scholarly journals A theory of actions and habits: The interaction of rate correlation and contiguity systems in free-operant behavior

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar D. Perez ◽  
Anthony Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Operant Behavior ◽  
Response Strength ◽  
Instrumental Performance ◽  
Behavioral Systems ◽  
Extended Training ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Choice Procedures ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Behavioral Impact ◽  
Rate Correlation

Contemporary theories of instrumental performance assume that responding can be controlled by two behavioral systems, one goal-directed that encodes the outcome of an action, and one habitual that reinforces the response strength of the same action. Here we present a model of free-operant behavior in which goal-directed control is determined by the correlation between the rates of the action and the outcome whereas the total prediction error generated by contiguous reinforcement by the outcome controls habitual response strength. The outputs of these two systems summate to generate a total response strength. This cooperative model addresses the difference in the behavioral impact of ratio and interval schedules, the transition from goal-directed to habitual control with extended training, the persistence of goal-directed control under choice procedures and following extinction, among other phenomena. In these respects, this dual-system model is unique in its account of free-operant behavior.

scholarly journals A theory of actions and habits: The interaction of rate correlation and contiguity systems in free-operant behavior.

2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 945-971
Author(s):  
Omar D. Perez ◽  
Anthony Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Operant Behavior ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Rate Correlation

scholarly journals Evidence for a dissociation between causal beliefs and instrumental actions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar David Perez ◽  
Fabian Soto
Keyword(s):  
Interval Training ◽  
Causal Beliefs ◽  
Psychological Process ◽  
Instrumental Performance ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Causal Action ◽  
Human Experiments ◽  
Operant Training

Human experiments have demonstrated that instrumental performance of an action and the causal beliefs of the effectiveness of an action in producing a reward are correlated and controlled by the probability of an action leading to a reward. The animal literature, however, shows that instrumental performance under free-operant training differs even when these reward probabilities are matched while subjects undergo training under ratio or interval schedules of reward. In two experiments, we investigated whether causal beliefs would correlate with instrumental performance under interval and ratio schedules for matched reward probabilities. In both experiments we found that performance was higher under ratio than under interval training. However, causal beliefs were similar between these two conditions despite these differences in instrumental performance. When reward probabilities were increased by experimental manipulations in Experiment 2, the causal beliefs increased but performance decreased with respect to Experiment 1. This is evidence that instrumental performance and causal action-reward attribution may not follow from the same psychological process under free-operant training.

scholarly journals Evidence for a dissociation between causal beliefs and instrumental actions

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar D Pérez ◽  
Fabian A Soto
Keyword(s):  
Interval Training ◽  
Causal Beliefs ◽  
Psychological Process ◽  
Instrumental Performance ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Causal Action ◽  
Human Experiments ◽  
Operant Training

Human experiments have demonstrated that instrumental performance of an action and the causal beliefs of the effectiveness of an action in producing a reward are correlated and controlled by the probability of an action leading to a reward. The animal literature, however, shows that instrumental performance under free-operant training differs even when the reward probabilities are matched while subjects undergo training under ratio or interval schedules of reward. In two experiments, we investigated whether causal beliefs would correlate with instrumental performance under ratio and interval schedules for matched reward probabilities. In both experiments, we found that performance was higher under ratio than under interval training. However, causal beliefs were similar between these two conditions despite these differences in instrumental performance. When reward probabilities were increased by experimental manipulations in Experiment 2, the causal beliefs increased but performance decreased with respect to Experiment 1. This is evidence that instrumental performance and causal action-reward attribution may not follow from the same psychological process under free-operant training.

scholarly journals Infrared detection without specialized infrared receptors in the bloodsucking bug Rhodnius prolixus

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 1606-1615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia M. Zopf ◽  
Claudio R. Lazzari ◽  
Harald Tichy
Keyword(s):  
Paired Comparison ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Response Strength ◽  
Oscillation Period ◽  
Rhodnius Prolixus ◽  
Infrared Detection ◽  
Sensory Cells ◽  
Neuronal Coding ◽  
Discharge Rates ◽  
The Difference

