VARIABILITY OF RESPONSE LOCATION FOR PIGEONS RESPONDING UNDER CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT, INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT, AND EXTINCTION<sup>1</sup>

Eckerman, David A.; Lanson, Robert N.

doi:10.1901/jeab.1969.12-73

Cited by 126 publications

(121 citation statements)

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“…However, Ferraro and Branch (1968) and Eckerman and Lanson (1969) found the opposite result. Moreover, the two conditions that Herrnstein compared differed in several ways besides reward expectation.…”

Section: Control Of Variation By Reward Probability 29 March 2004 Vermentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Although most studies of variation have measured spatial variation (e.g., Balsam, Deich, Ohyama, & Stokes, 1998;Eckerman & Lanson, 1969;Ferraro & Branch, 1968;Neuringer, 2002), temporal variation may be much easier to measure. A few studies (Lacter & Corey, 1982;Margulies, 1961;Millenson, Hurwitz, & Nixon, 1961) have measured the variation of bar -press duration (how long the bar is held down).…”

Section: Control Of Variation By Reward Probabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may also be why Eckerman and Lanson (1969) failed to find clear decreases in the variability of key-peck location as the interval value of a random-interval schedule decreased.…”

Section: Control Of Variation By Reward Probability 29 March 2004 Vermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Support for it comes from rat nose pokes (Antonitis, 1951), sequences of responses made by rats (Balsam et al, 1998;Cherot, Jones, & Neuringer, 1996), and the location of pigeon key pecks (Eckerman & Lanson, 1969;Ferraro & Branch, 1968;Millenson, Hurwitz, & Nixon, 1961).…”

Section: Control Of Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Antonitis (1951), for example, took "6,600 photographs of nosethrusting responses" (p. 275) to study variation in nose position. Herrnstein (1961) used a special apparatus with ten switches to measure the location of key pecks.Although most studies of variation have measured spatial variation (e.g., Balsam, Deich, Ohyama, & Stokes, 1998;Eckerman & Lanson, 1969;Ferraro & Branch, 1968;Neuringer, 2002), temporal variation may be much easier to measure. A few studies (Lacter & Corey, 1982;Margulies, 1961;Millenson, Hurwitz, & Nixon, 1961) have measured the variation of bar -press duration (how long the bar is held down).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Control of Variation by Reward Probability.

Gharib¹,

Gade²,

Roberts³

2004

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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Two bar-press experiments with rats tested the rule that reducing expectation of reward increases the variation from which reward selects. Experiment 1 used a discrete-trial random-interval schedule, with trials signalled by light or sound. One signal always ended with reward; the other ended with reward less often. The two signals were randomly mixed. Bar-press duration (how long the bar is held down) varied more during the signal with the lower probability of reward. Experiment 2 closely resembled Experiment 1 but used a random-ratio schedule rather than a random-interval schedule.Again, bar-press duration varied more during the signal with the lower probability of reward. The results support the rule-the first well-controlled comparisons to do so. Control of Variation by Reward Probability 29 March 2004 version 3 Control of Variation by Reward ProbabilityInstrumental learning requires both variation and selection --variation of action, selection by reward of what works (Staddon & Simmelhag, 1971;Hull, Langman, & Glenn, 2001) --but few experiments have studied variation (Chance, 1999;Domjan, 1998;Lieberman, 1990;Pearce, 1997;Staddon & Cerutti, 2003). Yet it is plausible that variation depends on recent events, just as response rate does. If an animal's actions vary too little, it will not find better ways of doing things; if they vary too much, rewarded actions will not be repeated. So at any time there is an optimal amount of variation, which changes as the costs and benefits of variation change. Animals that do instrumental learning would profit from a mechanism that regulates variation so that the actual amount is close to the optimal amount. If such a mechanism exists, we know little about it.Experiments about variation have been rare partly because variation has been hard to measure. Antonitis (1951), for example, took "6,600 photographs of nosethrusting responses" (p. 275) to study variation in nose position. Herrnstein (1961) used a special apparatus with ten switches to measure the location of key pecks.Although most studies of variation have measured spatial variation (e.g., Balsam, Deich, Ohyama, & Stokes, 1998;Eckerman & Lanson, 1969;Ferraro & Branch, 1968;Neuringer, 2002), temporal variation may be much easier to measure. A few studies (Lacter & Corey, 1982;Margulies, 1961;Millenson, Hurwitz, & Nixon, 1961) have measured the variation of bar -press duration (how long the bar is held down). Rats can be trained to make bar presses of specified durations (e.g., Notterman & Mintz, 1965; Control of Variation by Reward Probability 29 March 2004 version 4Platt, Kuch, & Bitgood, 1973), so the variation measured by bar-press duration includes the variation from which reward selects.Our use of bar-press duration to study variation began with a puzzle involving rats trained with the peak procedure (Gharib, Derby, & Roberts, 2001). On most trials, food was given for the first bar press more than 40 sec after the start of the trial, at which point the trial ended. On some trials, however, no food was gi...

