bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AN ADJUSTING AVOIDANCE SCHEDULE1
Authors: Sidman Murray
Published: March 2006

A shock‐avoidance schedule is described in which the animal accumulated 5 sec of safe time whenever it pressed a lever. With this schedule, the animal was not differentially reinforced for long pauses between responses; and, consistent with this property of the schedule, the probability that the animal would press the lever was not related in any regular way to the amount of time that had elapsed since its preceding lever press. Other features of the performance are also described.

If the animal was given a warning stimulus whenever it came within 5 sec of a shock, it tended to spend more time in the close temporal vicinity of the shock and less time at the maximum temporal distance from shock.
OBSERVING RESPONSES IN PIGEONS
Authors: Kelleher Roger T. , Riddle William C. , Cook Leonard
Published: March 2006

Pigeons were trained on an observing‐response procedure in which periods of VR 100 and EXT alternated unpredictably during a white light (mixed stimulus). During VR 100, responses on a food‐producing key (the first key) were intermittently reinforced. Responses on the observing key (the second key) produced a green light (positive stimulus) when VR 100 was in effect, and a red light (negative stimulus) for EXT. The birds did not respond on either key during the negative stimulus, but they responded on the food‐producing key when the positive stimulus appeared. When observing responses produced the positive or negative stimulus on FR, observing responses were maintained until the FR reached a maximum; beyond this, only food‐producing responses occurred. When observing responses did not produce either stimulus, the observing‐response rates fell to zero. With prolonged exposure to an FR 20 schedule of observing, observing‐response rates during EXT were higher than during VR 100. Chlorpromazine hydrochloride decreased the total response output but markedly increased observing‐response rates except when it was administered before sessions of observing response extinction.
A TRACKING PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINING THE CAT'S FREQUENCY DISCRIMINATION1
Authors: Elliott D. N. , Frazier L. , Riach W.
Published: March 2006

A tracking procedure was used to investigate the time required to train cats to discriminate between a frequency‐modulated tone and a steady tone. The animal was reinforced with food on a VR schedule only when the steady tone was present and the animal pressed the correct bar (one of two). After reinforcement, the steady tone usually changed to a frequency‐modulated signal; by pressing the other bar, the tone could be changed to its steady state and the reinforcement then obtained as before. A major difficulty was the lack of control by the auditory stimulus on the cat's responses. This problem was solved by introducing interpress time outs which forced the animal to hesitate after every press. The use of light cues to signal the time outs and the correct bar to press accelerated the rate at which the training progressed.

With cats, this conditioning procedure apparently requires a much longer training period before the actual threshold determinations than the more commonly used avoidance conditioning procedures. However, when animals are to be tested repeatedly over a period of several months or longer, the procedure may prove the more desirable one because it reduces experimental neurosis.
CONTROL OF THE BEHAVIOR OF SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS BY FOOD1
Authors: Ayllon T. , Haughton E.
Published: March 2006

Operant‐conditioning principles using food as a reinforcer were applied to control the behavior of 45 chronic schizophrenic patients. The investigation was conducted in a psychiatric ward in which there was 24‐hr environmental control.

In order to use food as a reinforcer for controlling psychotic behavior, it was necessary first to deal with the eating deficits in the patients. Approximately 50% of the ward population was selected because of a history of refusal to eat. Their refusal to eat had remained relatively unaffected by one or more of these treatments: spoonfeeding, tubefeeding, intravaneous feeding, and electroshock. These treatments were discontinued, and the patients were left alone at mealtimes. The results show that social reinforcement in such forms as coaxing, persuading, and feeding the patient tend to shape patients into eating problems so they are conditioned to eat only with assistance. When refusal to eat was no longer followed by social reinforcement, the patients soon started eating unassisted. When access to the dining room was made dependent upon a chain of responses including a motor and social component, all patients learned these responses.
THE EFFECT OF MULTIPLE SΔ PERIODS ON RESPONDING ON A FIXED‐INTERVAL SCHEDULE1
Authors: Dews P. B.
Published: March 2006

The effect of repeated interruption of FI responding by short SΔ presentations on the pattern of increasing frequency of responding through the interval has been studied. Although the SΔ profoundly changed the pattern of responding during their presentation, the general scalloped pattern of FI responding survived. The implication of these findings for understanding the role of chaining of responses in FI patterns is discussed. It is suggested that chaining is not a necessary condition for the scalloped pattern.
VARIABLE‐INTERVAL ESCAPE FROM STIMULI ACCOMPANIED BY SHOCKS1
Authors: Dinsmoor James A.
Published: March 2006

