Dynamics of time discrimination.

Higa, Jennifer J.; Wynne, C. D.; Staddon, J. E. R.

doi:10.1037/0097-7403.17.3.281

Cited by 57 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…When multiple short intervals are cycled with a single long interval, the two-back model would predict some tracking -a prediction not borne out by the data (see the 4 FI 30, 1 FI 90 and 12 FI 30, 1 FI 90 conditions). Equation 2 also predicts that a single short interval in a series of longer ones will affect pausing equally in two subsequent intervals, rather than only one, as the data show (4B, see also Higa et al, 1991). As well, pigeons should show immediate tracking (in the first session) when they are switched from the 1 FI 60, 1 FI 180 schedule to the 12 FI 60, 12 FI 180 schedule in Experiment 2D, which they do not.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…When multiple short intervals are cycled with a single long interval, the two-back model would predict some tracking -a prediction not borne out by the data (see the 4 FI 30, 1 FI 90 and 12 FI 30, 1 FI 90 conditions). Equation 2 also predicts that a single short interval in a series of longer ones will affect pausing equally in two subsequent intervals, rather than only one, as the data show (4B, see also Higa et al, 1991 Perhaps what pigeons are learning when they are exposed to these schedules is to shift from one-back tracking to many-back tracking and use a larger sample of previous intervals in determining their pause on a given cycle. Such a two-fold formulation would offer the benefits of both linear-waiting models considered so far.…”

mentioning

confidence: 89%

“…More recent work, however, has failed to find clear evidence in support of this idea. For example, Higa et al (1991) showed that on a sinusoidal CI, if several cycles at the end of a session are replaced by a simple FI, no wait-time cyclicity is seen on these ultimate intervals. On the other hand, there is evidence for anticipation in the experiments of Church and Lacourse (1998), who found that rats presented with a repeating ascending staircase of intervals showed pausing behavior appropriate to intervals 1 or 2 ahead in the cycle.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Conditions for Temporal Tracking Under Interval Schedules of Reinforcement.

Ludvig¹,

Staddon²

2004

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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On many cyclic-interval schedules, animals adjust their postreinforcement pause to follow the interval duration (temporal tracking). Six pigeons were trained on a series of square-wave (2-valued) interval schedules (e.g., 12 fixed-interval [FI] 60, 4 FI 180). Experiment 1 showed that pigeons track square-wave schedules, except those with a single long interval per cycle. Experiments 2 and 3 established that tracking and nontracking are learned and both can transfer from one cyclic schedule to another. Experiment 4 demonstrated that pigeons track a schedule with a single short interval per cycle, suggesting that a dual process-cuing and tracking-is necessary to explain behavior on these schedules. These findings suggest a potential explanation for earlier results that reported a failure to track square-wave schedules.Hungry animals will readily learn to adjust their behavior to the typical time in between periodic food deliveries. Under some conditions, these adjustments take place rapidly. These rapid adjustments have been studied by manipulating the time between consecutive food deliveries. On cyclic-interval (CI) reinforcement schedules, for example, successive interfood intervals (IFIs) increase and then decrease progressively. On these schedules, animals typically adjust their postreinforcement pause according to the duration of the preceding interval-a generally adaptive behavior termed temporal tracking (Innis & Staddon, 1971).On a typical CI schedule, the criterion interval duration is varied by successive small increments and decrements. Innis and Staddon (1971), for example, used a cycle that was an ascending arithmetic progression of interval durations followed by a descending one: 2t, 3t, 4t, 5t, 6t, 7t, 8t, 7t, 6t, 5t, 4t, 3t, 2t and so on. The value of t determined the absolute durations of the IFIs, as well as the size of the step between consecutive intervals. In their experiments, t ranged from 2 to 40 s for the different conditions. During each session, the same cycle was repeatedly presented throughout, and pigeons were run for many (>20) sessions under identical conditions. Only data from the last few sessions were analyzed. Under these conditions, they found that postreinforcement pause times for each pigeon showed cyclicity, with a period that corresponded to the IFI cycle.Subsequent research established that animals track a wide range of interval sequences. Temporal tracking has been found when the progression between successive IFIs is arithmetic (Crystal, Church, & Broadbent, 1997;Innis, 1981;Innis & Staddon, 1970), logarithmic (Innis, 1981), sinusoidal (Higa, Wynne, & Staddon, 1991;Keller, 1973), or even random ascending (Church & Lacourse, 1998). When the IFIs in a cycle change at a geometric rate, tracking is weaker than with smaller jumps, indicating that the size of the change between successive intervals does influence the ability to track. Nonetheless, absolute interval ranges as varied as Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elliot A. Ludvig, who...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…When multiple short intervals are cycled with a single long interval, the two-back model would predict some tracking -a prediction not borne out by the data (see the 4 FI 30, 1 FI 90 and 12 FI 30, 1 FI 90 conditions). Equation 2 also predicts that a single short interval in a series of longer ones will affect pausing equally in two subsequent intervals, rather than only one, as the data show (4B, see also Higa et al, 1991 Perhaps what pigeons are learning when they are exposed to these schedules is to shift from one-back tracking to many-back tracking and use a larger sample of previous intervals in determining their pause on a given cycle. Such a two-fold formulation would offer the benefits of both linear-waiting models considered so far.…”

mentioning

confidence: 89%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Conditions for Temporal Tracking Under Interval Schedules of Reinforcement.

