Punished and unpunished responding in multiple variable-interval schedules

The performance of rats trained on multiple variable-interval schedules was examined before, during, and after punishment. The same linear function related relative response rates to relative density of reinforcement both in the presence and absence of punishment. Equal relative suppression was seen in both the high and low reinforcement density components. The intercept value of the function was zero. Each component of the schedule was programmed on a separate lever: thus during any component, there was an opportunity for responses on the nonoperative lever (errors). The proportions of these errors declined to a near-zero value during punishment and did not regain their prepunishment values after punishment was removed, suggesting that some discrimination learning occurred during punishment. Recovery of response rate during punishment was seen only where a greater-than-zero probability of reinforcement was associated with the response.     

Sex differences in reinforcement and punishment on prime-time television

Prime-time television programs were analyzed for frequencies of positive reinforcement and punishment exchanged among performers varying in age and sex. Results indicated that most responses were given by and directed to adult males. Moreover, while adult males exhibited and received similar frequencies of reinforcement and punishment, adult females were likely to give and to be the recipients of more reinforcement than punishment. Proportional analyses which controlled for sex differences in frequencies of responses revealed that females more often exhibited and received reinforcement, whereas males more often exhibited and received punishment. Results are interpreted from a social learning theory perspective and the implications for children's learning of positive and negative behaviors are explored.     

Variable-interval punishment during variable-interval reinforcement

Variable-interval punishment was superimposed on a variable-interval food reinforcement baseline for three groups of rats. The value for the variable-interval punishment schedule was the same as that for the variable-interval food reinforcement schedule, although the two schedules were programmed independently. The three groups were Variable Intervals 0.5, 1, and 3 min. Little or no suppression occurred in the three groups at mild (0.2 and 0.4 ma) intensities of punishment, but at 0.6 ma, complete suppression occurred almost uniformly. During continued punishment, there was no consistent recovery toward the pre-punishment baseline at suppressing intensities of punishment. After punishment was discontinued, recovery from suppression was more rapid the lower the punishment intensity, and the lower the value of the variable-interval schedules of reinforcement and punishment.     

Effect of variable-interval punishment on the behavior of humans in variable-interval schedules of monetary reinforcement

One male and three female human subjects pressed a button for monetary reinforcement under a range of variable-interval schedules specifying different frequencies of reinforcement. On alternate days, responding was also punished (by subtraction of money) according to a variable-interval 170-second schedule. In the absence of punishment, the rate of responding was an increasing negatively accelerated function of reinforcement frequency, as predicted by Herrnstein's equation. The effect of the punishment schedule was to suppress responding under lower frequencies of reinforcement; responding under higher reinforcement frequencies was much less affected. This was reflected in an increase in the value of K_H (the constant expressing the reinforcement frequency corresponding to the half-maximal response rate), whereas there was no significant change in the value of R_max (the constant expressing the maximum response rate). Previous results had shown that variable-ratio punishment resulted in a change in the values of both constants (Bradshaw, Szabadi, and Bevan, 1977). The results of the present study were consistent with the concept that the suppressive effects of punishment on responding depend on the nature of the punishment schedule.     

Learning disability as related to infrequent punishment and limited participation in delay of reinforcement tasks

By comparing for learning disabled and control children parental frequency ratings of physical punishment and of completing household tasks, this experiment tested the hypothesis that parental indulgence is associated with learning disorders. Referral children with learning problems (N=18), matched on grade and sex with those in two control groups, were rated significantly lower on both measures than were either the students referred for other reasons or the nonreferred students. The infrequent punishment suggests that some children have learning problems because of a failure to acquire adequate response inhibition tendencies, which are necessary to control inappropriate behaviors resulting from the ineffective classroom positive reinforcement system. Furthermore, the lower responsibility index suggests some of their academic problems result from limited experiences functioning under delayed reinforcement.     