Individual performances of three rats were examined under a procedure in which steady rates of bar pressing were maintained by conditioned aversive stimulation. Originally neutral visual and auditory stimuli were accompanied by widely and irregularly spaced pulses of shock; they were terminated on a variable‐interval schedule by pressing a bar. The contingencies between behavior and shock were also duplicated in a control procedure in which no visual or auditory stimuli were provided. Pressing observed under the control procedure was attributed to differences in the aversiveness of pressing and nonpressing behavior engendered by differences in the incidence of shock following the two classes of behavior. Increased rates with visual and auditory stimuli were attributed to termination of conditioned aversive stimulation. Control rates declined more rapidly than did experimental rates as the mean interval between successive shocks was lengthened; both rates tended to decline when less than 60 sec was allowed as time out from shocks following the successful response. In the control procedure, discrimination between the continuation and discontinuation of the shock series, as measured by relative rates, depended on the relative length of the interval between shocks and the time‐out period. Regular warm‐up accelerations in rate were noted following an initial delay in responding at the beginning of each session. The length of time required for the warm‐up depended on the length of the mean interval between shocks, indicating that exposure to a certain amount of shock was required to establish a supporting state for the observed performance.
GENERALIZATION GRADIENTS OF INHIBITION FOLLOWING AUDITORY DISCRIMINATION LEARNING1
Authors: Jenkins H. M. , Harrison R. H.
Published: March 2006

A more direct method than the usual ones for obtaining inhibitory gradients requires that the dimension of the nonreinforced stimulus selected for testing be orthogonal to the dimensions of the reinforced stimulus. In that case, the test points along the inhibitory gradient are equally distant from the reinforced stimulus. An attempt was made to realize this condition by obtaining inhibitory gradients along the frequency dimension of a pure tone after discrimination training in which the nonreinforced stimulus was a pure tone (or tones), and the reinforced stimulus was either white noise or the absence of a tone. The results showed that some degree of specific inhibitory control was exerted by the frequency of the tone, although the gradients were broad and shallow in slope.

A further experiment was conducted to see whether the modification of an excitatory gradient resulting from training to discriminate neighboring tones could arise from a simple interaction of inhibitory and excitatory gradients. The results indicated that it could not, since discrimination training produced a concentration of responding in the vicinity of the reinforced stimulus which cannot be derived from any plausible gradient of inhibition.
ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR PRODUCING MULTIPLE‐SCHEDULE CONTROL IN CHILDREN1,2
Authors: Long Eugene R.
Published: March 2006

The subjects in these experiments were 132 children, varying in age from 4 to 7 years. These experiments were designed to assess the efficacy of various multiple scheduling procedures in producing reliable stimulus control. The schedules studied were multiple fixed‐ratio—extinction (mult FR EXT); multiple differential‐reinforcement‐of‐other‐behavior—fixed‐ratio (mult DRO FR); multiple differential‐reinforcement‐for‐low‐rate—fixed‐ratio (mult DRL FR); and multiple fixed‐interval—fixed‐ratio (mult FI FR). In addition other techniques were investigated, such as presenting FR's in blocks; increasing the size of the FR's; attaching a DRL to the FI members; temporarily shifting to new schedules; and adding an external clock to the FI's. These experiments yielded the following results.

.) Strong stimulus control was produced by mult FR EXT, mult DRO FR, and mult DRL FR schedules. Control for mult FR EXT was mediated principally by the individual stimuli, though on occasion it was dependent in part on the change of stimuli. The mult DRO FR was found to be highly useful for those children who had very high initial rates or who were generally uncooperative and unmanageable.

.) Contrary to a previous finding, some subjects were brought under stimulus control by means of mult FI FR schedules without the aid of additional procedures. Most, however, were not. Additional techniques found to augment the development of mult FI FR control included: (1) presenting FR's in blocks; (2) increasing the size of the FR's; (3) attaching a DRL to the FI component for a time and later removing it; and (4) shifting to a mult DRL FR, developing control, and then returning to the original mult FI FR.

.) Addition of an external clock to the FI components of the mult FI FR had several effects. Strongest control, including well‐developed acceleratory patterns during the FI's, was developed in those subjects who had first been shifted from a regular mult FI FR to a mult FR EXT, brought under control, and then returned to the mult FI FR with the clock added. The added clock also produced strong control if it was present when the subject was first begun on a mult FI FR schedule. In some cases, the addition of the clock produced control in subjects who had not been controlled previously by the regular mult FI FR, but these were always subjects who had high rates. The addition of the clock first lowered the rate, then produced control.
ON THE DISCRIMINATIVE CONTROL OF CONCURRENT RESPONSES: THE RELATIONS AMONG RESPONSE FREQUENCY, LATENCY, AND TOPOGRAPHY IN AUDITORY GENERALIZATION1
Authors: Cross D. V. , Lane H. L.
Published: March 2006

Human subjects were used in a study of auditory generalization following multiple‐response discrimination training. The relations observed among stimulus intensity, response probability, and response latency were invariant with respect to whether the two vocal responses conditioned were topographically discrete, as in one experiment, or topographically continuous, as in another. The major findings were:

. The probabilities associated with a specific response were maximal over several stimulus values at the extreme ends of the continuum, then dropped sharply at stimuli intermediate to the initial SD's as the probability of the alternative response increased.

. Overall response latency was inversely related to the relative frequency of the two responses at each stimulus value. When the two responses were most nearly equal in probability, latencies were maximal; when one response had close to unit or zero probability, latencies were minimal.

. Analysis of the latencies of the two responses, taken separately, revealed: (a) an increase in latency as the difference between the test stimulus and the initial SD increased; (b) a sharp discontinuity in the latency gradient and reversal in trend at intermediate stimulus intensities; and (c) at a given stimulus value, latencies associated with the stochastically dominant response were consistently shorter than those of the nondominant response.

