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Studies of Behavioral History |
Friday, November 30, 2001 |
11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
Palladian Refectory Hall |
Area: EAB; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
Chair: Kennon Andy Lattal (West Virginia University) |
Abstract: Three investigators will present their recent findings concerning the effects of past experience on present responding. Each of the papers addresses a different aspect of the laboratory study of behavioral history: Okouchi addresses the relation between behavioral history and stimulus generalization; Reed considers how common intervening events between two different and more remote histories can influence current responding; and Lattal and his colleagues examine the relation between past experiences/contingencies and the reoccurrence of such Aold@ behavior under new environmental conditions. |
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Stimulus Generalization of Behavioral History |
HIROTO OKOUCHI (Osaka Kyoiku University) |
Abstract: Ten undergraduates were exposed to a variable-ratio 30 schedule when a 25-mm long horizontal black line was superimposed on a 55-mm diameter white circle on a display monitor, whereas they were exposed to a differential-reinforcement-of-low- rate 6-s schedule when a 13-mm long line was superimposed on the circle. Following this, a line-length continuum generalization test was administered under experimental extinction for half of subjects and under a fixed-interval 6-s schedule for others. Each of lines at 11 different length from 10 mm to 40 mm in 3-mm steps was presented 12 times. Generalization gradients were obtained for four of five subjects tested under the extinction and all subjects tested under the fixed-interval schedule. For all subjects in both test conditions, responses were distributed away from stimuli previously correlated with the variable-ratio and differential-reinforcement- of-low-rate schedules, indicating area shift. Thus, stimulus generalization gradients tested under the fixed-interval schedule and those tested under the extinction shared their critical features. The present results raise questions concerning the differences between behavioral history effects and stimulus generalization. |
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Previous Schedule Behavior Emerges after Extinction |
PHIL REED (University College London) |
Abstract: The influence of previous schedule history on subsequent performance during extinction was examined in two experiments using rat subjects. In Experiment 1, one group of rats received initial training on a variable ratio (VR) schedule, a second group received training on a variable interval schedule (VI), and a third group received no initial schedule training. All groups were then transferred to a fixed interval (FI) schedule. Following training on the FI schedule to the point where behaviour was indistinguishable in all three groups, all rats were placed in extinction. Rates of responding during extinction were higher in the group initially trained on the VR schedule than on the VI or FI schedule. In Experiment 2, rats were trained either on a differential reinforcement of high rate (DRH) or a differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) schedule prior to training on an FI schedule. After performance was equated on the FI schedule, the groups received extinction training; rates became higher for the group previously trained on the DRH schedule than on the DRL schedule. These data suggest that the history of schedule training exerts an influence even after a number of intervening steps of training. |
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Resurgence as Behavioral History |
KENNON ANDY LATTAL (West Virginia University), Stephanie P. Da Silva (West Virginia University), Megan Meginley (West Virginia University) |
Abstract: We examined the effects of experiences once removed from the present conditions on present responding. In t two experiments, pigeons were trained to peck on two- key concurrent variable-interval variable interval schedules. Then responding was extinguished on both of the keys while now reinforcing responding on a VI schedule on another, third, response key located midway between the other two. In phase three, responding on the third key was extinguished and the recovery or resurgence of responding on either of the two side keys was examined. In Experiment 1, the side keys were correlated with a VI 60s or a VI 300s schedule in phase 1. In the third phase, responding recurred on both the left and right keys, but at a higher rate on the key correlated with the higher reinforcement rate. In Experiment 2, the reinforcement rates on the two keys in the first phase were unequal, as in Experiment 1, but response rates were kept equal by using a pacing contingency. In the third phase, responding was reinstated on both side keys, but at a higher rate on the key correlated with the higher reinforcement rate, suggesting that reinforcement rate and not response rate determined the effect. The results are discussed in terms of the relation between behavioral history, response resurgence, and response strength theory. |
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