Response rate and sensitivity to the molar feedback function relating response and reinforcement rate on VI+ schedules of reinforcement.

2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 428-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Reed
Keyword(s):  
Response Rate ◽  
Reinforcement Rate ◽  
Schedules Of Reinforcement ◽  
Feedback Function

scholarly journals Human free-operant performance varies with a concurrent task: Probability learning without a task, and schedule-consistent with a task

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil Reed
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Probability Learning ◽  
Concurrent Task ◽  
Schedules Of Reinforcement ◽  
Feedback Function ◽  
Operant Performance ◽  
Schedule Of Reinforcement ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Schedule Performance ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThree experiments examined human rates and patterns of responding during exposure to various schedules of reinforcement with or without a concurrent task. In the presence of the concurrent task, performances were similar to those typically noted for nonhumans. Overall response rates were higher on medium-sized ratio schedules than on smaller or larger ratio schedules (Experiment 1), on interval schedules with shorter than longer values (Experiment 2), and on ratio compared with interval schedules with the same rate of reinforcement (Experiment 3). Moreover, bout-initiation responses were more susceptible to influence by rates of reinforcement than were within-bout responses across all experiments. In contrast, in the absence of a concurrent task, human schedule performance did not always display characteristics of nonhuman performance, but tended to be related to the relationship between rates of responding and reinforcement (feedback function), irrespective of the schedule of reinforcement employed. This was also true of within-bout responding, but not bout-initiations, which were not affected by the presence of a concurrent task. These data suggest the existence of two strategies for human responding on free-operant schedules, relatively mechanistic ones that apply to bout-initiation, and relatively explicit ones, that tend to apply to within-bout responding, and dominate human performance when other demands are not made on resources.

scholarly journals Cue duration determines response rate but not rate of acquisition of Pavlovian conditioning in mice

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 2026-2035
Author(s):  
Joseph M Austen ◽  
David J Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Reinforcement Rate ◽  
Estimation Theory ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Rate Estimation ◽  
Conditioning Rate ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Conditioned Responding ◽  
Associative Analysis

The duration of a conditioned stimulus (CS) is a key determinant of Pavlovian conditioning. Rate estimation theory (RET) proposes that reinforcement rate is calculated over cumulative exposure to a cue and the reinforcement rate of a cue, relative to the background reinforcement rate, determines the speed of acquisition of conditioned responding. Consequently, RET predicts that shorter-duration cues require fewer trials to acquisition than longer-duration cues due to the difference in reinforcement rates. We tested this prediction by reanalysing the results of a previously published experiment. Mice received appetitive Pavlovian conditioning of magazine approach behaviour with a 10-s CS and a 40-s CS. Cue duration did not affect the rate at which responding emerged or the rate at which it peaked. The 10-s CS did elicit higher levels of responding than the 40-s CS. These results are not consistent with rate estimation theory. Instead, they are consistent with an associative analysis that assumes that asymptotic levels of responding reflect the balance between increments and decrements in associative strength across cumulative exposure to a cue.

Determinants of Operant Behaviour in Humans: Some Differences from Animals

1978 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Fergus Lowe ◽  
Peter Harzem ◽  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Animal Studies ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Operant Behaviour ◽  
Schedules Of Reinforcement ◽  
Digital Clock ◽  
Response Measures ◽  
Single Response ◽  
Different Response ◽  
Increasing Function

The performance of human subjects was investigated on fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement where responses meeting the schedule requirement produced points, later exchanged for money. For one group (the conventional FI condition) presses on a single response-panel were reinforced according to an FI schedule. For another group the procedure was the same as in the conventional FI condition, except that each response also illuminated a digital clock for 0.5 s. A third group responded on two panels; presses on one panel produced reinforcement on an FI schedule, and presses on the second panel illuminated the digital clock for 0.5 s. Responding in the conventional FI condition varied considerably both within and between subjects and different response measures showed no systematic relationship with FI value. For subjects in the other two groups, the pattern of responding on the clock-illuminating panel was scalloped, showing a pause after reinforcement followed by an accelerated response rate; the post-reinforcement pause was an increasing function, and running rate (calculated after excluding the post-reinforcement pause) was a decreasing function, of the value of the FI schedule. The data were compared with results of animal studies on FI schedules and some of the factors which affect performance on these schedules were analysed.

Herrnstein's Equation: Data from 110 Rats

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1355-1361 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Bradshaw ◽  
E. Szabadi
Keyword(s):  
Normal Distribution ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Variable Interval ◽  
Response Strength ◽  
Reinforcement Rate ◽  
Half Maximum ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Hyperbolic Curve ◽  
Sucrose Reinforcement ◽  
Herrnstein's Equation

110 rats were trained under a series of variable-interval schedules of sucrose reinforcement (0.6 M, 50 μl), covering a wide range of scheduled interreinforcement intervals. Response and reinforcement rates recorded during the last five sessions of exposure to each schedule were used to fit Herrnstein's (1970) hyperbolic ‘response strength’ equation to the data from each rat The equation accounted for >80% of the data variance in 90%, and >90% of the variance in 60% of the sample. The distribution of the values of Rmax, the asymptote of the hyperbolic curve, did not depart significantly from normality. However, the distribution of the values of KH, the reinforcement rate needed to maintain the half-maximum response rate, was markedly skewed; logarithmically transformed values of KH conformed to a normal distribution. The data provide further support for the applicability of Herrnstein's equation to variable-interval performance; it is suggested that studies involving comparison of the parameters of the equation between groups of subjects should adopt logarithmic transformation of the values of KH.

Behavioral Contrast in Albino Rats

1975 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Contrast ◽  
Wistar Rats ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Variable Interval ◽  
The Other ◽  
Albino Rats ◽  
Schedules Of Reinforcement ◽  
Multiple Variable ◽  
Positive Behavioral Contrast

3 albino Wistar rats were trained in multiple variable-interval schedules of reinforcement. When reinforcement was withheld during one of the component schedules, the reduction in response rate during that component was accompanied by an increase in responding during the other (unchanged) component. This positive behavioral contrast was statistically significant for all three rats. The results are discussed in relation to interpretations of behavioral contrast based on autoshaping phenomena.

The use of schedules of reinforcement to regulate a collective team response rate

1964 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Wolff ◽  
David D. Burnstein ◽  
Dennis L. Cannon
Keyword(s):  
Response Rate ◽  
Schedules Of Reinforcement
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document