. No changes in response topography (fundamental frequency) were correlated with the characteristic changes in probability and latency during stimulus generalization.
SPACED RESPONDING IN MULTIPLE DRL SCHEDULES1
Authors: Zimmerman J. , Schuster C. R.
Published: March 2006

Rats were able to adjust to two different temporal requirements within several multiple DRL schedules of reinforcement, and a slight induction between pairs of components was found. Initial administration of dl‐amphetamine differentially disrupted spaced responding in the components of a multiple DRL 36 DRL 18 schedule, but did not eliminate discrimination between the components. After maximum drug effects, the continued administration of dl‐amphetamine was accompanied by a progressive recovery of the behavior towards the characteristics of saline control.
REFLEXIVE FIGHTING IN RESPONSE TO AVERSIVE STIMULATION1
Authors: Ulrich R. E. , Azrin N. H.
Published: March 2006

Reflexive fighting was elicited between paired rats as a reflex reaction to electric shock prior to any specific conditioning. Such fighting was fairly stereotyped and easily differentiated from the rats' usual behavior. The strength of this reflex was not attributable to any apparent operant reinforcement. Elicitation of fighting was a direct function of the enclosed floor area and a nonmonotonic function of the shock intensity.

Failure to scramble the polarity of the electrified grid produced inconsistent fighting. Under optimal conditions fighting was consistently elicited by shock regardless of the rat's sex, strain, previous familiarity with each other, or the number present during shock. Repeated shock presentations did not produce an appreciable decrease in fighting until signs of physical debility appeared. Although shock did not cause a rat to attack inanimate objects, it did produce attack movements toward other small animals. Failure of guinea pigs to defend themselves revealed that the elicitation of fighting from the rat does not require reciprocal attack. Paired hamsters showed fighting reactions similar to those of the rats, whereas guinea pigs failed to fight. Electrode shock and a heated floor elicited fighting between the rats, but intense noise and a cooled floor did not.
LABORATORY CONTROL OF THUMBSUCKING BY WITHDRAWAL AND RE‐PRESENTATION OF REINFORCEMENT
Authors: Baer Donald M.
Published: March 2006

A 5‐year‐old boy was shown cartoons, and punished for thumbsucking during alternate cartoons by turning off the cartoons for as long as his thumb remained in his mouth. Thumbsucking weakened during such periods. During alternate periods of uninterrupted cartoons, thumbsucking promptly recovered, suggesting a quick discrimination process. Two other 5‐year‐old boys were shown the same cartoons; withdrawal of the cartoons was made contingent upon thumbsucking for one, and randomly yoked for the other. Then their roles were reversed. Contingent withdrawal and re‐presentation of the cartoons controlled thumbsucking rate; yoked withdrawal and re‐presentation did not.
THE ALTERATION OF BEHAVIOR IN A SPECIAL CLASSROOM SITUATION
Authors: Zimmerman Elaine H. , Zimmerman J.
Published: March 2006

Unproductive classroom behavior was eliminated in two emotionally disturbed boys by removing social consequences of the behavior. Behavior which was more adequate and efficient with respect to social and scholastic adjustment was shaped and maintained with social reinforcers.
GENERALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION AS A FUNCTION OF THE SD‐SΔ INTENSITY DIFFERENCE1
Authors: Pierrel Rosemary , Sherman J. Gilmour
Published: March 2006

Three groups of four rats were trained on an auditory‐intensity discrimination for 21 days. The SD‐SΔ intensity difference for Group I was 10 db; for Group II, 20 db; and for Group III, 30 db. Following the initial discrimination training, the animals were tested for generalization of the bar‐press response to seven novel SΔ's which were presented intermingled with the original SD and SΔ values. Conclusions: (1.) The amount of simple discrimination training required to obtain fairly stable differences in SD and SΔ responding is an inverse function of the magnitude of the stimulus difference between SD and SΔ. (2.) Generalization gradients obtained immediately following simple discrimination training exhibit a maximum displaced from SD in a direction also away from SΔ. (3.) Gradients obtained following continued exposure to the multivalued SΔ situation show a fairly stable maximum at the SD value. (4.) Although the gradients tend to fall off systematically on either side of the continuum as distance from SD is increased, they decrease most rapidly on the SΔ limb of the gradient.
DISCRIMINATION LEARNING WITH AND WITHOUT “ERRORS”1
Authors: Terrace H. S.
Published: March 2006

Responses to S− (“errors”) are not a necessary condition for the formation of an operant discrimination of color. Errors do not occur if discrimination training begins early in conditioning and if S+ and S− initially differ with respect to brightness, duration and wavelength. After training starts, S−'s duration and brightness is progressively increased until S+ and S− differ only with respect to wavelength. Errors do occur if training starts after much conditioning in the presence of S+ has occurred or if S+ and S−. differ only with respect to wavelength throughout training. Performance following discrimination learning without errors lacks three characteristics that are found following learning with errors. Only those birds that learned the discrimination with errors showed (1) “emotional” responses in the presence of S−, (2) an increase in the rate (or a decrease in the latency) of its response to S+, and (3) occasional bursts of responses to S−.
ACQUISITION OF DELAYED MATCHING IN THE PIGEON1
Authors: Berryman Robert , Cumming William W. , Nevin John A.
Published: March 2006

