Top-down design for a system to control operant choice experiments

STATIONS, a FORTRAN program to control operant choice experiments, was developed based on the principles of top-down design and structured programming. As a consequence, the program consists of modules organized in a hierarchical fashion. Separate modules deal with different types of reinforcement schedules, such as variable ratio (VR) and variable interval (VI). These modules produce specific schedules with different parameters by using sequences of values read in at ran time and then randomly sampled. This form of organization permits modifications to be made via changes confined to one module without global repercussions. The clarity of structure that results from the application of top-down design and structured programming should enable future users to more easily adapt this package to suit their specific needs.     

REVIEW OF THE BOOK SNIFFY THE VIRTUAL RAT PRO VERSION 2.0

Sniffy the Virtual Rat Pro Version 2.0 is the most recent update to the Sniffy the Rat program modules. It has an extensive set of simulations related to Pavlovian and operant conditioning. Many of the standard conditioning paradigms and phenomena are contained within this program. Pavlovian effects such as blocking, overshadowing, and stimulus competition are demonstrated in the data output. Operant manipulations allow shaping the behavior of the virtual rat, observing cumulative records of interval and ratio schedules, as well as conducting operant discrimination procedures. In both Pavlovian and operant paradigms, one can generate histograms that predict the degree to which various stimuli control the virtual rat's behavior. On‐screen presentations may keep most users interested, but working with the generated data files sometimes can prove difficult. Overall, this program has a strong potential for facilitating the instruction in undergraduate conditioning courses, serving as an addendum to traditional undergraduate conditioning laboratories and as a supplement to the use of live animals.     

Amplitude measures of operant response: Implementation with Apple Pascal

Because operant conditioning studies involving force of response as a dependent variable require high-speed A/D conversion, conventional operant software, which treats the input datum as a dimensionless event, is generally unsuited for this kind of work. The author describes a complete Apple-based hardware-software ensemble that measures and records on diskette the peak force, duration, time integral of force, and interresponse time for individual operant responses. Data acquisition and control programs were written in Apple Pascal linked to selected assembly language modules. The real-time base was derived from an inexpensive crystal clock interfaced     

ArduiPod Box: A low-cost and open-source Skinner box using an iPod Touch and an Arduino microcontroller

This article introduces the ArduiPod Box, an open-source device built using two main components (i.e., an iPod Touch and an Arduino microcontroller), developed as a low-cost alternative to the standard operant conditioning chamber, or “Skinner box.” Because of its affordability, the ArduiPod Box provides an opportunity for educational institutions with small budgets seeking to set up animal laboratories for research and instructional purposes. A pilot experiment is also presented, which shows that the ArduiPod Box, in spite of its extraordinary simplicity, can be effectively used to study animal learning and behavior.     

A system for programming experiments and for recording and analyzing data automatically

A system designed for use in complex operant conditioning experiments is described. Some of its key features are: (a) plugboards that permit the experimenter to change either from one program to another or from one analysis to another in less than a minute, (b) time-sharing of permanently-wired, electronic logic components, (c) recordings suitable for automatic analyses. Included are flow diagrams of the system and sample logic diagrams for programming experiments and for analyzing data.     

Lever attacking by rats during free-operant avoidance

Rats pressed a lever to avoid shock on a free-operant avoidance schedule. Some subjects were also exposed to extinction in which the response-shock contingency was eliminated while the shock-shock contingency remained in effect. A specially constructed lever was used that registered not only presses, but also biting attacks on the lever. Throughout various phases of the study, shocks often elicited lever biting as well as post-shock responding. The results suggested that shock-elicited attacks that are forceful enough to activate the operandum might account for some of the responding that occurs in experiments on free-operant avoidance behavior. In particular, shock-elicited operandum attacking might account for post-shock response bursting during free-operant avoidance and the extreme persistence of responding sometimes noted when shocks are delivered during the extinction of avoidance behavior. To the extent that this is true, these phenomena should not be characterized as operant behavior in interpreting the results of experiments on free operant avoidance.     

A strategy for microcomputer-controlled measurement of responses in the behavioral laboratory

Problems associated with microcomputer measurement of responses in operant conditioning experiments are discussed. A general strategy that addresses these problems is presented. Although implementation of the strategy requires assembly language programming, the procedures can be used in conjunction with most high-level programming languages. The method ensures that all responses are detected, prevents detection of multiple responses during switch contact bounce, and indicates when responses are being processed at excessive intervals following their occurrences.     

A microcomputer-controlled laboratory: Software

The software used in a microcomputer-controlled laboratory is described. Primary emphasis is placed upon describing the capabilities of a powerful, easy-to-use programming language appropriate for controlling research in a wide variety of applications. It is particularly appropriate for physiological and operant laboratories. Design of the language and accompanying operating system follow a rigorous modular, structured approach, with most coding done in high-level languages. As a result, the code is easy to maintain and expand. In addition, it is not difficult to adapt the programs to other microprocessors to take advantage of a rapidly improving technology.     

