Response-dependent point loss and response force as disrupting operations on behavioral resistance to change in humans.

Behavioral momentum theory (BMT) provides a theoretical and methodological framework for understanding how differentially maintained operant responding resists disruption. A common way to test operant resistance involves contingencies with suppressive effects, such as extinction or prefeeding. Other contingencies with known suppressive effects, such as response-cost procedures arranged as point-loss or increases in response force, remain untested as disruptive events within the BMT framework. In the present set of three experiments, responding of humans was maintained by point accumulation programmed according to a multiple variable-interval (VI) VI schedule with different reinforcement rates in either of two components. Subsequently, subtracting a point following each response (Experiment 1) or increasing the force required for the response to be registered (Experiments 2 and 3 decreased response rates, but responding was less disrupted in the component associated with the higher reinforcement rate. The point-loss contingency and increased response force similarly affected response rates by suppressing responding and human persistence, replicating previous findings with humans and nonhuman animals when other types of disruptive events (e.g., extinction and prefeeding) were investigated. The present findings moreover extend the generality of the effects of reinforcement rate on persistence, and thus BMT, extending the analysis of resistance to two well-known manipulations used to reduce responding in the experimental analysis of behavior.

Reinforcer Efficacy, Response Persistence, and Delay of Reinforcement / Eficacia del reforzador, persistencia de la respuesta y demora de reforzamiento

In an evaluation of the effects of delayed reinforcement on response persistence, two pigeons were exposed to a series of conditions in which reinforcement that either immediately followed or was delayed from the response that produced it alternated across blocks of sessions. Responding was maintained by a progressive-ratio schedule in which the response requirements incremented for successive reinforcers. The effects of signaled and unsignaled delay values of 1, 5, 10, and 20 s were investigated. In general, responding was more persistent, as measured as the point at which responding ceased for 300 s, with shorter delays, regardless of whether the delays were correlated with a distinct stimulus (that is signaled) or not. The results complement earlier findings showing that reinforcement delays affect reinforcer efficacy or response persistence by showing similar effects using an index of response strength that is independent of response rate. They also extend the general effects of delay of reinforcement to a schedule in which they previously have not been demonstrated.

En una evaluación de los efectos de la demora de reforzamiento sobre la persistencia de la respuesta, se expuso a dos palomas a una serie de condiciones en las que el reforzamiento, que ya sea siguió inmediatamente a la respuesta o estuvo demorado de la respuesta que lo produjo, alternó a través de bloques de sesiones. La respuesta se mantuvo mediante un programa de razón progresivo en el que los requisitos de respuesta aumentaron para reforzadores sucesivos. Se investigaron los efectos de demoras señaladas y no señaladas de 1, 5, 10 y 20 s. En general, el responder fue más persistente, medido como el punto en el que cesó durante 300 s, con las demoras cortas, independientemente de si las demoras estuvieron correlacionadas con un estímulo distintivo (es decir demora señalada) o no. Los resultados complementan hallazgos previos que mostraron que las demoras de reforzamiento afectan la eficiencia del reforzador o la persistencia de la respuesta, al mostrar efectos similares utilizando un índice de la fuerza de la respuesta que es independiente de la tasa de respuesta. También extienden la generalidad del efecto de la demora de reforzamiento a programas en los que previamente no se había demostrado.

O lado humano do comportamento animal / The human side of animal behavior

Um elemento importante na pesquisa comportamental com animais não humanos é que ela contribui para a compreensão do comportamento humano, o que aqui chamamos de o lado humano do comportamento animal.Este artigo examina as origens da comparação do comportamento humano com o de outros animais, as maneiras como tais comparações são descritas e considerações que surgem de avaliações da validade dessas comparações. A justificativa para tal comparação se originou no reducionismo da fisiologia experimental e no entendimento das similaridades de todas as formas de vida promulgado pela biologia evolucionária darwiniana. Mais recentemente foram adicionadas outras observações, tais como a simplicidade relativa do comportamento animal, afetadas por restrições impostas às comparações resultantes pela ausência do comportamento verbal em animais. A construção de comparações do comportamento humano com o de animais pode ser estruturada com base na distinção de Skinner (1957) entre as formas metafórica e genérica do tato estendido. Tanto a comparação sistemática quanto a ordinária do comportamento humano e animal são congruentes com a abordagem do tato estendido de Skinner.A consideração mais geral ao avaliar comparações do comportamento humano e animal é que seja estabelecida uma base funcional para a similaridade proposta. Análises sistemáticas e evidências convergentes podem contribuir também para a aceitação dessas comparações. Na análise final, portanto, conclusões sobre o lado humano do comportamento animal não são dedutivamente derivadas e raramente são avaliadas com base em seu valor pragmático e heurístico. Tais conclusões representam uma contribuição valiosa para o entendimento do animal humano e para o desenvolvimento de soluções práticas para problemas no comportamento humano aos quais grande parte dapsicologia se dedica.(AU)