Pigeons were exposed to three successive matching‐to‐sample procedures. On a given trial, the sample (red, green or blue light) appeared on a center key; observing responses to this key produced the comparison stimuli on two side keys. Seven different experimental conditions could govern the temporal relations between the sample and comparison stimuli. In the “simultaneous” condition, the center key response was followed immediately by illumination of the side key comparison stimuli, with the center key remaining on. In “zero delay” the center key response simultaneously turned the side keys on and the center key off, while in the “variable delay” conditions, intervals of 1, 2, 4, 10, and 24 sec were interposed between the offset of the sample and the appearance of the comparison stimuli on the side keys. In all conditions, a response to the side key of matching hue produced reinforcement, while a response to the non‐matching side key was followed by a blackout. In procedure I all seven experimental conditions were presented in randomly permutated order. After nine sessions of exposure (at 191 trials per session, for a total of 1719 trials) the birds gave no evidence of acquisition in any of the conditions. They were therefore transferred to Procedure II, which required them to match only in the “simultaneous” condition, with both the sample and comparison stimuli present at the same time. With the exception of one bird, all subjects acquired this performance to near 100% levels. Next, in Procedure III, they were once more exposed to presentation of all seven experimental conditions in random order. In contrast to Procedure I, they now acquired the delay performance, and were able to match effectively at delays of about 4 sec.
FIXED‐RATIO PUNISHMENT1
Authors: Azrin N. H. , Holz W. C. , Hake D. F.
Published: March 2006

Responses were maintained by a variable‐interval schedule of food reinforcement. At the same time, punishment was delivered following every nth response (fixed‐ratio punishment). The introduction of fixed‐ratio punishment produced an initial phase during which the emission of responses was positively accelerated between punishments. Eventually, the degree of positive acceleration was reduced and a uniform but reduced rate of responding emerged. Large changes in the over‐all level of responding were produced by the intensity of punishment, the value of the punishment ratio, and the level of food deprivation. The uniformity of response rate between punishments was invariant in spite of these changes in over‐all rate and contrary to some plausible a priori theoretical considerations. Fixed‐ratio punishment also produced phenomena previously observed under continuous punishment: warm‐up effect and a compensatory increase. This type of intermittent punishment produced less rapid and less complete suppression than did continuous punishment.
OPERANT CONTROL OF VOCAL BEHAVIOR IN THE CAT1
Authors: Molliver Mark E.
Published: March 2006

Evidence of operant control of vocal behavior in the cat is presented: (1) On mult FR 12 SΔ schedule, cats miaowed rapidly during periods of SΔ and much less or not at all during SΔ. (2) This control was re‐established following reversal of stimuli. (3) The frequency distribution of response durations was shifted to both shorter and longer values by the differential reinforcement of shorter or longer response durations respectively. Since both the frequency and duration of vocal responses were shown to be under the control of the schedule of reinforcement, it is concluded that at least some of the vocal behavior of the cat is susceptible to operant control.
INCREASED EATING IN RATS DEPRIVED OF RUNNING1
Authors: Premack David , Premack Anne J.
Published: March 2006

Daily food intake in rats was temporarily reduced by the introduction of an activity wheel and temporarily increased by the subsequent removal of the wheel. When this outcome is coupled with the positive relation between food deprivation and running—and food deprivation is seen as a loss of eating rather than as a physiological state—there is the suggestion that the total behavior output of the organism may be regulated as such. Specifically, when the rat is deprived of a behavior that recurrently comprises a large part of its total daily actiyity, an increase may occur in some other behavior.
A TITRATION SCHEDULE ON A TREADMILL
Authors: Evans Wayne O.
Published: March 2006

A technique is presented utilizing a titration schedule to measure performance decrement as a function of continuing heavy muscular exertion. A treadmill is equipped with a reversible motor controlling the velocity control of the treadmill itself. This provides a constant acceleration of the treadmill unless a subject‐controlled, spring loaded switch is depressed. If this switch is depressed, the treadmill decelerates at a constant rate. A subject is instructed to walk at maximum rate at all times, controlling the velocity of the treadmill with the switch. A performance record is obtained from a tachometer‐generator on the treadmill delivering current to a recorder.
INTERRESPONSE TIME AS A FUNCTION OF CONTINUOUS VARIABLES: A NEW METHOD AND SOME DATA1
Authors: Blough Donald S.
Published: March 2006

A cathode‐ray oscilloscope and a Polaroid camera record interresponse times as a function of time, stimulus wavelength, and similar variables. Each response flashes a point of light on the oscilloscope screen; the vertical position of the point gives IRT, the horizontal position gives the value of the other variable. Several thousand such points may be recorded on a single frame of film, and the density of the points indicates the relative frequency of various IRTs. The method has the advantages of a two‐dimensional display of continuous variables, flexibility, speed, and relatively low cost. It lacks the advantage of a digital output. Figures show IRTs of pigeons on VI, FR, DRL and extinction, and transitions among these, and also the results of stimulus generalization tests. The results have some provocative features that require much further exploration. Among other things, they suggest that “response rate” as a measure usually includes a response‐dependent component that is insensitive to changes in other variables.
ON THE USE OF THE SQUIRREL MONKEY IN BEHAVIORAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS
Authors: Kelleher Roger T. , Gill Charles A. , Riddle William C. , Cook Leonard
Published: March 2006