Punishment of temporally spaced responding

The responses of pigeons were maintained by a DRL schedule of food reinforcement. With this schedule, responses were reinforced only when a fixed period of time elapsed without an intervening response. Punishment of all responses reduced the frequency of these responses as a direct function of the punishment intensity. As a consequence of the increased temporal spacing of responses, more reinforcements resulted during punishment. Under progressively higher intensities of punishment, the reinforcement frequency increased to a maximum value and then decreased at the highest intensities. The increased frequency of reinforcement which resulted during punishment did not counteract the suppressive effect of punishment, nor did it lead to a low response rate after punishment was removed. Punishment did not reduce the inter-response time distribution uniformly, but rather especially reduced the number of short inter-response times. Even at the low punishment intensities, the number of short inter-response times was considerably reduced. After punishment was discontinued, performance recovered almost completely after a compensatory burst. The number as well as the temporal pattern of responses returned to normal.     

Early Learning Experience and Adolescent Anxiety: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between Japan and England

The main aim of this study was to compare the frequency of anxiety symptoms among adolescents in Japan and England, and to examine the association between early learning experiences and anxiety symptoms. A total of 299 adolescents (147 from England and 152 from Japan), aged 12 to 17 years were investigated. Results showed that adolescents in England reported significantly higher levels of anxiety symptoms than adolescents in Japan. For early learning experiences, no significant differences emerged between the two countries for parent punishment and reinforcement of anxious behavior. However, for non-anxiety physical symptoms (i.e. cold), adolescents in England scored significantly higher in parent punishment and the Japanese sample scored higher in parent reinforcement. Parent verbal transmission about the danger of anxiety and cold symptoms was more common in Japan than in England. The impact of learning experience on adolescent’s anxiety seemed to differ across cultures, which underscore the importance of cultural factors on adolescent’s anxiety.     

Elimination of behavior of mental patients by response-produced extinction

Mental hospital patients were conditioned to respond at a high rate. Then an attempt was made to eliminate the response by means of a mild punishment consisting of a period of timeout from reinforcement (response-produced extinction). When only one response was available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was not effective in eliminating that response. When an alternative response was also made available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was completely effective. It appears that even very mild punishment may be effective if the over-all frequency of reinforcement can be maintained by means of an alternative unpunished response.     

Reinforcement and punishment effects in concurrent schedules: A test of two models

The joint effects of punishment and reinforcement on the pigeon's key-peck response were examined in three choice experiments conducted to compare predictions of Farley and Fantino's (1978) subtractive model with those made by Deluty's (1976) and Deluty and Church's (1978) model of punishment. In Experiment 1, the addition of equal punishment schedules to both alternatives of a concurrent reinforcement schedule enhanced the preference exhibited for the more frequent reinforcement alternative. Experiment 2 demonstrated decreases in the absolute response rate for each member of a concurrent reinforcement schedule when increasing frequencies of punishment were added to each alternative. Experiment 3 found that preference for the denser of two reinforcement schedules diminished when the absolute frequencies of reinforcement were increased by a constant factor and conditions of punishment for both alternatives were held constant. Diminished preferences were obtained regardless of whether the frequency of punishment associated with the denser reinforcement schedule was greater or less than that associated with the lean reinforcement alternative. The results from all three experiments uniquely supported Farley and Fantino's (1978) subtractive model of punishment and reinforcement.     

Transfer of approach responding between punishment and frustrative nonreward sustained through continuous reinforcement

A block of continuously reinforced nonpunished trials was interpolated between acquisition of a runway response with either partial reinforcement or intermittent punishment and subsequent tests for resistance of that response to the suppressive effects of either extinction or continuous punishment. As previous investigations have shown, both the partial reinforcement effect (PRE) and the intermittent punishment effect (IPE) were sustained through the block of continuously reinforced nonpunished trials. Furthermore, the increased resistance to extinction following intermittent punishment and the increased resistance to punishment following partial reinforcement were also sustained through the interpolated continuous reinforcement. These results support a hypothesized similarity of punishment and frustrative nonreward and were interpreted in an extension of Amsel's conditioning model theory of the role of nonreinforcement in the PRE.     

