Dynamics in the Fine Structure of Schedule‐controlled Behavior

Palya, William L.

doi:10.1901/jeab.1992.57-267

Cited by 81 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Information on other behaviors occuring will provide empirical support for the tracking hypothesis and may explain two effects of the signals: the irreversibility of the effect on the response rate and the facilitation of the temporal discrimination observed in some conditions. In addition, further research with more finely grained analyses of the responding, such as IRT analysis (e.g., Gentry, Weiss, & Laties, 1983;Palya, 1992;Shull & Brownstein, 1970;Staddon & Frank, 1975), might shed more light on the process of the complex signal effects observed here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Signaled reinforcement effects on fixed-interval performance of the rat

Nakajima

Kitaguchi

1996

Animal Learning & Behavior

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In three experiments using fixed-interval schedules with a 500-msec delay of reinforcement, rats receiving a localized light signal during the delay leverpressed more slowly than rats trained without the signal. In Experiment 1 these groups showed no differences in temporal patterning of responding, but in the remaining two experiments the signaled rats showed better patterning than the unsignaled rats. In Experiments 2 and 3 rats receiving a diffuse tone signal during the delay instead of a light pressed more rather than less rapidly than the unsignaled group. Their patterning was better than that of the unsignaled rats in one of these experiments. Several explanations for both the attenuation and enhancing effects of signaling reward are discussed, Animals trained on variable-interval (VI) schedules of briefly delayed reinforcement respond more slowly when an explicit signal stimulus fills the delay, At first, this phenomenon was interpreted as evidence that the signal overshadows an instrumental response or restricts the development of response-reinforcer association, resulting in the attenuation of the rate of responding (Dickinson,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Signaled reinforcement effects on fixed-interval performance of the rat

Nakajima

Kitaguchi

1996

Animal Learning & Behavior

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“…In fact, an initial shortduration rate decrease at the session onset, as well as a slow steady rate increase across the entire session, has been shown (Palya, 1992).…”

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confidence: 98%

“…The current practice of collapsing data across a session into a single index indicates that the bitonic effect either had not been noticed, or had not been considered significant by most researchers before McSweeney's 1992 observation. Moreover, studies explicitly depicting behavior as a function of time in the session have not always shown the bitonic effect (McSweeney et al, 1990;Palya, 1992).There is also variability in the magnitude ofthe withinsession rate change. It is very strong in some circumstances, most notably in rats on pseudomultiple schedules with high reinforcement rates and session lengths which result in a substantial number ofreinforcers.…”

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Rate of a maintained operant as a function of temporal position within a session

Palya

Walter

1997

Animal Learning & Behavior

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McSweeney and her colleagues (e.g., McSweeney, Hatfield, & Allen, 1990) have demonstrated reliable, large magnitude rate changes in maintained operants within daily sessions under a wide variety of reinforcement schedules. The present paper examined the role of schedule of reinforcement, reinforcement rate, and total amount of food access in determining those within-session rate changes. When median rates across birds were considered, all procedures resulted in a brief period of an increasing rate, followed by a modest rate loss across the major portion of the session. However, not all individuals exhibited that pattern. When the amount of food access per session was limited by lower reinforcement rates, shorter sessions, or shorter reinforcement durations, the magnitude of the withinsession rate change was reduced from that occurring without those constraints. Additionally,under the conditions that produced strong within-session rate changes, the magnitude of the within-session rate loss was correlated with the bird's body weight. These effects are consistent with what is typically labeled satiation. 291McSweeney and her colleagues (McSweeney, Hatfield, & Allen, 1990;McSweeney & Hinson, 1992;McSweeney, Roll, & Weatherly, 1994) have documented systematic changes in operant responding as a function of temporal position within each daily exposure to a schedule of reinforcement (i.e., a session). Their extensive functional analyses have typically indicated a relatively short duration period during which the response rate increases, followed by a generally decreasing rate throughout the remainder of the session. This bitonic rate change is of importance for three reasons. First, to the degree that it is reliable, it must be studied if a coherent and complete understanding of schedule control, and a general understanding ofbehavior, is to be accomplished. Second, a changing rate across the session would mean that any single index of behavior collapsed across a session can correctly represent only that, or larger quantal units, rather than behavior in general. Finally, if behavior systematically changes across a session, then any withinsession experimental treatment confounds that treatment with the bitonic effect. There would be important ramifications of this confound with respect to our body ofaccumulated knowledge (McSweeney, 1992).However, the literature suggests that the bitonic withinsession effect may not be ubiquitous. Examination of cuPortions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, 1995. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Helen Bush and Josey Chu for running the animals; Robert Allan, Edmond Venator, Robert Kessel, and Guido Gebauer for critical discussions; Peter Killeen and Frances McSweeney for comments on an earlier draft of this paper; and Elizabeth Palya for contributions in all phases of this research. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to W L. Palya, Department of Psychology, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville,...

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“…In their study, PRPs increased within a session on FI and differential-reinforcementof-low-rate schedules while local response rates showed the opposite pattern. McSweeney et al (1994) noted that previous studies of PRPs on FI schedules showed either no change (Palya, 1992) or increases (Collier, 1962) in pauses.…”

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confidence: 95%