Instrumental performance and time between reinforcements: Intimate relation to learning or memory retrieval?

Abstract

According to scalar expectancy theory (SET), instrumental performance is determined by the ratio of the time between reinforcements in the trial (TT) to the overall time between reinforcements (To). Groups for which the To I TT ratio is the same should perform similarly. According to the sequentialmemory view, the memory ofnonreward becomes a signal for reward, and thereby promotes strong responding, when that memory is retrieved on a reward trial. In each of three runway investigations employing rats in a runway, two groups were compared that had the same To ITT ratio but that differed in the tendency to retrieve the memory of nonreward on a rewarded trial. In each investigation faster running on critical nonrewarded trials was associated with the group having the stronger tendency to retrieve the memory of nonreward on a rewarded trial. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the sequential-memory view, as well as with certain earlier findings, but are inconsistent with SET. It was indicated that the groups compared here were matched along a considerable number of dimensions-an unprecedented number for a varied reward investigation.

Effects of priming, discriminability, and reinforcement on reaction-time components of pigeon visual search.

“…For example, Wagner long ago proposed a major role in conditioning for expectancy and the activation of memory representations (e.g., Wagner, 1978). More recently, Kraemer and Spear (1993) used differential activation of memories to account for important properties of extinction, latent inhibition, and interference; Bouton (1994) emphasized the role of differential memory activation in context effects; and others have developed still other uses for the idea (e.g., Capaldi, Alptekin, & Birmingham, 1996;Hayne, 1990;Morgan & Riccio, 1998;Thomas, 1981). It will be interesting to see if This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Reward produced memories regulate memory-discrimination learning, extinction, and other forms of discrimination learning.

“…In the pairs, Trial 2 behavior was expected to be regulated, strongly if not exclusively, by the memory of the Trial 1 reward and weakly, if at all, by any other reward-produced memories. It has been shown (e.g., Capaldi, Alptekin, & Birmingham, 1996; Capaldi, Nawrocki, Miller, & Verry, 1986) that when a long temporal interval elapses between trials, for example, 10–20 min, any memory retrieved at that long interval has a strong effect on performance at that interval and a weak effect, if any, on performance at a shorter interval, for example, 30 s. Similarly, memories retrieved at short temporal intervals strongly affect responding at short temporal intervals, in turn affecting responding at long temporal intervals weakly, if at all. On the basis of those earlier findings, we found that performance on Trial 2 of the pairs is regulated primarily, if not exclusively, by the memory of the Trial 1 reward outcome.…”

Instrumental Learning

“…Extinction occurs more rapidly after continuous reinforcement (CRF) and more slowly after intermittent reinforcement, known as the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE). A number of interesting theories regarding the mechanism(s) of this phenomenon have been suggested over the years (Amsel 1992;Capaldi et al 1996;Jenkins 1962;Grace and Nevin 2000), but the final answer remains unclear (Domjan 2015).…”