Bloodsucking bugs use infrared radiation (IR) for locating warm-blooded hosts and are able to differentiate between infrared and temperature (T) stimuli. This paper is concerned with the neuronal coding of IR in the bug Rhodnius prolixus. Data obtained are from the warm cells in the peg-in-pit sensilla (PSw cells) and in the tapered hairs (THw cells). Both warm cells responded to oscillating changes in air T and IR with oscillations in their discharge rates. The PSw cells produced stronger responses to T oscillations than the THw cells. Oscillations in IR did the reverse: they stimulated the latter more strongly than the former. The reversal in the relative excitability of the two warm cell types provides a criterion to distinguish between changes in T and IR. The existence of strongly responsive warm cells for one or the other stimulus in a paired comparison is the distinguishing feature of a “combinatory coding” mechanism. This mechanism enables the information provided by the difference or the ratio between the response magnitudes of both cell types to be utilized by the nervous system in the neural code for T and IR. These two coding parameters remained constant, although response strength changed when the oscillation period was altered. To discriminate between changes in T and IR, two things are important: which sensory cell responded to either stimulus and how strong was the response. The label warm or infrared cell may indicate its classification, but the functions are only given in the context of activity produced in parallel sensory cells.

scholarly journals Different target-discrimination times can be followed by the same saccade-initiation timing in different stimulus conditions during visual searches

2015 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 366-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiro Tanaka ◽  
Satoshi Nishida ◽  
Tadashi Ogawa
Keyword(s):  
Threshold Model ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Response Strength ◽  
Neuron Activity ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Target Discrimination ◽  
Difficult Condition ◽  
Singleton Search ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Visual Searches

The neuronal processes that underlie visual searches can be divided into two stages: target discrimination and saccade preparation/generation. This predicts that the length of time of the prediscrimination stage varies according to the search difficulty across different stimulus conditions, whereas the length of the latter postdiscrimination stage is stimulus invariant. However, recent studies have suggested that the length of the postdiscrimination interval changes with different stimulus conditions. To address whether and how the visual stimulus affects determination of the postdiscrimination interval, we recorded single-neuron activity in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) when monkeys ( Macaca fuscata) performed a color-singleton search involving four stimulus conditions that differed regarding luminance (Bright vs. Dim) and target-distractor color similarity (Easy vs. Difficult). We specifically focused on comparing activities between the Bright-Difficult and Dim-Easy conditions, in which the visual stimuli were considerably different, but the mean reaction times were indistinguishable. This allowed us to examine the neuronal activity when the difference in the degree of search speed between different stimulus conditions was minimal. We found that not only prediscrimination but also postdiscrimination intervals varied across stimulus conditions: the postdiscrimination interval was longer in the Dim-Easy condition than in the Bright-Difficult condition. Further analysis revealed that the postdiscrimination interval might vary with stimulus luminance. A computer simulation using an accumulation-to-threshold model suggested that the luminance-related difference in visual response strength at discrimination time could be the cause of different postdiscrimination intervals.

scholarly journals Renewal after the punishment of free operant behavior.

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Bouton ◽  
Scott T. Schepers
Keyword(s):  
Operant Behavior ◽  
Free Operant

Free Operant Response Reinstatement during Extinction and Time-Contingent (DRO) Rewards

1968 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Campbell ◽  
Elery Phillips ◽  
Dean Fixsen ◽  
Charles Crumbaugh
Keyword(s):  
Food Reward ◽  
Stimulus Change ◽  
Operant Response ◽  
Extinction Procedure ◽  
Contingent Reward ◽  
Extended Training ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Operant Extinction

3 experiments are reported on the reinstatement of a bar-press response by rats during free operant extinction. After extended training on a VR schedule of food reward, an extinction procedure in which reward was negatively correlated with the bar-press response was initiated, i.e., reward was presented after 4 min of no bar presses. Results indicated that pause-contingent reward served to increase the rate of responding beyond what could be explained by the eliciting properties of reward-correlated stimuli or the “novelty” of stimulus change.

Shaping and Increasing Verbalizations in an Autistic Child in Response to Visual-Color Stimulation

1968 ◽  
Vol 27 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1071-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Fineman
Keyword(s):  
Autistic Child ◽  
Base Rate ◽  
Response Contingency ◽  
Free Operant ◽  
Visual Color ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Free Operant Situation ◽  
Prompt Response

It was hypothesized that systematic visual-color consequences contingent upon verbalizations would be effective in augmenting the rate of sounds as well as shaping specific words and word approximations, in a six-yr.-old autistic child. It was found that verbalizations were augmented over a base rate in a free operant situation. However, in a prompt-response contingency food was significantly more powerful in shaping specific sounds. Reasons for the difference were discussed.

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