We have found the squirrel monkey to be a useful experimental subject for behavioral and pharmacological experiments. This note presents techniques used for housing, feeding, handling, and administering drugs to these small primates.
BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF PAIRING AN SD WITH A DECREASING LIMITED‐HOLD REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE
Authors: Weissman Albert
Published: March 2006

Four pigeons were trained on a multiple reinforcement schedule consisting of two limited‐hold schedules, one in which a discriminative stimulus (SD) accompanied the periodic reinforcement contingency, and one in which the discriminative stimulus was omitted. The duration of the limited‐hold in each component of the multiple schedule was reduced in parallel steps. It was shown that behavioral differences between the two schedules were attenuated by this manipulation of temporal parameters. When SD was reduced in duration, three out of four pigeons responded with extremely high SΔ rates, despite the regular pairing of SD with the reinforcement contingency. These high rates qualitatively resembled the rapid rates emitted on the analogous no‐SD component.
SOME EFFECTS OF COMBINED SDs1
Authors: Wolf Montrose M.
Published: March 2006

When the individual SD components of a multiple schedule were combined, their control over a response summated, thus increasing the response probability to a point over that controlled by either of the SDs independently. Summation was concluded to be a phenomenon relevant for operant as well as respondent stimulus control (Pavlov, in Kimble, 1960; Hull, 1943). The results of the present study appear to be a special case of the general SD enhancement effect demonstrated by Hanson (1959) and by Pierrel and Sherman (1960).
INTERMITTENT PUNISHMENT OF SΔ RESPONDING IN MATCHING TO SAMPLE1
Authors: Zimmerman J. , Ferster C. B.
Published: March 2006

Incorrect matching responses of two pigeons on matching to sample were either continuously (CRF) or intermittently (FR) followed by a time out (TO). The matching accuracy was examined as a function of both TO duration and TO frequency (ratio size). With intermediate TO durations (10 sec, 1 min), accuracy increased as the frequency of TO increased. With an extremely short (1 sec) and an extremely long (10 min) TO duration, accuracy was poor over the entire range of frequencies.
TWO PARAMETERS OF A TEMPORALLY DEFINED SCHEDULE OF NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
Authors: Sidley Norman A.
Published: March 2006

Temporal schedules of negative reinforcement were derived in a manner analogous to those for positive reinforcement, and two parametric studies were carried out with two of the three defining variables. With some limiting values of the defining variables, escape schedules result and data obtained at these values were similar to those obtained in escape studies. At other values of the defining variables avoidance behavior was generated.
A COMPARISON OF SEVERAL PROCEDURES FOR ELIMINATING BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Holz W. C. , Azrin N. H.
Published: March 2006

The pecking response of pigeons was reinforced when a minimum period of time had elapsed since the last response (DRL schedule of food‐reinforcement). Punishment, satiation, extinction, and stimulus change were employed separately to reduce responding. When the effects of the four procedures were compared, punishment was found capable of producing a more immediate, complete and long lasting response reduction than the others. Punishment had its maximum effect on the responses that were least relevant to reinforcement. The punishment reduced the frequency of the short inter‐response times to a greater extent than did either extinction or satiation. In this way, punishment actually increased the efficiency of the DRL responding.
ELIMINATION OF BEHAVIOR OF MENTAL PATIENTS BY RESPONSE‐PRODUCED EXTINCTION1
Authors: Holz W. C. , Azrin N. H. , Ayllon T.
Published: March 2006

Mental hospital patients were conditioned to respond at a high rate. Then an attempt was made to eliminate the response by means of a mild punishment consisting of a period of time‐out from reinforcement (response‐produced extinction). When only one response was available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was not effective in eliminating that response. When an alternative response was also made available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was completely effective. It appears that even very mild punishment may be effective if the over‐all frequency of reinforcement can be maintained by means of an alternative unpunished response.
EFFECTS OF A CONCURRENT TASK ON FIXED‐INTERVAL RESPONDING IN HUMANS1
Authors: Laties Victor G. , Weiss Bernard
Published: March 2006

Subjects pressed a telegraph key to illuminate a meter dial on which pointer deflections appeared at fixed intervals. Upon detecting a deflection they were required to press another key to reset the pointer to zero. This detecting and resetting operation reinforced the behavior of pressing the light‐flashing key (i.e., the observing responses). The usual pattern of responding on the light‐flashing key was a long pause following the reinforcement and an abrupt transition to a steady response rate toward the end of the interval. When the subjects were required to perform a concurrent subtraction task, the pattern of responding changed in varying degrees, ranging from complete loss of typical fixed‐interval behavior to a slight shortening of the post‐reinforcement pause. These effects were attributed to the disruption of the self‐produced verbal chains (counting or reciting) that ordinarily govern human behavior on this schedule.
FIXED‐RATIO ESCAPE REINFORCEMENT1
Authors: Azrin N. H. , Holz W. C. , Hake D. F. , Ayllon T.
Published: March 2006