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Section: Control Of Variation By Reward Probability 29 March 2004 Vermentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Control Of Variation By Reward Probabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This may also be why Eckerman and Lanson (1969) failed to find clear decreases in the variability of key-peck location as the interval value of a random-interval schedule decreased.…”

Section: Control Of Variation By Reward Probability 29 March 2004 Vermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Control Of Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Control of Variation by Reward Probability.

Gharib¹,

Gade²,

Roberts³

2004

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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Retrospective analysis of changes in response topographies of escape‐maintained aggressive behavior during functional analyses

Hernández

Fernand

Vollmer

et al. 2018

J of App Behav Analysis

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We observed changes in the rates of response topographies during the demand condition of functional analyses for participants who demonstrated problem behavior maintained by escape. Over the course of the functional analysis for each participant, the number of topographies decreased from the first to the last session. Additionally, after the first session of the demand condition the rate of responding for one topography increased or remained at high levels while the rates of all other topographies decreased. The implications of these results when conducting functional analysis are discussed.

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Further evaluation of functional analysis screening methods in early autism intervention

Slanzi

Vollmer

Iwata

et al. 2022

J of App Behav Analysis

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A goal of some functional analysis (FA) variations is to reduce assessment time while still maintaining efficacy. This may be especially important when conducting FAs in early intervention programs, where time is a crucial commodity. To that end, we evaluated a model for using the results of the no-interaction condition as a screening for behavioral function and to guide selection of FA test conditions with 20 participants (22 assessments) aged 3 to 7 years old. We used the no-interaction condition to develop hypotheses for both automatic reinforcement and socially mediated reinforcement. The outcome of the no-interaction condition guided the selection of test conditions for the remainder of the FA. We also incorporated methods from prior FA studies (e.g., divided attention) to modify the test conditions. We obtained differentiated results in 91% of assessments, all within 70 min and, as such, extended evidence that an FA can be completed in little time without sacrificing efficacy.

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VARIABILITY OF RESPONSE LOCATION FOR PIGEONS RESPONDING UNDER CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT, INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT, AND EXTINCTION¹

Cited by 126 publications

References 9 publications

Control of Variation by Reward Probability.

Control of Variation by Reward Probability.

Retrospective analysis of changes in response topographies of escape‐maintained aggressive behavior during functional analyses

Further evaluation of functional analysis screening methods in early autism intervention

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VARIABILITY OF RESPONSE LOCATION FOR PIGEONS RESPONDING UNDER CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT, INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT, AND EXTINCTION1

Cited by 126 publications

References 9 publications

Control of Variation by Reward Probability.

Control of Variation by Reward Probability.

Retrospective analysis of changes in response topographies of escape‐maintained aggressive behavior during functional analyses

Further evaluation of functional analysis screening methods in early autism intervention

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VARIABILITY OF RESPONSE LOCATION FOR PIGEONS RESPONDING UNDER CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT, INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT, AND EXTINCTION¹