Punishment Without Cause: Regression and the Effects of Leader Attribution Errors1

Kahneman and Tversky (1973) observed that failure to understand simple regression to the mean could cause leaders to falsely learn that punishment was more effective than reward in shaping subordinate performance. This fundamental hypothesis and other attribution theory hypotheses were tested in a field experiment in which subordinate performance was entirely random. The basic hypothesis was partially supported, but leader belief about subordinate ability was found to moderate leader reinforcement behavior. Leaders who believed that their subordinates had high ability subjected them to increasing amounts of punishment over time, while reward amounts remained relatively unchanged. The opposite pattern was evident but not statistically significant for leaden who believed that their subordinates were of low ability. Rewards were decreased over time, while punishments were left unchanged.     

HUMAN RESPONDING ON RANDOM‐INTERVAL SCHEDULES OF RESPONSE‐COST PUNISHMENT: THE ROLE OF REDUCED REINFORCEMENT DENSITY

An experiment with adult humans investigated the effects of response‐contingent money loss (response‐cost punishment) on monetary‐reinforced responding. A yoked‐control procedure was used to separate the effects on responding of the response‐cost contingency from the effects of reduced reinforcement density. Eight adults pressed buttons for money on a three‐component multiple reinforcement schedule. During baseline, responding in all components produced money gains according to a random‐interval 20‐s schedule. During punishment conditions, responding during the punishment component conjointly produced money losses according to a random‐interval schedule. The value of the response‐cost schedule was manipulated across conditions to systematically evaluate the effects on responding of response‐cost frequency. Participants were assigned to one of two yoked‐control conditions. For participants in the Yoked Punishment group, during punishment conditions money losses were delivered in the yoked component response independently at the same intervals that money losses were produced in the punishment component. For participants in the Yoked Reinforcement group, responding in the yoked component produced the same net earnings as produced in the punishment component. In 6 of 8 participants, contingent response cost selectively decreased response rates in the punishment component and the magnitude of the decrease was directly related to the punishment schedule value. Under punishment conditions, for participants in the Yoked Punishment group response rates in the yoked component also decreased, but the decrease was less than that observed in the punishment component, whereas for participants in the Yoked Reinforcement group response rates in the yoked component remained similar to rates in the no‐punishment component. These results provide further evidence that contingent response cost functions similarly to noxious punishers in that it appears to suppress responding apart from its effects on reinforcement density.     

The effects of reward and punishment on reaction times and autonomic activity in hyperactive and normal children

The performance of hyperactive and control children was compared on a delayed reaction time task under three reinforcement conditions: reward, punishment, and reward plus punishment. Hyperactives had slower and more variable reaction times, suggesting an attentional deficit. Although each of the three reinforcement conditons was successful in improving reaction times for both subject groups, reward led to a significant increase in impulsive responses in the hyperactive children. Autonomic data revealed that reward also increased arousal to a greater extent than punishment or reward plus punishment. Although resting skin conductance was not different in the two groups of subjects, hyperactives produced fewer specific autonomic responses to signal stimuli.     

Comparison of reinforcement and punishment functions produced by the same contingent event in the same subjects

The same event, forced running, was used to reinforce the lever-pressing of six rats in one component of a multiple schedule and to punish their drinking in another component. When the durations of running were converted to probabilities that Ss would not be running at t + n sec, given that the run gegan at t = 0 sec, both reinforcement and punishment were found to be linear (inverse) functions of the probability of not-running. A high concordance (0.90) between slopes of the reinforcement and punishment functions indicated that individual Ss were either sensitive to both reinforcement and punishment or sensitive to neither.     

Immediate and delayed punishment of human behavior by loss of reinforcement

Young adult humans pressed a key to obtain money. When responding was punished by presentation of a stimulus signifying that money was lost, response frequencies decreased and response latencies increased. Since these changes did not increase relative earnings, the aversive properties of loss of reinforcement were manifested independently or reinforcement gain. When loss punishment was delayed for either 10, 20, or 40 sec the extent of suppression was found to vary inversely with the response-punishment interval. Subsequent manipulations indicated that the effectiveness of delayed punishment was increased when the response also produced immediate conditioned punishment, i.e., a stimulus paired with the delayed loss stimulus. Instructions about the response-punishment contingency had similar effects. The findings were consistent with animal studies of delayed shock punishment, insofar as a similar delay-of-punishment gradient was observed, and with studies of delayed positive reinforcement, insofar as mediation through conditioned punishment (or instructions) increased the effectiveness of delayed punishment.     