Escape responses of squirrel monkeys were reinforced according to a fixed‐ratio schedule. The reinforcement was a period of safety from a stimulus that signalled the delivery of intermittent pain‐shocks. When the frequency of shock was gradually reduced, the performance remained at a high level until the shocks were quite infrequent. Similarly, the duration of the period of safety could be reduced to a few seconds with little loss of behavior. Thus, the responses appeared to be reinforced by even a brief period of safety, the actual degree of shock reduction being fairly slight. The changes in responding during this fixed‐ratio escape procedure were comparable to the response changes typically obtained during fixed‐ratio food procedures.
SIDMAN AVOIDANCE IN THE FISH1
Authors: Behrend Erika R. , Bitterman M. E.
Published: March 2006

Goldfish trained in a shuttle box under conditions in which changing compartments postponed shock for 20 sec showed a substantial, negatively accelerated increase in rate of crossing. That the avoidance‐contingency was responsible for the change in behavior is suggested by the fact that no significant increase in rate of crossing appeared in control animals which were paired with the experimentals and shocked whenever the experimental animals were shocked; there is some evidence, indeed, that the control animals were handicapped in their subsequent adjustment to the avoidance condition. The introduction of a warning stimulus (light) in the last 5 sec of the response‐shock interval decreased the rate of crossing in the first 15 sec and increased the rate of crossing in the last 5 sec. Reducing the shock‐shock interval from 20 sec to 2.5 sec had no marked effect. The results are compared with those obtained in analogous experiments with higher animals.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AVERSIVE THRESHOLDS MEASURED BY A TITRATION SCHEDULE1
Authors: Weiss Bernard , Laties Victor G.
Published: March 2006

Three variables were studied for their single and joint effects on aversive thresholds obtained by a titration schedule with electric shock as the aversive stimulus. One variable was the interval between the periodic increments in shock amplitude. Another was the size of this increment. The third was the size of the decrement produced when the subject responded. Both monkeys and humans tolerated more shock at the shorter increment‐to‐increment intervals than at the longer ones, confirming rat data previously obtained. Reducing the decremental step size also led to an increase in the amount of shock tolerated by monkeys. In addition, simply reducing both incremental and decremental step size without changing the interval between increments led monkeys to tolerate more shock. The attempt to explain these data was based on the changes that such manipulations might produce in the amount of avoidance behavior elicited.
CONCURRENT MEASUREMENT OF HEART RATE AND INSTRUMENTAL AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR IN THE RHESUS MONKEY
Authors: Perez‐Cruet Jorge , Tolliver Gerald , Dunn Gerald , Marvin Sidney , Brady Joseph V.
Published: March 2006

A graphical method has been developed for the concurrent recording of heart beats and lever responses during behavioral experiments. The EKG signal fed into any DC amplifier goes to a fixed level trigger circuit and relay driver with its own power supply. The signal from this drives any standard cumulative recorder. Lever response rates are recorded concurrently on an additional cumulative recorder using the same paper speed.
THE ROLE OF TEMPORAL DISCRIMINATIONS IN THE REINFORCEMENT OF SIDMAN AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Anger Douglas
Published: March 2006

Animals learn to avoid with the Sidman procedure even though the avoidance response is not followed by the termination of any warning stimulus in the environment. What reinforces this response? The accepted explanation has been that the avoidance response is reinforced when it terminates other behavior that has become aversive by pairing with shock. However, the reinforcement may also be derived from the temporal discriminations that develop with Sidman avoidance. These and other temporal discriminations show that the animal has available some events that vary with the postresponse time. The shock will closely follow the temporal stimuli at long postresponse times and would be expected to make them aversive. The stimuli at short postresponse times would have a relatively low aversiveness due to their more remote relation to shock. Since the avoidance response changes a long postresponse time to a short one, that response would be followed by a decrease in aversiveness which would reinforce it. When sharp temporal discriminations are present, reinforcement from the decrease in aversiveness of temporal stimuli probably plays a dominant role in maintaining the avoidance response. This formulation fits the available data and has adequate answers for the objections that have been raised to earlier conceptions of the role temporal discriminations might play in Sidman avoidance. Although under some conditions the reinforcement in Sidman avoidance seems to be primarily due to the decrease in aversiveness of temporal stimuli, under other conditions there probably is reinforcement from the termination of conditioned aversive responses.
STIMULUS CONTROL OF AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Ulrich Roger E. , Holz William C. , Azrin Nathan H.
Published: March 2006

The introduction of a warning signal preceding shocks greatly increased the effectiveness of avoidance responding. Periods of “warm‐up” at the beginning of the session were eliminated, and the number of shocks received by the subjects was greatly reduced. With response‐shock interval constant, response rate increased as the interval between the response and the onset of the warning signal was shortened. The response tended to occur shortly after the onset of the warning signal regardless of the duration of these “safe” periods. A greatly elevated response rate was maintained even when the duration of the safe period was reduced to 0.3 sec. Thus, the pre‐shock signal obtained nearly exclusive control of the responding and overrode the usual “temporal discrimination” of the response‐shock interval.
PARTIAL REINFORCEMENT (ACQUISITION) EFFECTS WITHIN SUBJECTS
Authors: Amsel Abram , MacKinnon John R. , Rashotte Michael E. , Surridge C. Thomas
Published: March 2006

