applied research and practice.
Journal Article↗
Effects of token reinforcement schedules on work rate: a case study.
The response rate of an educably mentally retarded male on a folder assembly task and for two types of self-stimulatory behavior was measured under fixed ratio, variable ratio, and fixed ratio pacing schedules of reinforcement. Higher work rates were maintained by the variable ratio and fixed ratio pacing schedule than by the simple fixed ratio schedule. The rate of self-stimulatory behavior associated with each reinforcement schedule and with a medication termination was also reported.
Adult↗
Positive behavioral contrast in 3-month-old infants on multiple conjugate reinforcement schedules.
Positive behavioral contrast was assessed in two experiments with young infants using multiple conjugate reinforcement schedules. Reinforcement was produced by footkicks which activated the objects of an overhead crib mobile in a manner proportional to the vigor and rate of responding. Distinctive color/pattern cues on the sides of the objects served as discriminative stimuli for components of the multiple schedule. In Experiment 1, infants were trained with one cue (S+) only before insertion of S+ into a multiple schedule with an extinction component. A control group received S+ throughout all sessions. In Experiment 2, a multiple schedule was introduced at the outset, and responses in both components were reinforced before the introduction of extinction in the second component. In a final phase, reinforcement was reintroduced into the second component. Positive behavioral contrast occurred in both experiments. Response reduction in the extinction component was seen only in individual relative response curves. In both experiments, negative emotional behaviors accompanied the extinction component, and in Experiment 1, cooing accompanied presentations of S+.
Child Behavior↗
Induction by reinforcer schedules.
Traditional strategies for determining whether a reinforcer schedule enhances the occurrence of an activity are reviewed and critically evaluated. A basic assumption underlying these strategies is that it is possible to isolate the effect of reinforcer intermittency on schedule induction. It is concluded that this is not, in fact, possible. An alternative approach is proposed that emphasizes the inductive effects of the reinforcer schedule as a unit and the effects of particular aspects of the reinforcer schedule (e.g., interreinforcer interval, repetition of the reinforcer, reinforcer magnitude).
Aggression↗
Comparison of sucrose-sucrose to sucrose-ethanol concurrent responding in the rat: reinforcement schedule and fluid concentration effects.
Rats maintained at 80% of their ad lib body weight were trained on a two bar concurrent fixed ratio 8-fixed ratio 8 schedule with sucrose solutions presented at schedule completion. When the solutions were available on the same schedule of reinforcement, rats consistently responded more on the lever associated with the higher sucrose concentration over either less concentrated sucrose solutions or water. However, when a preferred 20% sucrose solution was placed on a high fixed ratio requirement (FR64) and a less preferred 2% sucrose solution remained on the lower ratio requirement (FR8), the rats were observed to increase their responding on the lever associated with presentation of the 2% sucrose solution. Response rates for the low concentrated sucrose solution increased to levels comparable to those seen when that solution was paired with water. These results were compared to prior studies using ethanol and sucrose as the available fluids.
Animals↗
Effects of a variable-ratio reinforcement schedule with changing criteria on exercise in obese and nonobese boys.
The effects of a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement on pedaling a a stationary exercise bicycle were examined. Three obese and three nonobese 11-year-old boys were individually tested five times weekly for approximately 12 weeks. A changing-criterion design was used in which each successive criterion was increased over mean performance rate in the previous phase by approximately 15%. The contingencies of the successive criteria resulted in systematic increases in rate of exercise for all children. Final variable-ratio rates were higher than those under fixed ratios found in previous research, with rates for 2 of the 3 obese boys approximating those of the nonobese.
Child↗
Interaction of reinforcement schedules, a behavioral prosthesis, and work-related behavior in adults with mental retardation.
The effects of variable-interval (VI) and fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement for work-related behavior and an organizer for the work materials (behavioral prosthesis) were evaluated with 3 adults with severe or profound mental retardation. The participants had been recommended for study because of high rates of off-task and aberrant behavior in their daily vocational training programs. For 2 participants, VI and FR schedules resulted in the same outcome: more aberrant behavior than on-task and off-task behavior combined. The FR schedule nearly eliminated emission of aberrant and off-task behavior by the 3rd participant. Combining the behavioral prosthesis with FR reinforcement (FR+O) increased the proportion of time spent in on-task behavior by all participants under certain FR schedule parameters. Second-by-second analyses of the observation records revealed that FR schedules reduced off-task and aberrant behavior during work sequences (i.e., ratio runs), and FR+O led to a further reduction of these behaviors during postreinforcement pauses. Overall, the results show how organizer and schedule parameters can be adjusted to produce an optimized balance between productivity and reinforcement while undesirable behavior is minimized.
