Response sequence learning as a function of primary versus conditioned reinforcement

Luck, Steve; Colgrove, Marianne; Neuringer, Allen

doi:10.3758/bf03209037

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In the present Phase 1, when reinforcement was made contingent on one of a number of possible response sequences, the frequency of emission of the reinforced sequence increased, and exceeded the frequency of emission of all other possible sequences. Although this effect has been demonstrated extensively in pigeons (Fetterman & Stubbs, 1982;Grayson & Wasserman, 1979;Luck et al, 1988;Stubbs et al, 1987;Wasserman et al, 1984), few studies have demonstrated this effect in rats (but see Schachtman & Reed, in press). The present study also demonstrated that presenting a signal along with reinforcement facilitated the acquisition of the required response sequence (see also Reed et al, in press).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The acquisition of response sequences has been the focus of a number of investigations (e.g., Arbuckle & Lattal, 1987;Grayson & Wasserman, 1979;Hawkes & Shimp, 1975;Luck, Colgrove, & Neuringer, 1988;Schwartz, 1980Schwartz, , 1982Vogel & Annau, 1973;Wasserman et al, 1984). For example, Grayson and Wasserman (1979; see also Catania, 1971;Silberberg & Williams, 1974) illuminated two response keys and required pigeons to perform a two-response sequence (left-left, leftright, right-left, or right-right) to obtain reinforcement.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effect of signaled reinforcement on the formation of behavioral units.

Reed¹,

Schachtman²,

Hall³

1991

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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Experiments examined the influence of a brief reinforcement signal on the acquisition of a response sequence and investigated whether such sequences serve as behavioral units. In Experiment 1, hungry rats emitted 2 responses on each of 2 levers to earn food reward. There was no constraint on the sequence in which the 2 responses per lever could be emitted, but rats came to emit 1 of the permitted 4-response sequences to a greater degree than the others. Signaled reinforcement promoted emission of the dominant response sequence. In Experiments 2 and 3, rats with signaled reinforcement displayed facilitated acquisition of the required response sequence, and emission of the sequence persisted after the schedule, reinforcing the required sequence, which was shifted to a variable interval 45-s schedule. These results imply that Ss may learn about response sequences longer than a single lever press and that a signal for reinforcement facilitates this process.Presenting a brief, response-contingent stimulus immediately prior to the delivery of reward attenuates the rate of response on variable interval (VI) schedules (

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of signaled reinforcement on the formation of behavioral units.

Reed¹,

Schachtman²,

Hall³

1991

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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show abstract

“…Luck, Colgrove, and Neuringer (1988) trained pigeons to generate fixed sequences ofresponse on three keys (e.g., middle-left-right). One group received a 2-s food reward after each correct response except the terminal response, which produced a 6-s food reward.…”

Section: Practical Uses Of Conditioned Reinforcementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditioned Reinforcement: Experimental and Theoretical Issues

1994

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The concept of conditioned reinforcement has received decreased attention in learning textbooks over the past decade, in part because of criticisms of its validity by major behavior theorists and in part because its explanatory function in a variety of different conditioning procedures has become uncertain. Critical data from the major procedures that have been used to investigate the concept (second-order schedules, chain schedules, concurrent chains, observing responses, delay-of-reinforcement procedures) are reviewed, along with the major issues of interpretation. Although the role played by conditioned reinforcement in some procedures remains unresolved, the results taken together leave little doubt that the underlying idea of conditioned value is a critical component of behavior theory that is necessary to explain many different types of data. Other processes (marking, bridging) may also operate to produce effects similar to those of conditioned reinforcement, but these clearly cannot explain the full domain of experimental effects ascribed to conditioned reinforcement and should be regarded as complements to the concept rather than theoretical competitors. Examples of practical and theoretical applications of the concept of conditioned reinforcement are also considered.Key words: conditioned reinforcement, behavior theory, observing behavior, chain schedules, delay of reinforcement, concurrent chains A general assumption in contemporary behavior analysis is that human behavior is best understood in terms of the contingencies of reinforcement operating on that behavior. Yet much, if not most, human behavior has little immediate impact on satisfying the biological motives that underlie the reinforcement contingencies commonly studied in the laboratory. People are not born with a tendency to work for money, to like the taste of alcohol or coffee, or to discover laws of behavior. We are also not born with the motivation to engage in compulsive hand washing or to be fearful ofspeaking in public. Such motives, both positive and negative, are learned,'and a major task of any behavior theory is to specify how such learning occurs, both in order to have a complete theory of behavior

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“…In any event, one conclusion follows: In comparison to Stubbs et al's (1987) demonstration of sequences as units, delay effects here were presumably strong enough to prevent similar results. In other experimental contexts, reinforcement rate has also been an important variable (e.g., Luck, Colgrove, & Neuringer, 1988), but at the reinforcement rate ranges explored in Experiment 1 no comparable effects were noted.…”

Section: Behavioral Unitsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Sequences of Spaced Responses: Behavioral Units and the Role of Contiguity

Schneider

Morris

1992

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Sequences of temporally spaced responses were reinforced to investigate the effects of delay of reinforcement on the formation of functional behavioral units. In Experiment 1, rats' two- and three-response demarcated sequences of left and right lever presses were reinforced such that different response distributions would occur depending on whether the sequences themselves or individual responses were functional units. The matching law could thus be obeyed either by individual responses or by sequences, but not by both; intermediate results were possible. Both regular (nonretractable) and retractable levers were used; the retractable levers precluded the occurrence of insufficiently spaced responses. At a minimum interresponse time of 5 s for regular levers and 7 s for retractable ones, matching results were intermediate, with greater evidence of sequence conditionability in the two-response sequences than in the three-response sequences. In Experiment 2, the required minimum interresponse spacing for two-response retractable-lever sequences was varied in an attempt to locate the sequence matching threshold. This attempt was unsuccessful, but the sequences (instead of individual responses) more closely obeyed the matching law. In the shortest spaced condition, conditional probability data on Lag 1 sequence emission order showed marked, highly similar patterning for all rats, indicating sequential control of the sequences. Post hoc definition of the behavioral unit in these studies is ambiguous. Although reinforcement contiguity was important, aspects of the results could support both molar- and molecular-level interpretations.

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Response sequence learning as a function of primary versus conditioned reinforcement

Cited by 4 publications

References 23 publications

Effect of signaled reinforcement on the formation of behavioral units.

Effect of signaled reinforcement on the formation of behavioral units.

Conditioned Reinforcement: Experimental and Theoretical Issues

Sequences of Spaced Responses: Behavioral Units and the Role of Contiguity

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