Second‐order Optional Avoidance as a Function of Fixed‐ratio Requirements

Abstract

Two rhesus monkeys responded on a fixed-ratio schedule in Stimulus 1 (blue light) to avoid the onset of Stimulus 2 (green light). Failure to avoid Stimulus 2 required a second fixedratio performance to avoid Stimulus S (red light) in the presence of which unavoidable shock occurred. Relative frequencies of avoidance performance in the blue light and in the green light were inversely related to the ratio requirement under each stimulus condition. Both differential response-cost and avoidance-failure probability factors were related to the observed changes.Several recent studies of second-order reinforcement schedules (Zimmerman, 1963;Findley and Brady, 1965;Kelleher, 1966;Thomas and Stubbs, 1967;Davison, 1969) (1963) and Findley, Schuster, and Zimmerman (1966) have clearly established the importance of such second-order control in the maintenance of avoidance behavior. Field and Boren (1963), for example, demonstrated discriminative control of an adjusting avoidance performance in rats by stimuli providing information about temporal proximity to shock. Though the animals never effectively escaped from the progression of stimuli preceding shock, they did maintain a level of responding that kept them several discrete steps from the primary aversive event.The present report describes a more direct and extensive analysis of the role of secondorder conditioned aversive stimuli in the maintenance and control of avoidance behavior. Specifically, this experiment analyzes a discriminated avoidance situation characterized by (1) METHOD Subjects and ApparatusTwo male rhesus monkeys, 3 yr old at the start of the experiment, and each weighing approximately 5 kg, were maintained in primate restraining chairs (Mason, 1958) and enclosed in isolation booths (Foringer) throughout the course of the experiment. A white noise (70 dB re 0.002 dyne/cm2) masked apparatus sound and other extraneous stimuli.In conducting the present research, the investigators adhered to the "Guide for Laboratory Animal Facilities and Care", as

Stimuli Inevitably Generated by Behavior That Avoids Electric Shock Are Inherently Reinforcing

“…Two studies that Hineline (1991) has noted as being especially important to a decision between our contrasting views are those of Krasnegor, Brady, and Findley (1971) and Feild and Boren (1963). The Krasnegor et al study indicates that response requirements are a relevant variable in avoidance, as in positive reinforcement.…”

Beyond the Molar—molecular Distinction: We Need Multiscaled Analyses

“…Another experiment Dinsmoor (2001) targeted, but missed what I consider to be the main point of, was that by Krasnegor, Brady, and Findley (1971), who described a chain schedule based on negative reinforcement. The mere fact of avoidance in their procedure is indeed consistent with two-factor theory.…”

Negative Reinforcement in Applied Behavior Analysis: An Emerging Technology

“…It has become standard practice to follow errors with statements ofdisapproval (Dunlap & Johnson, 1985;Rincover & Newsom, 1985;Schreibman, 1975), physical guidance (Haring, 1985;Luyben, Funk, Morgan, Clark, & Delulio, 1986;Sprague & Homer, 1984), session-lengthening procedures consisting of either time-out (Barrera & Sulzer-Azaroff, 1983;O'Brien & Azrin, 1972) or remedial learning trials (Nutter & Reid, 1978;Page, Iwata, & Neef, 1976;Richman, Reiss, Bauman, & Bailey, 1984), and so on. Thus, in addition to producing positive reinforcement in the form of experimenter praise, correct responses also may function to avoid aversive social and physical stimulation and to effectively reduce the duration of training sessions (this latter point is potentially significant, for it has been shown that complex setting events or stimulus situations, and not just discrete stimuli, can function as negative reinforcers [Krasnegor, Brady, & Findley, 1971], and that reduction of avoidance-session durations can itself serve as negative reinforcement [Mellitz, Hineline, Whitehouse, & Laurence, 1983]).…”