Effects of Reinforcer Value on Sensitivity to Non-Verbal Operant Contingencies in Humans

The present experiment investigated effects of reinforcer value on sensitivity to operant force contingencies in humans. Subjects were exposed to non-salient, non-verbal operant contingencies with feedback stimuli of either low or high motivational value. Subjects who received feedback stimuli with back-up reinforcers of high motivational value demonstrated reliable adjustment to the arranged force contingencies, whereas force changes in subjects receiving low motivational feedback stimuli were unreliable. In accordance with standard animal findings, these results indicate that reinforcer value may affect operant conditioning in humans, but its effects are hypothesized to be confined to conditioning that is not mediated verbally.