Ludvig¹,

Staddon²

2004

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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“…A separate series of experiments in the temporal-control tradition, beginning in the late 1980s, studied the real-time dynamics of interval timing (e.g., Higa et al 1991, Lejeune et al 1997, Wynne & Staddon 1988; see Staddon 2001a for a review). These experiments have led to a simple empirical principle that may have wide application.…”

Section: Temporal Dynamics: Linear Waitingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operant Conditioning

Staddon

Cerutti

2003

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

342

213

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Operant behavior is behavior "controlled" by its consequences. In practice, operant conditioning is the study of reversible behavior maintained by reinforcement schedules. We review empirical studies and theoretical approaches to two large classes of operant behavior: interval timing and choice. We discuss cognitive versus behavioral approaches to timing, the "gap" experiment and its implications, proportional timing and Weber's law, temporal dynamics and linear waiting, and the problem of simple chain-interval schedules. We review the long history of research on operant choice: the matching law, its extensions and problems, concurrent chain schedules, and self-control. We point out how linear waiting may be involved in timing, choice, and reinforcement schedules generally. There are prospects for a unified approach to all these areas.

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“…However, many closely spaced interval conditions are required to evaluate the detailed description of the linear timing hypothesis. An efficient method for testing many closely spaced target intervals can capitalize on the observation that animals can track predictable changes in fixed-interval values across successive intervals Crystal, Church, & Broadbent, 1997;Higa, Wynne, & Staddon, 1991;Innis & Staddon, 1971;Ludvig & Staddon, 2005;Wynne, Staddon, & Delius, 1996).…”

Section: Nonlinear Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time, Place and Content

Crystal¹

2006

CCBR

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The goal of this article is to integrate information about basic mechanisms of time perception with research on time-place learning and research on the discrimination of what, when, and where (WWW). Several lines of evidence suggest that the psychological representation of time is nonlinearly related to physical estimates of time. These data prompt consideration of the proposal that interval timing is mediated by multiple, short-period oscillators. A multiple oscillator representation of time may be used to code the time of occurrence of events. These time-stamps for events, together with information about where the events occurred, may represent a promising direction for development of a quantitative, mechanistic theory of episodic-like memory in animals.The ability to track events that unfold in time is a central problem in the life of an animal. Research on timing focuses on the mechanisms by which animals accomplish this temporal tracking. At the most basic level, timing research seeks to identify the psychological representation of time. The focus of this research is primarily experiments that examine the quantitative features of temporal anticipation, and it has yielded a rich assortment of theories that propose to account for these data. One limitation of this basic level of analysis is that it focuses on timing mechanisms in isolation. The ability to track an event in time is only useful to an animal if it can also integrate temporal information with other types of information. For example, a representation of when food will be available can produce general food-searching behaviors that will increase the likelihood of obtaining food. However, knowledge of where food will be available at a particular time may allow these food-searching behaviors to be directed at an appropriate location, thereby increasing the efficiency by which food is obtained. The focus of timeplace learning is to identify the mechanisms by which temporal and spatial information is linked. Recently, research on temporal and spatial processing has been integrated with broader issues in memory research. This work focuses on time, place, and content (i.e., knowledge of what event occurred at a particular place and time). A central question in the discrimination of what-when-and-where (WWW) is the type of temporal representation that subserves this type of memory.The goal of this article is to integrate information about basic mechanisms of time perception (Time) with research on time-place learning (Time and Place) and research on the discrimination of WWW (Time, Place, and Content). The review of Time focuses on one of the quantitative features of temporal anticipation (the scalar property) and recent data that challenge this property. The review of Time and Place focuses on identifying the conditions under which different temporal mechanisms are used to discriminate time and place. The review of Time, Place, and Content focuses on identifying the timing mechanisms that may subserve the discrimination of WWW.Developments in basic resear...

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Dynamics of time discrimination.

Cited by 57 publications

References 15 publications

The Conditions for Temporal Tracking Under Interval Schedules of Reinforcement.

The Conditions for Temporal Tracking Under Interval Schedules of Reinforcement.

Operant Conditioning

Time, Place and Content

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