Acquisition performance of 22 rats in a straight alley runway was examined. The animals were subjected to partial reinforcement when the alley was black (B±) and continuous reinforcement when it was white (W+). The results indicated (a) higher terminal performance, for partial as against continuous reinforcement conditions, for starting‐time and running‐time measures, and (b) lower terminal performance under partial conditions for a goal‐entry‐time measure. These results confirm within subjects an effect previously demonstrated, in the runway, only in between‐groups tests, where one group is run under partial reinforcement and a separate group is run under continuous reinforcement in the presence of the same external stimuli. Differences between the runway situation, employing a discrete‐trial procedure and performance measures at three points in the response chain, and the Skinner box situation, used in its free‐operant mode with a single performance measure, are discussed in relation to the present findings.
OPERANT EXTINCTION NEAR ZERO1
Authors: Reynolds G. S.
Published: March 2006

Extinction in the presence of each of two stimuli reduces the rate of pecking in the presence of each of them to zero or near zero. When, however, pecking a third stimulus is reinforced, responding is resumed under the other stimuli, and more responses are made to the stimulus least associated with extinction.
PUNISHMENT BY NOISE IN AN ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE SITUATION1
Authors: Herman R. L. , Azrin N. H.
Published: March 2006

Operant responses of human subjects were conditioned according to a variable‐interval schedule of positive reinforcement. A brief noise was delivered as punishment for each of the responses. The noise suppressed the punished responses more when an alternative unpunished response was concurrently available than when only a single punished response was available. This finding extends the generality of a previous study that had used a period of extinction rather than the brief noise as the punishing stimulus.
PERFORMANCE ON A FIXED‐RATIO SCHEDULE WITH CORRELATED AMOUNT OF REWARD1
Authors: Hendry Derek P. , Van‐Toller C.
Published: March 2006

Four rats were trained to bar press on FR 9 TO 30 sec. They were reinforced with a large or small amount of water according to whether their final IRT was long or short respectively. Four control rats always received the small amount of reinforcement. The control animals produced the high rates of responding typical of fixed‐ratio performance. The experimental animals, with one exception, developed superstitious behavior and maintained slow responding throughout the ratio. However, some features of the results pointed to a persistent influence of the factors which favor short IRTs.
STIMULUS GENERALIZATION ALONG A LIGHT FLICKER RATE CONTINUUM AFTER DISCRIMINATION TRAINING WITH SEVERAL S—'s
Authors: Sloane Howard N.
Published: March 2006

Four pigeons were trained with VI reinforcement to peck a key which was briefly illuminated by a flickering light. Generalization gradients were then obtained with nine different rates of flicker, four faster than S+ and four slower. Two birds were then trained to discriminate between S+ and the fastest stimulus (S—). These birds were then trained to discriminate between S+ and the two fastest stimuli, alternated as S—'s. This procedure was continued, adding one new S— at a time, until all four stimuli faster than S+ were S—'s. The remaining two birds were trained on this latter discrimination without intervening training. In a final stage, using the first two birds, the slowest stimulus was added as a fifth S—. Generalization gradients in extinction were obtained from each bird after each stage of training. As more stimuli from one end of the continuum served as S—'s, responding increased in the presence of stimuli from the other end of the continuum, and the gradient tended to become flattened at this end.
NOTE ON CHANGES IN RESPONSE LATENCY FOLLOWING DISCRIMINATION TRAINING IN THE MONKEY1
Authors: Stebbins William C. , Reynolds Robert W.
Published: March 2006

Two monkeys were trained to press and hold down a telegraph key in the presence of a red light. Subsequent release of the key in response to a white cross superimposed on the red background was followed by reinforcement. Key release in response to a white circle on the red background was never reinforced. Latencies for the key release response to the reinforced stimulus (cross) were considerably shorter and less variable than those to the unreinforced stimulus (circle).
STIMULUS ASPECTS OF AVERSIVE CONTROLS: STIMULUS GENERALIZATION OF CONDITIONED SUPPRESSION FOLLOWING DISCRIMINATION TRAINING1
Authors: Hoffman Howard S. , Fleshler Morton
Published: March 2006

A tone ending with unavoidable electrical shock was periodically presented to pigeons while they pecked a key for food. A second group of birds was exposed to these tone‐shock contingencies and also to a second tone which never ended with shock. The gradient of stimulus generalization following training to a single stimulus was symmetrical, whereas the gradient following discrimination training was asymmetrical, but there was no evidence of peak shift. During testing, suppression to all tones gradually extinguished and in both groups the slope of the gradient increased markedly. A second experiment with the discrimination birds revealed that free shock caused a recovery of the gradient, but the asymmetry persisted.
BRAIN‐STIMULATION INTENSITY, RATE OF SELF‐STIMULATION, AND REINFORCEMENT STRENGTH: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH CHAINING1
Authors: Hawkins T. Daryl , Pliskoff Stanley S.
Published: March 2006

