Varieties of contrast: a review of incentive relativity by charles f. Flaherty

The phenomenon of contrast has been studied from two quite separate perspectives, one derived from the classic studies of incentive contrast such as Crespi (1942) and the other from the study of behavioral contrast within behavior analysis. This book reviews both of these types of contrast effects and finds both differences and similarities between them. Still at issue is the validity of the interpretation of contrast that assumes that the value of some target level of reward is modified in inverse relation to the level of reward from other sources in the same context. This concept works well for the classic studies of incentive contrast, but is challenged by the emerging importance of anticipatory contrast and the finding in both of the separate research traditions that anticipatory contrast is inversely related to other measures of reinforcement value.     

Delayed signal detection, differential reinforcement, and short-term memory in the pigeon.

In two discrete-trial delayed-detection experiments, six pigeons were trained on dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. Pecking a red side key was reinforced when the brighter of two white lights (S1) had been presented on the center key, and pecking a green side key was reinforced when the duller of two white lights (S2) had been presented on the center key. Incorrect responses were red side-key pecks following S2 presentations and green side-key pecks following S1 presentations; these resulted in three-second blackouts. In Experiment 1, the time between presentation of S1 or S2 on the center key and the onset of the red and green side keys was varied nonsystematically from 0.06 seconds to 19.69 seconds across experimental conditions. Stimulus discriminability decreased as the stimulus-choice delay increased. A rectangular-hyperbolic function better described this decrease in discriminability over time than did a negative-exponential function. In Experiment 2, at each of three stimulus-choice delays (0.06, 3.85, and 10.36 seconds), relative reinforcer frequency for correct responses to the red and green side keys was varied by changing the values of the dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. The sensitivity of choice to relative reinforcer frequency was independent of the decrease in stimulus discriminability with increasing stimulus-choice delay.     

Choice and the relative immediacy of reinforcement

The relative immediacy of reinforcement in concurrent-chain schedules was varied while the relative reduction in the overall average time to reinforcement associated with terminal-link entry was held constant. For each of four pigeons, choice did not vary with relative immediacy of reinforcement. Subsequently, choice by the same subjects was shown to be sensitive to relative reduction in average time to reinforcement.     

视、听双重记忆原序报告成绩下降的可能的原因

本文两种交替报告中的通道转移最多,但是都没有引起成绩大幅度下降。     

Associative interaction: joint control of key pecking by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships

The joint control of rate of key pecking in pigeons by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships was studied in the context of a two-component multiple schedule of reinforcement. Food presentation was always associated with one component and extinction with the other. The stimulus-reinforcer relationship was manipulated by varying the relative durations of the two components. In the food-presentation component, a fixed rate of reinforcement, independent of rate of responding, was generated by a schedule referred to as “T*”. One aspect of the response-reinforcer relationship, contiguity, was manipulated by varying the percentage of delayed reinforcers. With the multiple T* extinction schedule, stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships could be varied independently of one another. Rate of key pecking was sensitive to manipulations of both relationships. However, significant differential effects due to either the stimulus-reinforcer or response-reinforcer relationship were obtained only when the other relationship was weak: stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships interacted in the joint control of responding.     

Relative durations of conditioned stimulus and intertrial interval in conditioned suppression.

The effects of the relative durations of the conditional stimulus and the intertrial interval on bar pressing during a conditioned-suppression procedure were examined as a function of two additional variables--type of operant baseline schedule and rate of shock presentation. In Experiment 1, response suppression was compared across components of a multiple fixed-ratio, random-ratio, fixed-interval, random-interval schedule, at relative conditioned-stimulus/intertrial-interval durations of 1/1, 1/4, and 1/9. In Experiment 2, relative conditioned-stimulus/intertrial-interval duration (1/5, 3/3, or 5/1) was manipulated across groups, while shock frequency (2, 6, or 10 shocks/hr) was manipulated within groups. In both experiments, suppression during the signal was virtually complete at all relative durations. Responding was also suppressed during the intertrial interval, but that suppression varied as a function of experimental manipulations. In Experiment 1, intertrial-interval response rates were higher when relative signal duration was 1/9 than when it was 1/1, although both relative signal duration and shock frequency, which covaried, could have contributed to the difference. In Experiment 2, the patterning of response rates between successive shocks was affected by relative duration, absolute rates during the intertrial interval varied as a function of shock frequency, and differences between suppression during the signal and suppression during the intertrial interval were affected by both relative duration and shock frequency. The data support an analysis based upon relationships between shock-correlated and intertrial-interval stimuli and, as assessed by the relative-delay-to-reinforcement metric, are comparable to results that have been reported from experiments using similar manipulations under the autoshaping paradigm.     