The measurement and reinforcement of behavior of psychotics

An attempt was made to strengthen behaviors of psychotics by applying operant reinforcement principles in a mental hospital ward. The behaviors studied were necessary and/or useful for the patient to function in the hospital environment. Reinforcement consisted of the opportunity to engage in activities that had a high level of occurrence when freely allowed. Tokens were used as conditioned reinforcers to bridge the delay between behavior and reinforcement. Emphasis was placed on objective definition and quantification of the responses and reinforcers and upon programming and recording procedures. Standardizing the objective criteria permitted ward attendants to administer the program. The procedures were found to be effective in maintaining the desired adaptive behaviors for as long as the procedures were in effect. In a series of six experiments, reinforced behaviors were considerably reduced when the reinforcement procedure was discontinued; the adaptive behaviors increased immediately when the reinforcement procedure was re-introduced.     

Time-series analysis in operant research

A time-series method is presented, nontechnically, for analysis of data generated in individual-subject operant studies, and is recommended as a supplement to visual analysis of behavior change in reversal or multiple-baseline experiments. The method can be used to identify three kinds of statistically significant behavior change: (a) changes in score levels from one experimental phase to another, (b) reliable upward or downward trends in scores, and (c) changes in trends between phases. The detection of, and reliance on, serial dependency (autocorrelation among temporally adjacent scores) in individual-subject behavioral scores is emphasized. Examples of published data from the operant literature are used to illustrate the time-series method.     

Analyzing the reinforcement process at the human level: Can application and behavioristic interpretation replace laboratory research?

Critics have questioned the value of human operant conditioning experiments in the study of fundamental processes of reinforcement. Contradictory results from human and animal experiments have been attributed to the complex social and verbal history of the human subject. On these grounds, it has been contended that procedures that mimic those conventionally used with animal subjects represent a "poor analytic preparation" for the explication of reinforcement principles. In defending the use of conventional operant methods for human research, we make three points: (a) Historical variables play a critical role in research on processes of reinforcement, regardless of whether the subjects are humans or animals. (b) Techniques are available for detecting, analyzing, and counteracting such historical and extra-experimental influences; these include long-term observations, steady state designs, and, when variables are not amenable to direct control (e.g., age, gender, species), selection of subjects with common characteristics. (c) Other forms of evidence that might be used to validate conditioning principles-applied behavior analysis and behavioristic interpretation-have inherent limitations and cannot substitute for experimental analysis. We conclude that human operant conditioning experiments are essential for the analysis of the reinforcement process at the human level, but caution that their value depends on the extent to which the traditional methods of the experimental analysis of behavior are properly applied.     

Comparing choices and variations in people and rats: Two teaching experiments

Two pairs of experiments enabled students to compare their own operant behaviors with those of rats. The students played computer games for points, and the rats pressed levers for food. The first pair of experiments showed that, under concurrent schedules of reinforcement, relative frequencies of choices between two alternatives increased linearly in rats and people as functions of relative frequencies of reinforcement, with similar biases and undermatching observed in both species. The second pair of experiments showed that behavioral variability was controlled by reinforcers contingent on variability, this again true for both species. These experiments helped demonstrate the relevance of animal operant research to an explanation of human operant behavior.     

A minicomputer system for recording the dynamic properties of individual operant responses

A PDP-12 is used to conduct operant experiments in which peak force, duration, time integral of force, and interresponse time may each serve as the criterion response property for reinforcement, and all four properties are simultaneously recorded as dependent variables. Calibration, acquisition and control, and data analysis programs are described.     

冲动还是习惯?成瘾不同阶段中冲动性的性质与机制

冲动性是一种缺乏充分思考、不顾后果的冒险行为或行为倾向, 它既表现在人格特质中, 也会表现为各类环境中的行为。成瘾者具有典型的冲动性特征, 但成瘾者的冲动性是如何影响和促进成瘾行为的发生、发展, 目前还并不明朗。从成瘾形成的不同阶段, 也许可以对此有更进一步的了解。在药物使用的开始阶段, 冲动性人格特质作为动机原因, 促进成瘾物质的首次使用; 接着操作性条件学习导致用药者进入“目标-导向”阶段, 呈现出选择冲动性。第三阶段, 经典条件学习又使相关线索和药物效应不断匹配, 形成条件反射性药物使用行为。成瘾者进入习惯性用药阶段, 表现出显著的停止冲动性。     

Positive and negative conditioned suppression in the pigeon: Effects of the locus and modality of the CS

In Experiment I, four pigeons were exposed to trials in which a 12-sec key light illumination was followed by free food. These trials were superimposed upon a baseline of key pecking for food reinforcement on a variable-interval schedule. When the signal for food was on the operant key, response rate was substantially higher during the signal than during the baseline procedure. When the signal was on a second, signal key, operant responding was suppressed during the signal and substantial pecking of the signal key occurred. The sum of signal key and operant key pecks far exceeded the operant baseline rate of responding. An explanation of opposite results obtained with rats and pigeons as subjects in experiments of this type was suggested in terms of the spatial relation between the signal for free food and the operant target which usually characterizes these experiments. Experiment II assessed the importance of signal location when shock rather than food was the US. Suppression of operant key pecking was unaffected by signal location. Experiment III assessed the relative effectiveness of visual and auditory stimuli (clicks) as signals for food and shock, and found that all combinations of signal and US were equally effective in suppressing operant key responding. The three experiments together suggested that the identification of important effects of species—typical behavior in one experimental situation does not imply that there will be like effects in similar situations.     

