Disinhibition and external inhibition in fixed interval operant conditioning

Laboratory-raised Virginia opossum have been found to readily acquire a lever-press response for water reinforcement. Fixed ratio behavior is comparable to that observed in other species. Fixed interval behavior, however, tends to move fairly rapidly toward an economical response style in which very few responses are emitted per reinforcement. Neither introduction of limited hold procedures nor lengthening of the deprivation schedule had any effect upon the FI responding.

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Operant Conditioning with Subjects Suffering From Dementia

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy ◽

10.1017/s0141347300017213 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 219-237 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ian S. Burgess ◽

John H. Wearden ◽

Tristram Cox ◽

Mark Rae

Keyword(s):

Operant Conditioning ◽

Acquisition Training ◽

Fixed Interval ◽

Continuing Care ◽

Partial Replication ◽

Temporal Control ◽

Conditioning Procedure ◽

Severe Dementia ◽

The Third ◽

Male Patients

Two experiments are reported in which patients who resided on continuing care psychogeriatric wards were exposed to an operant conditioning procedure. In the first experiment, the subjects were three female patients, all of whom were suffering from severe dementia. For two of the subjects, extended acquisition training was required before evidence of learning was found. Responding under fixed interval (FI) schedules of three different durations was well maintained by the third subject. Evidence of temporal control was found. The second experiment was a partial replication of the first. The subjects were two male patients who were suffering from mild to moderate degrees of dementia. They were exposed to FI schedules of three different durations. Responding was maintained for the 16 sessions of the study. Procedural modifications as well as some broader implications of these results are noted.

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Operant conditioning in the newly hatched quail : Fixed interval performance

Behavioural Processes ◽

10.1016/0376-6357(86)90002-1 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 317-325 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

H. Lejeune ◽

J. Nagy

Keyword(s):

Operant Conditioning ◽

Fixed Interval

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A failure to obtain disinhibition in fixed-interval operant conditioning

Psychonomic Science ◽

10.3758/bf03336191 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 47-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Allen H. Wolach ◽

Douglas P. Ferraro

Keyword(s):

Operant Conditioning ◽

Fixed Interval

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Response and Reinforcement in Operant Audiometry

Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders ◽

10.1044/jshd.5203.294 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 52 (3) ◽

pp. 294-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Michael A. Primus

Keyword(s):

Operant Conditioning ◽

Space Versus ◽

Visual Space ◽

Central Processing ◽

Operant Discrimination ◽

Conditioning Rate ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Simple Detection ◽

Variable Success ◽

Response Task

Variable success in audiometric assessment of young children with operant conditioning indicates the need for systematic examination of commonly employed techniques. The current study investigated response and reinforcement features of two operant discrimination paradigms with normal I7-month-old children. Findings indicated more responses prior to the onset of habituation when the response task was based on complex central processing skills (localization and coordination of auditory/visual space) versus simple detection. Use of animation in toy reinforcers resulted in more than a twofold increase in the number of subject responses. Results showed no significant difference in response conditioning rate or consistency for the response tasks and forms of reinforcement examined.

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The Effects of Variable-Interval and Fixed-Interval Signal Presentation Schedules on the Auditory Evoked Response

Journal of Speech and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.1201.199 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 199-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

David A. Nelson ◽

Frank M. Lassman ◽

Richard L. Hoel

Keyword(s):

Variable Interval ◽

Tone Burst ◽

Signal Amplitude ◽

Fixed Interval ◽

Interval Schedule ◽

Sensation Level ◽

Fixed Interval Schedule ◽

Auditory Evoked Responses ◽

Auditory Evoked Response ◽

Signal Presentation

Averaged auditory evoked responses to 1000-Hz 20-msec tone bursts were obtained from normal-hearing adults under two different intersignal interval schedules: (1) a fixed-interval schedule with 2-sec intersignal intervals, and (2) a variable-interval schedule of intersignal intervals ranging randomly from 1.0 sec to 4.5 sec with a mean of 2 sec. Peak-to-peak amplitudes (N 1 — P 2 ) as well as latencies of components P 1 , N 1 , P 2 , and N 2 were compared under the two different conditions of intersignal interval. No consistent or significant differences between variable- and fixed-interval schedules were found in the averaged responses to signals of either 20 dB SL or 50 dB SL. Neither were there significant schedule differences when 35 or 70 epochs were averaged per response. There were, however, significant effects due to signal amplitude and to the number of epochs averaged per response. Response amplitude increased and response latency decreased with sensation level of the tone burst.

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