Effects of US-Presentation and CS-termination contingencies on avoidance extinction following partial and continuous reinforcement

The present study assessed the role of both the US-presentation (punishment) and CS-termination contingencies on the maintenance of the shuttlebox avoidance responding in gerbils following acquisition under either partial reinforcement (PR) or continuous reinforcement (AV). Following PR, a stronger relationship obtained between delay of CS termination CR frequency than was found between delay of punishment and extinction performance. Following AV training, however, delay of CS termination and delay of punishment were equally effective determinants of avoidance extinction. These results were interpreted in terms of both the enhanced efficacy of the CS-termination contingency, possibly due to its increased informational value, and the attenuation of punishment suppression in PR-trained Ss.     

Asymmetry of reinforcement and punishment in human choice

The hypothesis that a penny lost is valued more highly than a penny earned was tested in human choice. Five participants clicked a computer mouse under concurrent variable-interval schedules of monetary reinforcement. In the no-punishment condition, the schedules arranged monetary gain. In the punishment conditions, a schedule of monetary loss was superimposed on one response alternative. Deviations from generalized matching using the free parameters c (sensitivity to reinforcement) and log k (bias) were compared in the no-punishment and punishment conditions. The no-punishment conditions yielded values of log k that approximated zero for all participants, indicating no bias. In the punishment condition, values of log k deviated substantially from zero, revealing a 3-fold bias toward the unpunished alternative. Moreover, the c parameters were substantially smaller in punished conditions. The values for bias and sensitivity under punishment did not change significantly when the measure of net reinforcers (gains minus losses) was applied to the analysis. These results mean that punishment reduced the sensitivity of behavior to reinforcement and biased performance toward the unpunished alternative. We concluded that a single punisher subtracted more value than a single reinforcer added, indicating an asymmetry in the law of effect.     

Interaction of reinforcement conditions and developmental level in a two-choice discrimination task with children

A total of 540 first, fourth, and eighth graders, equally divided by sex, were run on a two-choice discrimination task under one of three reinforcement conditions: reward (R) for correct responses, punishment (P) for incorrect responses, or reward and punishment (RP) for correct and incorrect responses. Half the Ss were tested by a male E; half, by a female E. Across all developmental levels, learning was superior in the P group. Complex interactions involving sex of S and E underline the importance of organismic variables in discrimination learning and in specifying parameters of reinforcer effectiveness.     

The partial punishment effect following minimal acquisition training: Sodium amobarbital and the stimulus properties of early punished trials

In a runway investigation, six groups of rats received limited runway training such that partial punishment, partial reinforcement, or continuous reinforcement was accompanied by sodium amobarbital or saline. Following an interpolated phase of continuous reinforcement without injections, all groups were given punished extinction. The entire experiment was conducted under widely spaced conditions (ITI = 24 hr). It was found that partial punishment increased resistance to punished extinction relative to partially and continuously reinforced controls when acquisition was given under saline. When partial punishment training was accompanied by amobarbital this effect was eliminated. The drug was observed to have no effect on the punished extinction performance of the partial reinforcement and continuous groups, respectively. Moreover, the partial reinforcement effect (PRE) did not generalize to punished extinction. These data provide information concerning the difference between the stimuli associated with the early trials of punishment and nonreward and indicate that the former but not the latter contain emotional elements.     

Learning to vary and varying to learn

We compared two sources of behavior variability: decreased levels of reinforcement and reinforcement contingent on variability itself. In Experiment 1, four groups of rats were reinforced for different levels of response-sequence variability: one group was reinforced for low variability, two groups were reinforced for intermediate levels, and one group was reinforced for very high variability. All of the groups experienced three different reinforcement frequencies for meeting their respective variability contingencies. Results showed that reinforcement contingencies controlled response variability more than did reinforcement frequencies. Experiment 2 showed that only those animals concurrently reinforced for high variability acquired a difficult-to-learn sequence; animals reinforced for low variability learned little or not at all. Variability was therefore controlled mainly by reinforcement contingencies, and learning increased as a function of levels of baseline variability. Knowledge of these relationships may be helpful to those who attempt to condition operant responses.