An affordance analysis of unconditioned lever pressing in rats and hamsters

Cabrera, Felipe; Sanabria, Federico; Jiménez, Ángel Andrés; Covarrubias, Pablo Muñoz

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2012.10.003

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Following previous research (Brackney et al, 2011;Cabrera, Sanabria, Jiménez, & Covarrubias, 2013;Conover, Fulton, & Shizgal, 2001;Gibbon, 1995;Hill, Herbst, & Sanabria 2012;Íbias, Pellón, &, Sanabria, 2015), it is assumed that Z It is the sum of two shifted exponentially distributed random variables, with scale parameters c It and k It , where k It ≥ c It , shift parameter δ I > 0, and mixture weights 1 -q It and q It ,…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interval timing under a behavioral microscope: Dissociating motivational and timing processes in fixed-interval performance

Daniels

Sanabria

2016

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The distribution of latencies and interresponse times (IRTs) of rats was compared between two fixedinterval (FI) schedules of food reinforcement (FI 30 s and FI 90 s), and between two levels of food deprivation. Computational modeling revealed that latencies and IRTs were well described by mixture probability distributions embodying two-state Markov chains. Analysis of these models revealed that only a subset of latencies is sensitive to the periodicity of reinforcement, and prefeeding only reduces the size of this subset. The distribution of IRTs suggests that behavior in FI schedules is organized in bouts that lengthen and ramp up in frequency with proximity to reinforcement. Prefeeding slowed down the lengthening of bouts and increased the time between bouts. When concatenated, latency and IRT models adequately reproduced sigmoidal FI response functions. These findings suggest that behavior in FI schedules fluctuates in and out of schedule control; an account of such fluctuation suggests that timing and motivation are dissociable components of FI performance. These mixturedistribution models also provide novel insights on the motivational, associative, and timing processes expressed in FI performance. These processes may be obscured, however, when performance in timing tasks is analyzed in terms of mean response rates.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interval timing under a behavioral microscope: Dissociating motivational and timing processes in fixed-interval performance

Daniels

Sanabria

2016

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“…The results of this experiment build on and extend such findings by suggesting that, with respect to perceiving a given affordance, the particulars of a given nervous system and brain may be irrelevant, so long as the animal can detect the lawful structure in that array that is informative about the relevant animal-environment relationship (see Turvey, 2013). More conservatively, the results of the experiment reported here suggest that the ability to perceive a given affordance may not depend on a particular kind of brain and nervous system (Cabrera et al, 2013;Sonoda et al, 2012;see Shaffer et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…In particular, choices about how and when to transition between two different modes of performing a given behavior reflect the task-specific fit between action capabilities and environmental properties. However, much of this research has focused on perception of affordances by humans (but see Cabrera et al, 2013;Sonoda, Asakura, Minoura, Elwood, & Gunji, 2012). Other research has thoroughly investigated the perceptual, cognitive, communicative, and social abilities of canines (e.g., Hare & Woods, 2013;Shaffer et al, 2004), but little, if any, of this work has explicitly investigated perception of affordances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, to the extent that perception of affordances is supported by detection of invariant stimulation patterns, perception of a given affordance ought to exhibit action scaling regardless of species. Of course, a comprehensive investigation of this hypothesis requires investigating perception of affordances for many different behaviors by many different species (e.g., perception of affordances for lever pressing by rats and by hamsters; Cabrera, Sanabria, Jiménez, & Covarrubias, 2013). However, given recent research on the perceptual, cognitive, communicative, and social abilities of canines (e.g., Hare & Woods, 2013;Shaffer et al, 2004) and the important roles played by dogs as service animals, we investigated this hypothesis with respect to perception of affordances for reaching by canines.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Doggone affordances: Canine perception of affordances for reaching

2017

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Performing any behavior requires perceiving affordances-whether and how that behavior can be performed. Perception of affordances exhibits action scalingchoices about when to transition between two different modes of behavior reflect the fit between action capabilities and environmental properties. The boundary between distances that are perceived to be reachable with an arm-only reach and those that are perceived to be reachable with an arm-plustorso reach occurs at farther distances for long-armed than for short-armed people, but at the same ratio of objectdistance-to-arm length for both groups. To the extent that perception of affordances is supported by detection of invariant stimulation patterns, perception of a given affordance ought to exhibit action scaling regardless of species. We investigated the heights at which dogs chose to transition from reaching with the head only to rearing (i.e., reaching with the head plus torso). This transition occurred at a taller height for tall than for short dogs, but at the same ratio of shoulder-height-totreat-height for both groups. The results demonstrate a similarity in perception of affordances across species and suggest that perception of affordances is supported by detection of lawfully structured stimulation patterns that may be invariant across species.

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“…The calibration between body morphology, and environment is particularly important in determining when and how behavior is performed (Cabrera, Sanabria, Jiménez, & Covarrubias, 2013). Modern robotics (Braitenberg, 1987;Brooks, 1999), developmental studies (Thelen, 1995), and advances in the cognitive sciences (Clark, 1998) have all pointed to the need to understand the regularities in behavior not only as a product of the expression of brain mechanisms but also how that brain is embodied within an animal's morphology and embedded within its environment (Barrett, 2011).…”

Section: The Roles Of Perceptual Rules Body Shape and Environmentalmentioning

confidence: 99%