A review of reinforcement control procedures

A demonstration of the effects of reinforcement requires comparison of response rates in the presence of a contingency with those in another condition that controls for the influence of extraneous variables. We describe several control conditions that have been used in evaluating the effects of positive and negative reinforcement. The methodological rigor and practical utility of each type of control condition are discussed, and recommendations for the use of these conditions are presented.     

Neurochemical changes correlated with behavior maintained under fixed-interval and fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement.

Key pecking of 4 pigeons was maintained under a multiple 3-min fixed-interval, 30-response fixed-ratio schedule of food presentation. Only one schedule was in effect during an experimental session, and each was correlated with a different keylight stimulus and location (left vs. right). The different schedule components alternated across days or weeks. Cerebrospinal fluid was collected from chronically implanted intracerebroventricular cannulae following sessions with the different schedules, as well as following sessions in which reinforcement was withheld (extinction), when response-independent food was delivered, and when the experimental chamber was dark and there were no scheduled events. Metabolites of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine were assayed in cerebrospinal fluid using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. Compared to the fixed-ratio condition, responding maintained under the fixed-interval schedule resulted in consistently higher levels of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid in all pigeons. Levels of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethylene glycol, a metabolite of norepinephrine, and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, another dopamine metabolite, were also higher in 3 of the 4 pigeons following exposure to the fixed-interval schedules when compared to levels of these metabolites after exposure to the fixed-ratio schedule. Extinction of fixed-ratio responding resulted in large increases in 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid compared to levels of this metabolite under the fixed-ratio schedule, whereas this serotonin metabolite decreased during extinction of responding under the fixed-interval schedule. Control procedures suggested that the neurochemical changes were not related to the rate of responding but were a function of the specific experimental conditions. Distinctive neurochemical changes that accompany schedule-controlled responding show the sensitivity of the neurochemical environment to behavioral contingencies and demonstrate further the profound impact that such contingencies have on biobehavioral processes.     

Relapse of operant behavior after response elimination with an extinction or an omission contingency

The present study compared relapse after responding was eliminated by extinction or omission training in rats. In Experiment 1, lever pressing was reinforced with food pellets in Context A and then eliminated with either extinction or omission training in Context B. The response was then tested in Contexts A and B in either the presence or absence of free food pellets delivered on a random time schedule. All rats showed higher responding when tested in Context A than Context B, and there was little evidence that omission training attenuated this ABA renewal effect. Noncontingent pellets increased responding after extinction but not after omission. However, when responding on the last day of response elimination was compared to responding during the test in the response-elimination context, there was some evidence that omission-trained rats showed a small increase in responding even when tested with free pellets. Results of Experiment 2 suggest this increase was not due to differences in the temporal distribution of pellets during elimination and the test, and that the result might be due to mere removal of the omission contingency, but any such effect is small and difficult to detect statistically. The results provide new information about factors generating relapse after omission training.     

Freedom,foreknowledge, and betting

Certain kinds of prediction, foreknowledge, and future-oriented action appear to require settled future truths. But open futurists think that the future is metaphysically unsettled: if it is open whether p is true, then it cannot currently be settled that p is true. So, open futurists—and libertarians who adopt the position—face the objection that their view makes rational action and deliberation impossible. I defuse the epistemic concern: open futurism does not entail obviously counterintuitive epistemic consequences or prevent rational action.     

Prevention of the development of problem behavior: A laboratory model

Few studies have isolated the preventive efficacy of common behavioral strategies like noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate a laboratory model of these two problem behavior prevention strategies. Undergraduate students participated in a computer simulation, in which clicks to a designated area of the computer screen were analogous to the emergence of problem behavior. The responding of participants in a control group, who experienced a percentile schedule used to mimic the shaping of problem behavior, was compared to that of participants in two experimental groups, each with a history of either DRA or NCR. Between‐subjects group comparisons showed that both intervention strategies were equally effective in the prevention of our analog to problem behavior when compared to the control group. The strengths and limitations of a laboratory model for prevention are discussed in light of recent applied work in this area.     

两类线索相容性的比较研究

研究运用前置线索的实验模式,采用对颜色刺激进行不一致颜色命名的实验任务,考察了线索与刺激和反应的维度重合关系、线索的呈现时距和线索的有效慨率对命名时间的影响。研究表明：在无刺激一反应相容性的情况下,当线索一刺激和线索一反应这两类线索相容性同时存在却相互竞争时,线索一刺激的相容性强于线索一反应的相容性,只显示出线索一刺激的相容性效应。同时,实验结果证明了线索一刺激相容性效应仍然遵循适时性的特征,受到线索呈现时距的影响,并随线索客观有效慨率的增加而增强。     

Effects of an interdependent group contingency on engagement in physical education

We examined whether a group contingency increased engagement during elementary school physical education sessions. The intervention employed procedures (explicit instruction, goal setting, and reinforcement) drawn from the first tier of classwide function‐related intervention teams (CW‐FIT; Wills et al., 2009). Results showed salutary increases in engagement that corresponded with the teacher's implementation.     

进化频率表征对统计推理（非）灵活性的影响：认知风格和简要提示不影响贝叶斯推理

当形式操纵有助于贝叶斯推理时会有怎样的加工发生呢？一种观点认为自然取样的频率可以激发在其操作中具有相对特异性的特权表征系统。而与之相对的一种观点则认为,自然取样频率只是引发具有嵌套关系的更为普遍的加工的一种方式。比较两种观点,后者预示着只需要使用相当简要和直接的干预（如简单的指示）就能够促进推理的改善,而前者则意味着更为广泛的干预和/或更有洞见的理解才能改善推理。本研究表明,无论是短暂立即的干预,还是预存的表征偏向,抑或是表征的灵活性都不能促进被试的表现。另一方面,也有证据显示,频率论者的问题解释可以改善统计推理表现,而且有时还会增加其反应的信心。这些结果支持了特权表征系统观     

Conditionals and consequences

We examine the notion of conditionals and the role of conditionals in inductive logics and arguments. We identify three mistakes commonly made in the study of, or motivation for, non-classical logics. A nonmonotonic consequence relation based on evidential probability is formulated. With respect to this acceptance relation some rules of inference of System P are unsound, and we propose refinements that hold in our framework.