Observing ben wyckoff: from basic research to programmed instruction and social issues

L. Benjamin Wyckoff's seminal contributions to both psychological theory and application are the subject of this review. Wyckoff started his academic career as a graduate student at Indiana University, where he developed the observing-response procedure under the guidance of B. F. Skinner and C. J. Burke. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wyckoff refined his mathematical theory of secondary reinforcement. This theory was the impetus for his creation of an electronic simulation of a rat running a T maze, one of the first "computer models" of learning. Wyckoff next went to Emory University, leaving there to help create two of the most successful companies dedicated to the advancement of programmed instruction and teaching machines: Teaching Machines, Inc. and the Human Development Institute. Wyckoff's involvement in these companies epitomizes the application of basic behavior-analytic principles in the development of technology to improve education and human relationships. The emergent picture of Wyckoff is that of a man who, through his research, professional work in educational applications of behavioral principles, and active involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, was strongly committed to applying behavioral science to positively influence human behavior change.     

Conditioned reinforcement value and resistance to change

Three experiments examined the effects of conditioned reinforcement value and primary reinforcement rate on resistance to change using a multiple schedule of observing-response procedures with pigeons. In the absence of observing responses in both components, unsignaled periods of variable-interval (VI) schedule food reinforcement alternated with extinction. Observing responses in both components intermittently produced 15 s of a stimulus associated with the VI schedule (i.e., S+). In the first experiment, a lower-valued conditioned reinforcer and a higher rate of primary reinforcement were arranged in one component by adding response-independent food deliveries uncorrelated with S+. In the second experiment, one component arranged a lower valued conditioned reinforcer but a higher rate of primary reinforcement by increasing the probability of VI schedule periods relative to extinction periods. In the third experiment, the two observing-response components provided similar rates of primary reinforcement but arranged different valued conditioned reinforcers. Across the three experiments, observing-response rates were typically higher in the component associated with the higher valued conditioned reinforcer. Resistance to change was not affected by conditioned reinforcement value, but was an orderly function of the rate of primary reinforcement obtained in the two components. One interpretation of these results is that S+ value does not affect response strength and that S+ deliveries increase response rates through a mechanism other than reinforcement. Alternatively, because resistance to change depends on the discriminative stimulus-reinforcer relation, the failure of S+ value to impact resistance to change could have resulted from a lack of transfer of S+ value to the broader discriminative context.     

Global VOR gain adaptation during near fixation to foveal targets

Long-term rotational vestibulo-ocular (VOR) adaptation occurs during systematic dysmetria between visual and vestibular afferents, adjusting eye-rotation angular velocity to re-establish retinal stability of the visual field. Due to translational motion of the eyes during head rotation, VOR gain is higher when fixating near objects. The current study measures VOR in humans before and after 6 min of exposure to a foveal near-target during sinusoidal whole-body rotation at 0.45 Hz. All of six participants showed post-exposure increases in open-loop VOR gain after fixating near targets, demonstrating a mean modulation increase of open-loop VOR gain from 0.86 before adaptation to 1.2 after adaptation. We discuss a number of theoretical and applied implications.     

IRT-stimulus contingencies in chained schedules: implications for the concept of conditioned reinforcement

Two experiments with pigeons investigated the effects of contingencies between interresponse times (IRTs) and the transitions between the components of 2- and 4-component chained schedules (Experiments 1 and 2, respectively). The probability of component transitions varied directly with the most recent (Lag 0) IRT in some experimental conditions and with the 4th (Lag 4) IRT preceding the most recent one in others. Mean component durations were constant across conditions, so the reinforcing effect of stimulus change was dissociated from that of delay to food. IRTs were longer in the Lag-0 than in the Lag-4 conditions of both experiments, thus demonstrating that stimulus change functioned as a reinforcer. In the Lag-0 conditions of Experiment 2, the Component-1 IRTs increased more than the Component-2 IRTs, which in turn increased more than the Component-3 IRTs. This finding runs counter to the conditioned-positive-reinforcement account of chained-schedule responding, which holds that the reinforcing effect of stimulus change should vary in strength as an inverse function of the delay to the unconditioned reinforcer at the end of the chain because conditioned reinforcement is due to first- or higher-order classical conditioning. Therefore, we present other possible explanations for this effect.     

The relevance of castration and circumcision to the origins of psychoanalysis: 1. The medical context1

In this paper the author outlines and discusses the origins and the decline of castration and circumcision as a cure for the nervous and psychic disturbances in women and little girls between 1875 and 1905. The author argues that the opposition to this medical practice affected the conception of hysteria, promoting a distinction between sexuality and the genital organs, and the emergence of an enlarged notion of sexuality, during the period from Freud’s medical education to the publication of the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. The hypothesis is put forward that Freud came directly in contact with the genital theory of the neurosis at the time of his training on the nervous disturbances in children with the paediatrician, Adolf Baginsky, in Berlin, in March 1886. It is hypothesized that this experience provoked in Freud an abhorrence of circumcision ‘as a cure or punishment for masturbation’, prompting an inner confrontation which resulted in a radical reorganization of the way of thinking about sexuality. It is also suggested that this contributed to Freud developing a capacity to stay with contradictions, something which would become a central quality of the psychoanalytic attitude.     