Rapid determinations of preference in multiple concurrent-chain schedules.

With concurrent chains arranged for a pigeon's key pecks, pecks on two concurrently available initial-link keys (left and right) respectively produce separately operating terminal links (A and B). Preferences for terminal link A over terminal link B are usually calculated as deviations of relative initial-link response rates (left divided by total pecks) from those during baseline conditions, when A equals B. Baseline preferences, however, are often variable and typically are determined indirectly (e.g., with unequal A and B, reversing left-right assignments of A and B over sessions and estimating the baseline from differences between the relative rates generated). Multiple concurrent-chain schedules, with components each consisting of a pair of concurrent chains, speed the determination of preferences by arranging A and B and their reversal within sessions. In two experiments illustrating the feasibility of this procedure, one component operated with circles projected on initial-link keys and the other with pluses; when left and right initial-link pecks respectively produced terminal links A and B in one component, they produced B and A in the other. Even as the baselines fluctuated, preference was observable within sessions as the difference between relative initial-link response rates in the two components. The first experiment demonstrated the rapid development of preferences when terminal links A and B consisted of fixed-interval 15-s and 30-s schedules. The second demonstrated the sensitivity of the procedure to preference for a fixed-interval 30-s schedule operating for pecks on either of two keys (free choice) over its operating for pecks on only a single key (forced choice).     

Escape from serial stimuli leading to food

If the functional relations governing the strength of a conditioned reinforcer correspond to those obtained with other Pavlovian procedures (e.g., Kaplan, 1984), the termination of stimuli appearing early in the interval between successive food deliveries should be reinforcing. During initial training we presented four key colors, followed by food, in a recurrent sequence to each of 6 pigeons. This established a baseline level of autoshaped pecking. In later sessions, we terminated each of these colors or only the first color for a brief period following each peck, replacing the original color with a standard substitute to avoid darkening the key. Pecking decreased in the presence of the last color in the sequence but increased in the presence of the first. In accord with contemporary models of Pavlovian conditioning, these and other data suggest that the behavioral effects of stimuli in a chain may be better understood in terms of what each stimulus predicts, as measured by relative time to the terminal reinforcer, than in the exclusively positive terms of the traditional formulation (Skinner, 1938). The same model may also account for the initial pause under fixed-interval and fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement.     

Relative deprivation,national GDP and right-wing populism: A multilevel,multinational study

We conducted a secondary analysis of the 2018 (ninth round) European Social Survey dataset (N = 19,512, nested in 24 countries) to analyse the association between relative deprivation and right-wing populist voting, moderated by participants' income and their country's GDP. A multilevel moderated model showed that relative deprivation, income and GDP had no association with right-wing populist votes by themselves. However, income and GDP moderated the relation between relative deprivation and right-wing populist votes, that was significant for participants with high incomes and for those living in wealthy countries. The strengths, limitations and future developments of the study are discussed.     

The Head,the Heart,and the Community: Piloting a Brief Home-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Couples With Low Income

Although mindfulness is documented to reduce both individual and relationship stress and has the flexibility to be taught anywhere (e.g., at home, clinic setting, etc.), research examining mindfulness interventions among individuals with low income and economic marginalization (LIEM; APA, 2019), or persons whose economic position negatively impacts their health or well-being due to factors such as access to healthcare, is limited. To address this gap, the author and colleagues used Community Based Participatory Research methods to develop a brief, couple-based, mindfulness intervention tailored for communities with LIEM (see Lenger et al., 2022). The present study tested this newly developed brief, couple-based, mindfulness intervention's effectiveness in improving individual and relationship health through 1- and 2-months post-intervention. The intervention was piloted on a sample of 39 couples with an overrepresentation of couples with LIEM. To improve access to care, couples could participate in their home or a variety of local clinics. Thirty-nine couples received the intervention and completed assessments on mindfulness, depression, anxiety, stress, relationship satisfaction, and communication at baseline, 1-month, and 2-months post-intervention. Results revealed that mindfulness, depression, and relationship satisfaction improved from baseline to 1-month post-intervention. Mindfulness improved at a greater rate for couples with LIEM relative to couples with higher incomes. From baseline to 2-months post-intervention, depression and stress significantly improved at similar rates for couples with higher income and couples with LIEM. Thus, this study indicates that mindfulness can be taught in a brief, two-session format, and can have favorable outcomes on individual and relationship functioning.