Reinforcement strengths of different intensities of brain stimulation were assessed by means of a two‐member behavioral chain. A variable interval schedule of 30 sec was the first‐member, and five lever presses, each rewarded with stimulation, was the second. It was found that response rate on the VI schedule continued to increase beyond the intensity value which produced peak rate on the second‐member, self‐stimulation lever. It was concluded (1) that brain‐stimulation reinforcement strength cannot be assessed adequately by means of self‐stimulation rate, and (2) the chaining technique employed in the present experiment appears promising as an analytical tool in brain‐stimulation research. Finally, some aspects of the data suggested a fatigue or stimulation‐adaptation phenomenon.
FIXED‐RATIO PUNISHMENT WITH CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT
Authors: Hendry Derek P. , Van‐Toller C.
Published: March 2006

Rats were reinforced with water for every bar‐press and concurrently punished for every 10th or 20th bar‐press. Punishment produced an initial suppression of responding followed by recovery. A slight change in the method of delivering punishment eventually led to a high response rate just after punishment, a low response rate just before punishment, and frequent intermediate pauses. The results are interpreted as showing that punishment became a safe signal and that the high rate of responding it released came to act as a conditioned aversive stimulus. The effects of amphetamine were consistent with this interpretation. Alcohol had the paradoxical effect of increasing pauses and depressing the low rate before punishment.
LABORATORY CONTROL OF TOE‐SUCKING IN A YOUNG RHESUS MONKEY BY TWO KINDS OF PUNISHMENT1
Authors: Tolman Charles W. , Mueller Marvin R.
Published: March 2006

Both response‐contingent withdrawal of a visual reinforcement and response‐contingent presentation of an aversive stimulus (loud noise) were found to be effective in suppressing toe‐sucking in a young rhesus monkey.
THE RELATIONS' AMONG MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE ON FIXED‐INTERVAL SCHEDULES1
Authors: Gollub Lewis R.
Published: March 2006

Quantitative measures of the performances of seven rats and two pigeons under FI schedules of reinforcement were obtained. For the rats (under FI 2 and FI 100 sec) the mean response rate and two measures of the temporal distribution of responses within the interval (quarter‐life and an Index of Curvature) were computed for individual intervals. The measures of curvature were highly correlated with each other, whereas the response rate was only moderately correlated with either of them. Similar results were found for comparisons of the same measures on a session‐by‐session basis. The performances of the pigeons (under FI 10) were analyzed to yield response rate, quarter‐life and elapsed time to the first, fifth and tenth response. Response rate was only moderately correlated with quarter‐life, whereas quarter‐life and time to the fifth or tenth response were highly correlated. Measures of temporal distribution based on an average of the intervals of a daily session were highly similar to the means of those measures calculated from the individual intervals.
ON THE VISUAL ACUITY OF THE PIGEON1
Authors: Catania A. Charles
Published: March 2006

Several lines of evidence suggest that the pigeon is near‐sighted for stimuli located in front of its beak and far‐sighted for stimuli located to the sides of its head.
SOME ASPECTS OF SELF AVERSIVE STIMULATION IN THE HOODED RAT1
Authors: Sandler Jack
Published: March 2006

Three hooded rats were trained to bar press for variable‐ratio liquid reinforcement after which an electric shock was delivered following the response. Initially, the shock was presented on a FR 100 basis but the frequency was gradually increased until all responses were punished. Finally, a partial extinction procedure was conducted to determine if the shock resulted in increased bar pressing. No durable suppression of responding occurred, although one subject's rate was reduced during continuous shock. The overall trend for the three animals was one of increased responding. Changes in the pattern of responding were also observed suggesting that the suppressive effects of the punishment were largely restricted to the first response following reinforcement. Increased responding as a function of shock reintroduction during extinction was also observed.
VISUAL REINFORCEMENT IN FIGHTING COCKS1
Authors: Thompson Travis I.
Published: March 2006

Fighting cocks were conditioned to emit a key‐pecking response on a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule leading to the visual image of another fighting cock. In addition, the relative reinforcing properties of the visual reinforcer were compared with food and water reinforcers in a three‐choice, non‐reversible option situation. The relative reinforcing effects of mirror presentation and another rooster visually presented through a window, were compared. The mirror maintained a relatively lower response output.
SELECTIVE PUNISHMENT OF CONCURRENT PROGRESSIVE RATIO BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Dardano J. F. , Sauerbrunn D.
Published: March 2006

Key pecking of pigeons was reinforced with grain on a progressive ratio schedule during the presence of either of two key colors. Under one color, all responses were shocked; under the other color, responses were not shocked. A single response on a second key switched the key color and reset the progressive ratio, provided that the first step of the progressive ratio had been completed. A preference developed for the longer ratios of the progressive ratio under the non‐shock key color. When the severity of punishment suppressed responding under the key color correlated with shock, the subjects continued to switch to the shock condition after a moderate degree of responding under the non‐shock condition. Severe punishment also resulted in frequent, ineffective responses on the switching key and extended pausing under the key color associated with shock.