A buzzer was paired with food in control rats and with food and shock in experimentals. (1) Baseline bar pressing in experimentais was depressed. (2) Both groups pressed equally often, on the average, to produce the buzzer. (3) Behavior change was greater in experimentals. The data are consistent with a totality-of-reaction theory of conditioned reinforcement.
The paradoxical brightening of a black disc, retroactively masked by a black ring, is documented by data showing disc detection to be an interactive function of inter stimulus interval (ISI) and instructions. The brightening effect, which occurs at an ISI of 25 msec, may be implicated in the frequently reported U-shaped masking function.
In a previous investigation, Ss attraction toward a stranger who expressed attitudes similar to or dissimilar from their own was found to be a function of similarity-dissimilarity but unrelated to the importance of the attitudinal topics. In the present investigation, a multistranger design was employed in that each of 40 Ss responded to four strangers who expressed similar or...
The effects of an irregularly varying delay in auditory feedback (VDAF) were compared with those of a constant delay in feedback (DAF) with regard to: (a) impairment in level of performance, (b) adaptation in performance, and (c) possible differences in rate of adaptation. Performance in a reading task was compared using a DAF interval, of .20 sec. and a VDAF interval varying...
Thirty-eight albino rats were given four acquisition trials in a straight alley. One group received 50%, the other 100% reinforcement. The 50% group was more resistant to extinction in terms of running times and latencies. This result was in accord with earlier work and is contrary to predictions from the frustration
Data are presented to support the contention that cues unwittingly provided by E can yield a discrimination of R from NR trials in partial reinforcement acquisition which could erroneously be regarded as a “patterning” effect.
This study tests the hypothesis that prior knowledge of isolation is critical for an isolation-effect in perception. For some Os vertical lines were placed above and below the seventh of 10 elements in a tachistoscopic binary pattern. Other Os saw only patterns without such isolation, and a third group of Os saw both isolated and unisolated patterns in random sequence. An...
Krechevsky has observed an anomalous transfer effect in rats which he explained by the Gestalt principle of proximity. The effect has been referred to by others more or less as a curiosity, but has not generated further research until now. The effect was replicated under tighter and more extensive conditions, and was found to apply to both positive and negative training shapes...
Paired-associate learning was significantly retarded when pairs were presented simultaneously rather than successively for rehearsal. This difference was invariant with respect to degree of intralist similarity, size of rehearsal group, and whether pairs appeared in same or different rehearsal groups on each trial.
A method for determining sensory thresholds in turtles is described using an aversive behavioral paradigm. Relatively large stimulus intensity effects on both latency and amplitude of the response are demonstrated.
Male albino rats were raised either invidually (N = 13) or in groups (N = 12) from weaning at 21 days of age until they were tested at 111 days of age. Experimenter ratings and a “timidity” test showed the isolated Ss to be more emotional than group-raised Ss. No significant differences were found on startle or activity tests.
Rates and patterns of human collateral responding were examined during acquisition and extinction. Response rates typical of behavior generated by ratio contingencies were obtained. Pattern analysis of responding during extinction showed some similarity between these data and data obtained in concept formation tasks.
In a test of Deutsch’s drive-decay theory of the extinction of intracranial self-stimulation, animals were trained gradually to wait for periods up to 20 min. between short bouts of self-stimulation. It is suggested that the gradual training and establishment of a discriminative stimulus may have resulted in this effect. The adequacy of drive-decay as a sole explanatory principle...
On each of 1600 trials of a probability learning experiment, Ss not only predicted the next event but also recalled the event on the xth past trial (x=l,...,9). The frequency distribution of x, f(x), was the main independent variable. Ss did not match event probability but seemed to overshoot as a function of f(x).
An attempt was made to show that set could influence retrieval apart from original learning. The results suggested that if learning was not too distinctive, a set change to a list which S thought he could forget was disruptive to recall.
Successful conditioning of the human eyelid response is reported, using intrumental reward training. Instrumental reward training of the eyelid appears to lead to more resistance to extinction than that found following classical or avoidance training. When reward training is added to avoidance training resistance to extinction is increased, but no corresponding effect is found...
Six groups of Ss were trained in bar press avoidance using shocks of.10,.18,.42,.80, 1.6 or 2.2 ma. Except for the.10 ma Ss, who performed poorly because such weak shocks failed to maintain their escape behavior, performance was negatively correlated with the shock intensity.
A group of 28 naive male rats were conditioned under either a simultaneous or .5 sec. CS/US interstimulus interval to determine the comparability of the two intervals on classical aversive conditioning. Results indicated no differences between the two interstimulus intervals.
Eleven Ss received four acquisition sessions of classical conditioning training followed by 11 alternating sessions of conditioning and extinction. Although Ss demonstrated a relatively high degree of stability of responding over extinction sessions the form of the extinction function within sessions changed over sessions. The results were contrasted with analogous instrumental...
Thirty-eight Ss, 19 first born, and 19 later born, were tested for anxiety, aesthetic preference, and susceptibility to threats of electric shock. Consistent with previous research, the first born Ss were more anxious (Taylor MAS), preferred simpler polygons, and were deterred from volunteering for an experiment which was said to contain strong electric shock. The threat of mild...
Four groups of 30 Ss each were presented with lists of numbers 18 digits in length on a memory drum, one digit exposed at a time, at four different presentation rates, 4 sec. per digit, 2 sec. per digit, 1 sec. per digit, and.50 sec. per digit. The 4 sec. rate was presented for 1 cycle, the 2 sec. rate for 2 cycles, the 1 sec. rate for 4 cycles, and the.50 sec. rate for 8 cycles...
Ss were required to report whether two successively presented lines of Os and Ds were same or different. In a pretest, failure to detect differences was a function of the position of the substitute letter, increasing with the distance of that letter from the left of the line. However, after training, it is the utility of a position, the probability of its containing a substitute...
Twenty-four rats maintained on 2 min. FI food reward and 24 on 2 min. VI reward were shocked for every bar-pressing response until responding ceased. Shock durations were.1,.2,.4,.8, 1.6, and 3.2 sec., with four Ss from each group assigned to each duration. The reinforcement schedules did not differ in number of shocks required to produce suppression of responding. However, 2...
Radio frequency and electrolytic lesions were placed in the septal region in the rat. Daily ratings of emotionality failed to show any postoperative differences between groups as a function of type of lesion. In both groups, however, “septal rage” was temporary, giving place within six to ten days to docility. It was suggested that this syndrome may not be a result of the lesions...
Braine (1965) has contended that, in the acquisition of a certain miniature language, what is learned cannot be represented by a finite state model because it requires the assumption that S invented some of its rules. It is argued that any grammatical description of what S learned requires this assumption, and that the finite state model is inadequate instead because it poorly...