Deontic Reasoning With Emotional Content: Evolutionary Psychology or Decision Theory?

Three experiments investigated the contrasting predictions of the evolutionary and decision-theoretic approaches to deontic reasoning. Two experiments embedded a hazard management (HM) rule in a social contract scenario that should lead to competition between innate modules. A 3rd experiment used a pure HM task. Threatening material was also introduced into the antecedent, p, of a deontic rule, if p then must q. According to the evolutionary approach, more HM responses (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000) are predicted when p is threatening, whereas decision theory predicts fewer. All 3 experiments were consistent with decision theory. Other theories are discussed, and it is concluded that they cannot account for the behavior observed in these experiments.     

Integrating basic and applied research and the utility of Lattal and Perone's Handbook of research methods in human operant behavior

Lattal and Perone's Handbook of methods used in human operant research on behavioral processes will be a valuable resource for researchers who want to bridge laboratory developments with applied study. As a supplemental resource, investigators are also encouraged to examine the series of papers in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis that discuss basic research and its potential for application. Increased knowledge of behavioral processes in laboratory research could lead to innovative solutions to practical problems addressed by applied behavior analysts in the home, classroom, clinic, and community.     

Introductory psychology laboratories using graphic simulations of virtual subjects

Graphical simulations of the behavior of virtual subjects in laboratory or field microworlds were developed to teach research principles to introductory psychology students. Students conduct studies in laboratory classes, assuming the primary role of being an experimenter. Microworld modules were designed to foster the flexible exploration of important steps in the research process, including hypothesis generation, research planning and design, behavioral observation or testing, and data summarization and analysis. The modules were designed to impart a sense of behavioral “presence” so that students would obtain an appreciation of realistic behavioral observation and of testing methodologies. Microworlds that have been developed include infant preferential looking (cognitive processes), courting behavior of fireflies, personality test development, working memory, operant conditioning, single-cell recording of sensory function, and testing of brain-damaged people. Principles that guided the development of software modules and laboratory class exercises are discussed.     

Spatial part-set cuing facilitation

Cole, Reysen, and Kelley [2013. Part-set cuing facilitation for spatial information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, &; Cognition, 39, 1615–1620] reported robust part-set cuing facilitation for spatial information using snap circuits (a colour-coded electronics kit designed for children to create rudimentary circuit boards). In contrast, Drinkwater, Dagnall, and Parker [2006. Effects of part-set cuing on experienced and novice chess players’ reconstruction of a typical chess midgame position. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 102(3), 645–653] and Watkins, Schwartz, and Lane [1984. Does part-set cuing test for memory organization? Evidence from reconstructions of chess positions. Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, 38(3), 498–503] showed no influence of part-set cuing for spatial information when using chess boards. One key difference between the two procedures was that the snap circuit stimuli were explicitly connected to one another, whereas chess pieces were not. Two experiments examined the effects of connection type (connected vs. unconnected) and cue type (cued vs. uncued) on memory for spatial information. Using chess boards (Experiment 1) and snap circuits (Experiment 2), part-set cuing facilitation only occurred when the stimuli were explicitly connected; there was no influence of cuing with unconnected stimuli. These results are potentially consistent with the retrieval strategy disruption hypothesis, as well as the two- and three-mechanism accounts of part-set cuing.     

Relational operants: processes and implications: a response to Palmer's review of Relational Frame Theory

Palmer has recently criticized Relational Frame Theory (RFT) on the grounds that it has developed data in search of a principle. In this reply, we show that he has done so by attacking fundamental concepts within behavior analysis itself, including the functional nature of an operant and contingencies of reinforcement as a behavioral process. His claim that RFT appeals to new behavioral principles to explain the development of relational operants is shown to be incorrect: As with any operant, RFT appeals to a history of contacted consistencies in contingencies across multiple ex-emplars to explain them. New principles only emerge later as a logically necessary extension of such operants if they exist--a view that Palmer failed to address or appreciate. Palmer's desire to see the use of methods other than matching-to-sample is proper but already largely satisfied in the empirical literature on RFT. We show Palmer's defense of Skinner's definition of verbal behavior to be illogical and unresponsive to the empirical challenge behavior analysis faces. Palmer's alternative common sense mediational associationistic account is another in more than a century of such accounts, all of which have failed empirically. At its root, Palmer's criticism is based on a mechanistic philosophy that is hostile to a traditional functional behavior analytic approach.