Adult↗
A comparison of ratio and interval reinforcement schedules with comparable interreinforcement times.
Pigeons were trained to peck keys on fixed-ratio and fixed-interval schedules of food reinforcement. Both schedules produced a pattern of behavior characterized as pause and run, but the relation of pausing to time between reinforcers differed for the two schedules even when mean time between reinforcers was the same. Pausing in the fixed ratio occupied less of the time between reinforcers for shorter interreinforcer times. For two of three birds, the relation was reversed at longer interreinforcer times. As an interreinforcer time elapsed, there was an increasing tendency to return to responding for the fixed interval, but a roughly constant tendency to return to responding for the fixed-ratio schedule. In Experiment 1 these observations were made for both single-reinforcement schedules and multiple schedules of fixed-ratio and fixed-interval reinforcement. In Experiment 2 the observations were extended to a comparison of fixed-ratio versus variable-interval reinforcement schedules, where the distribution of interreinforcement times in the variable interval approximated that for the fixed ratio.
Journal Article↗
Early life undernutrition and operant responding in the rat: the effect of the reinforcement schedule employed.
Rats were either undernourished from birth to 43 days and thereafter well fed (previously undernourished, PU) or well nourished throughout. When behaviour was tested in adulthood it was found that significant differences between the groups in rate of lever-pressing for food occurred when they were tested under a variable-interval 60-sec schedule of reinforcement, but not when reward was delivered according to a fixed-interval 60-sec or variable-ratio ten schedule. The results of a second experiment suggested that the rate difference might reduce or disappear with extended exposure to the schedule. The third experiment exposed rats to fixed-interval 60-sec and mixed fixed-interval 10-sec fixed-interval 110 sec schedules. Response rate differences between the PU and control groups occurred only under the mixed schedule, a result interpreted as showing that temporal irregularity of reward delivery plays some role in the genesis of more rapid operant responding in PU rats. When rats received a larger variable-ratio schedule, requiring 40 responses for reward, no significant rate differences between the groups were found over the whole experimental condition. It is suggested that schedules on which there are significant differences have some special characteristic, possibly sensitivity to differences in food motivation between the groups.
Animals↗
Effects of ratio reinforcement schedules on choice behavior.
Choice behavior under a concurrent VR-FR schedule of reinforcement was investigated in two experiments to test a molar theory of maximization. Hunger-motivated albino rats pressed two bars, one on an FR10 and the other on a VR10 schedule, for a food reward. With the total number of experiences with each bar equated and interalternative switching eliminated during training, the study showed that during the choice test, the animals made significantly more responses to the VR than to the FR alternative, allocating about 75% of their responses to the VR alternative. The results suggest that, given an equal return of reward in the long run, the animals preferred a variable to a constant alternative in a choice situation. The findings are discussed in terms of a molar theory of maximization and a schedule-appropriate behavior interpretation of choice.
Animals↗
Determinants of pausing under variable-ratio schedules: Reinforcer magnitude, ratio size, and schedule configuration.
Pigeons pecked a key under two-component multiple variable-ratio schedules that offered 8-s or 2-s access to grain. Phase 1 assessed the effects of differences in reinforcer magnitude on postreinforcement pausing, as a function of ratio size. In Phase 2, postreinforcement pausing and the first five interresponse times in each ratio were measured as a function of differences in reinforcer magnitude under equal variable-ratio schedules consisting of different configurations of individual ratios. Rates were also calculated exclusive of postreinforcement pause times in both phases. The results from Phase 1 showed that as ratio size increased, the differences in pausing educed by unequal reinforcer magnitudes also increased. The results of Phase 2 showed that the effects of reinforcer magnitude on pausing and IRT durations were a function of schedule configuration. Under one configuration, in which the smallest ratio was a fixed-ratio 1, pauses were unaffected by magnitude but the first five interresponse times were affected. Under the other configuration, in which the smallest ratio was a fixed-ratio 7, pauses were affected by reinforcer magnitude but the first five interresponse times were not. The effect of each configuration seemed to be determined by the value of the smallest individual ratio. Rates calculated exclusive of postreinforcement pause times were, in general, directly related to reinforcer magnitude, and the relation was shown to be a function of schedule configuration.
Journal Article↗