An important element of behavioral research with nonhuman animals is that insights are drawn from it about human behavior, what is called here the human side of animal behavior. This article examines the origins of comparing human behavior to that of other animals, the way in which such comparisons are described, and considerations that arise in evaluating the validity of those comparisons. The rationale for such an approach originated in the reductionism of experimental physiology and the understanding of the commonalities of all life forms promulgated by Darwinian evolutionary biology. Added more recently were such observations as the relative simplicity of animal behavior, tempered by the constraints placed on resulting comparisons by the absence of verbal behavior in animals. The construction of comparisons of human behavior to that of animals may be framed on the basis of Skinner´s (1957) distinction between the metaphorical and generic forms of the extended tact. Both ordinary and systematic comparisons of animal and human behavior are congruent with Skinner´s extended tact framework. The most general considerations in evaluating comparisons of animal and human behavior is that a functional basis for the claimed similarity be established. Systematic analysis and convergent evidence also may contribute to acceptability of these comparisons. In the final analysis, conclusions about the human side of animal behavior are nondeductively derived and often are assessed based on their heuristic and pragmatic value. Such conclusions represent a valuable contribution to understanding the human animal and indeveloping practical solutions to problems of human behavior to which much of psychology is dedicated. (AU)

Variation, repetition, and choice.

Experiment 1 investigated the controlling properties of variability contingencies on choice between repeated and variable responding. Pigeons were exposed to concurrent-chains schedules with two alternatives. In the REPEAT alternative, reinforcers in the terminal link depended on a single sequence of four responses. In the VARY alternative, a response sequence in the terminal link was reinforced only if it differed from the n previous sequences (lag criterion). The REPEAT contingency generated low, constant levels of sequence variation whereas the VARY contingency produced levels of sequence variation that increased with the lag criterion. Preference for the REPEAT alternative tended to increase directly with the degree of variation required for reinforcement. Experiment 2 examined the potential confounding effects in Experiment 1 of immediacy of reinforcement by yoking the interreinforcer intervals in the REPEAT alternative to those in the VARY alternative. Again, preference for REPEAT was a function of the lag criterion. Choice between varying and repeating behavior is discussed with respect to obtained behavioral variability, probability of reinforcement, delay of reinforcement, and switching within a sequence.

El establecimiento de secuencias de respuestas con reforzamiento demorado / Establishing responses sequences with delayed reinforcement

Doce ratas sin historia experimental fueron directamente expuestas a programas de reforzamiento demorado en una secuencia de dos respuestas consistente en presionar una vez cada una de las dos palancas. En cada condición el estudio se expuso a tres ratas a programas tándem razón fija 1 y tiempos fijos de 0, 12, 24, ó 48 s. Las tasas de las secuencias de dos respuestas aumentaron a través de 40 sesiones, alcanzando el nivel asintótico más alto bajo reforzamiento inmediato, un nivel ligeramente más bajo ante demoras de 12 y aún más bajo ante demoras de 24 s. Con una demora de 48 s la tasa de las secuencias permaneció en un nivel bajo y estable durante las sesiones experimentales. La contingencia de reforzamiento, además de afectar la tasa de las secuencias de dos respuestas, también afectó otras conductas del sujeto tales como presionar la misma palanca repetidamente y alternar entre palancas durante los intervalos de demora nominales. Tal conducta colateral a la reforzada no varió sistemáticamente con el parámetro de demora pero ocurrió entretejida con las secuencias reforzadas en patrones complejos que fueron consistentes para cada sujeto. Estos resultados muestran que es posible establecer secuencias complejas de conducta con reforzamiento demorado y que la contingencia de reforzamiento también controla conducta no especificada por el programa.