Spaced-trials partial reinforcement effect as a function of contrast.

Gonzalez, R. C.; Bitterman, M. E.

doi:10.1037/h0026665

Cited by 111 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Macdonald and Toledo used a very small magnitude of water reinforcement. With small food reward, either a very weak or no PREE is obtained (Amsel, 1958;Gonzalez & Bitterman, 1969;Hulse, 1958;Roberts, 1969;Wagner, 1961;Yamaguchi & Sukenmune, 1963). The finding of no PREE by Macdonald and Toledo was based on the analysis of start and run times, not on speeds; no goal times were reported.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The partial reinforcement effect sustained through blocks of continuous water reinforcement

Shanab

Melrose

Young

1975

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The partial reinforcement effect sustained through blocks of continuous water reinforcement

Shanab

Melrose

Young

1975

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Rats extinguish more rapidly after training with large as compared with small reward (Gonzalez & Bitterman 1969;Hulse 1958;Wagner 1961) -a special case of successive negative contrast -but resistance to extinction in goldfish increases with amount of reward (Gonzalez et al 1972); it was an early indication of this difference between rats and goldfish that prompted the Lowes experiment. Successive negative contrast is also a factor in the spacedtrials partial reinforcement effect found in rats trained with large reward (Gonzalez & Bitterman 1969;Hulse 1958;Wagner 1961). Goldfish (Schutz & Bitterman 1969) and African mouthbreeders (Longo & Bitterman 1960) fail to show the partial reinforcement effect in spaced trials.…”

Section: B6k6sy Laboratory Of Neurobiology University Of Hawaii Honmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both studies used an unconventional (classical conditioning) procedure with general activity as the response measure. A relatively short (mean 55 sec) intertrial interval was used, and Bitterman has argued that massed trials may allow the operation of nonassociative factors, such as sensory carry-over (Bitterman 1976;Gonzalez & Bitterman 1969). Moreover, both the recording technique used and the statistical analyses leave much to be desired.…”

Section: Experimental Studies Of Species Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial Commentary

1987

Behav Brain Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Recent decades have seen a number of influential attacks on the comparative psychology of learning and intelligence. Two specific charges have been that the use of distantly related species has prevented us from making valid evolutionary inferences and that learning mechanisms are species-specific adaptations to ecological niches and hence not properly comparable between species. It is argued here that work using distantly related species may yield valuable insights into the structure of intelligence and that the question of whether or not learning mechanisms are niche-specific is one which can only be answered by comparative work in "nonnatural" situations. The problems involved in defining and assessing intelligence are discussed. Experimental work has not succeeded in demonstrating differences in intellect among nonhuman vertebrates. Hence the null hypothesis -that there are no differences in intellect among nonhuman vertebrates -should be adopted; the superiority of human intelligence stems from our possessing a species-specific language-acquisition device. One implication of the null hypothesis is that general problem-solving capacity is independent of niche-specific adaptations. A second implication is that problem-solving may involve relatively simple mechanisms; association formation in particular may play a central role in nonhuman intelligence, allowing the successful detection of causal links between events. Causality is a constraint common to all ecological niches.

show abstract

“…The rust criticism is that while conditioned sensory traces may disrupt performance through generalization decrement in massed trials, there is no good evidence that these traces are durable enough to span long (e.g., 24-h) ITIs (e.g., Gonzalez & Bitterman, 1969). A sizable number of demonstrations of the SuNCE have been with 24-h ITIs, and recent work by Capaldi (1971Capaldi ( , 1972 has centered on hypothetical memory mechanisms, as opposed to sensory traces, that may bridge the ITI in spaced trials.…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These conditions not only produced differential rates of extinction in varied reward groups, they also produced an inverse relation between the amount of consistent sucrose reward and resistance to extinction, a phenomenon analogous to the SuNCE (Gonzalez & Bitterman, 1969) and expected on the basis of generalization decrement. Other experiments examining sucrose reward magnitude effects on extinction have , conversely, failed to obtain the interaction (Ison & Rosen, 1968;Likely et al, 1971).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduction in sucrose reward magnitude without generalization decrement

Burns

1978

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Groups of albino rats were trained for 24 days in a straight runway with one of two different liquid sucrose concentrations, 30% or 3%, as reward. Training trials were administered 2/day with an intertrial interval (lTI) of 3·5 min. This preshift phase was followed by an additional 24 days in which both groups received the 3% solution. A significant main effect of reward magnitude developed early in the preshift phase and persisted throughout the postshift phase. Since the number of daily trials and the ITI employed in this experiment have been shown in other designs to be optimal for the conditioning of the sensory consequences of responding with sucrose rewards, the data argue against a generalization decrement account of the successive contrast effect.

show abstract

Spaced-trials partial reinforcement effect as a function of contrast.

Cited by 111 publications

References 24 publications

The partial reinforcement effect sustained through blocks of continuous water reinforcement

The partial reinforcement effect sustained through blocks of continuous water reinforcement

Editorial Commentary

Reduction in sucrose reward magnitude without generalization decrement

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About