The behavioral specificity of stimulation: A systems approach to procedural distinctions of classical and instrumental conditioning

This paper presents a new methodological approach to classical Pavlovian investigations. Using a yoked group for stimulus pairing trial pacing, behavioral occurrence frequencies, sequential behavior patterns, and behavioral change dynamics are analyzed for rats in both a non-discriminative and a general setting discrimination paradigm. Theoretical issues addressed by a variety of new dependent measures are discussed, and a special emphasis is placed on comparing instrumental and classical procedures as viewed from the behavioral perspective of the subject.