TOKEN REINFORCEMENT: A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

Token reinforcement procedures and concepts are reviewed and discussed in relation to general principles of behavior. The paper is divided into four main parts. Part I reviews and discusses previous research on token systems in relation to common behavioral functions—reinforcement, temporal organization, antecedent stimulus functions, and aversive control—emphasizing both the continuities with other contingencies and the distinctive features of token systems. Part II describes the role of token procedures in the symmetrical law of effect, the view that reinforcers (gains) and punishers (losses) can be measured in conceptually analogous terms. Part III considers the utility of token reinforcement procedures in cross‐species analysis of behavior more generally, showing how token procedures can be used to bridge the methodological gulf separating research with humans from that with other animals. Part IV discusses the relevance of token systems to the field of behavioral economics. Token systems have the potential to significantly advance research and theory in behavioral economics, permitting both a more refined analysis of the costs and benefits underlying standard economic models, and a common currency more akin to human monetary systems. Some implications for applied research and for broader theoretical integration across disciplines will also be considered.     

惊跳反射的生理心理机制

惊跳反射作为动物及人类在应对意外刺激或遇到险情时的一种避险保护反应,具有重要的生物学意义。以往的研究较多关注听觉惊跳反射,在反应指标上多采用眼部及面部表情肌的反应,如眨眼反射。惊跳反射的生理机制为突发性强刺激直接传向杏仁核的直接通路所致。惊跳反射增强的心理机制可能为致敏作用或恐惧性条件作用,而惊跳反射衰减的心理机制可能是适应、前脉冲抑制或愉快衰减。未来的研究应关注视觉惊跳反射,观察全身躯体姿势维持肌肉群的反应模式,并以先进设备对惊跳反射的信息加工脑机制进行深入的研究     

条件反射性抗体反应增强的动态分析——以OVA为非条件刺激物

研究了条件反射性抗体反应增强模型的建立。被试为49只雄性成年Wistar大鼠,采用糖精水作为条件性刺激,一种蛋白抗原卵清蛋白作为非条件性刺激配对给予大鼠,两者结合后,在初次抗体应答下降阶段再次单独给予条件刺激,用酶联免疫吸附法分时段检测抗体水平的变化。发现条件组在条件刺激后15,20,25天左右抗体水平明显高于对照组。这一过程与初次抗体应答的规律类似。这些结果证实经一次条件训练,单独给予条件刺激能诱导出明显的条件反射性抗体反应增高。     

Key pecking of pigeons under variable-interval schedules of briefly signaled delayed reinforcement: effects of variable-interval value.

Key pecking of 4 pigeons was maintained under a multiple variable-interval 20-s variable-interval 120-s schedule of food reinforcement. When rates of key pecking were stable, a 5-s unsignaled, nonresetting delay to reinforcement separated the first peck after an interval elapsed from reinforcement in both components. Rates of pecking decreased substantially in both components. When rates were stable, the situation was changed such that the peck that began the 5-s delay also changed the color of the keylight for 0.5 s (i.e., the delay was briefly signaled). Rates increased to near-immediate reinforcement levels. In subsequent conditions, delays of 10 and 20 s, still briefly signaled, were tested. Although rates of key pecking during the component with the variable-interval 120-s schedule did not change appreciably across conditions, rates during the variable-interval 20-s component decreased greatly in 1 pigeon at the 10-s delay and decreased in all pigeons at the 20-s delay. In a control condition, the variable-interval 20-s schedule with 20-s delays was changed to a variable-interval 35-s schedule with 5-s delays, thus equating nominal rates of reinforcement. Rates of pecking increased to baseline levels. Rates of pecking, then, depended on the value of the briefly signaled delay relative to the programmed interfood times, rather than on the absolute delay value. These results are discussed in terms of similar findings in the literature on conditioned reinforcement, delayed matching to sample, and classical conditioning.     

家兔具有分辨红绿的色觉行为

本文在11只上海家免上进行了色觉行为学的实验研究。通过限制方位、光强等可能成为条件刺激的因素,并排除了声音、气味、背景光刺激等的干扰,确保颜色成为唯一的条件刺激,建立食物性红绿色觉分辨条件反射。经过适应、筛选、驯练和测试,在家兔上建立了对绿光稳固的条件反射。该结果显示兔具有颜色分辨能力。