TIME‐DEPENDENT CONTRAST EFFECTS IN A MULTIPLE SCHEDULE OF FOOD REINFORCEMENT<sup>1</sup>

Bernheim, Joseph W.; Williams, David R.

doi:10.1901/jeab.1967.10-243

Cited by 21 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The occurrence of induction suggested that stimuli have excitatory and inhibitory influences on one another. Subsequently, the strength of induction was shown to depend on variables such as trial spacing, the interstimulus interval, the amount of overtraining, and the extent of exposure to aversive stimuli (Bernheim & Williams, 1967;Krane & !son, 1971;Sen£ & Miller, 1967).…”

Section: Behavioral Inhibitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Neuropsychology of Attention

Cohen

1993

Critical Issues in Neuropsychology

211

118

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A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher An unfortunate case of "hemispatial" inattention. ("M Babinet prevenu par sa portiere de Ia visite de Ia comete." From Le Charivari, 1858, by Honore Daumier. Babcock Bequest; Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.) PrefaceAt the beginning of this project, I was struck by several paradoxes regarding the study of attentional phenomena within neuropsychology. On one hand, the concept of attention has been central to the historical development of psychology. Attention was considered a fundamental and inescapable aspect of human experience by Wilhelm Wundt, William James, and the other founders of modern psychology. On the other hand, for much of the 20th century, psychologists tried desperately to avoid acknowledging the need for an attentional construct. Because attention has an intangible quality and cannot be specified as a unitary process, many behavioral scientists considered the construct of attention theoretically incoherent. Some of their concerns regarding the nature of attentional phenomena were clearly justified. It is also apparent, however, that explanations of behavior and cognition that fail to account for attentional phenomena cannot fully capture human experience.Recently, there has been a shift in zeitgeist, and attention has received more favorable treatment within the cognitive neurosciences. Humans cannot handle an infinite amount of simultaneous information. Therefore, cognitive processes must exist that direct our focus to information that is important, and that permit the selection of stimuli and responses from the large universe of alternatives. Regardless of whether one advocates the existence of a discrete attentional process, it is necessary to account for the occurrence of those phenomena that we normally label as aspects of attention. Consideration of the mechanisms underlying the selection of information and the control of stimulus and response processes is critical if we hope to understand human cognitive experience.The necessity of studying the mechanisms underlying attentional phenomena is particularly evident within neuropsychology. Patients with brain disorders frequently do not perform at optimal levels, even when task variables are held constant. They may fail to detect an object in the environment, even though it can be demonstrated that they have adequate perceptual capability. Reference to performance deficits stemming from attentional dysfunction is common in cl...

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Section: Behavioral Inhibitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Neuropsychology of Attention

Cohen

1993

Critical Issues in Neuropsychology

211

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Evidence for a dissociation of contrast into separate types of effects has recently come from analyses of local response rates. Several investigations have found that the typical pattern is an increase at the beginning of the unchanged component and then a decrease to a lower level as the component progresses (Arnett, 1973;Bernheim and Williams, 1967;Nevin and Shettleworth, 1966). More recent work (Buck, Rothstein, and Williams, 1975;Williams, 1974) has questioned the generality of this finding, however, as local response rate has been found to increase within the unchanged component, particularly with extended periods of training.…”

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confidence: 99%

BEHAVIORAL CONTRAST AS A FUNCTION OF THE TEMPORAL LOCATION OF REINFORCEMENT¹

Williams¹

1976

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Pigeons were trained on a multiple variable-interval variable-interval schedule of reinforcement. One component was then changed to a variation of a fixed-interval schedule in which the same rate of reinforcement was obtained as previously but the location of the reinforcer was fixed within the component. The effects of different temporal locations were compared. An increase in response rate for the unchanged variable-interval component (behavioral contrast) occurred when the reinforcer was located in the middle or at the end of the Fl component, but response suppression occurred when it was located at the beginning of the component. The pattern of results cannot be explained by any previous theories of contrast. The overall response rates, and the pattern of local rates within the components, were consistent with the hypothesis that the major determinant of the contrast effect was the transition to a lower reinforcement rate following the unchanged component.Key words: behavioral contrast, multiple schedules, fixed-interval schedules, relative reinforcement rates, sequential effects, key pecks, pigeons When aslimals are presented a multiple schedule with the same reinforcement rates in its alternating components, and then the reinforcement rate during one of the components is reduced, the response rate during the other, unchanged, component typically increases. This finding, termed behavioral contrast, has been widely studied since its first systematic investigation by Reynolds (1961a). A variety of hypotheses have been proposed as the necessary conditions for producing contrast, including the energizing effect of nonreinforced responding (Amsel, 1971;Terrace, 1966), changes in the relative rate of reinforcement (Herrnstein, 1970; Reynolds 1961b), and changes in the "signalling" properties of the component stimuli, which in turn cause "elicited" responding to be added to the baseline level (Gamzu and Schwartz, 1973;Rachlin, 1973).In view of the diversity of the various explanations, the question posed is whether behavioral contrast is in fact a unitary phenomenon. To the extent that several different interactions are subsumed under the term

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“…For instance, almost all investigations have employed the pigeon as the subject and the key peck as the response. Exceptions are studied by Bernheim and Williams (1967) and by Pear and Wilkie (1971) both of wlhich employed rats, the former in a running wheel, the latter in a bar-pressing situation. In both studies, positive contrast occurred in some subjects but tive data on the occurrence of positive contrast.…”

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confidence: 99%

FAILURE TO OBTAIN POSITIVE CONTRAST WHEN PIGEONS PRESS A BAR¹

Westbrook¹

1973

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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In Experiment 1, two groups of pigeons were exposed to multiple variable-interval 1-min variable-interval 1-min schedules of reinforcement. The required response was a key peck for one group, and a foot press of a bar for the other. When the procedure was shifted to multiple variable-interval 1-min extinction, positive contrast occurred with pigeons that key pecked, whereas negative induction occurred with those that bar pressed. Moreover, the absence of contrast could not be ascribed to the lack of inhibition, since negative generalization gradients after bar press training were U-shaped in Experiment 2. The results are discussed in terms of possible relationships between positive contrast and the phenomenon of autoshaping.

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TIME‐DEPENDENT CONTRAST EFFECTS IN A MULTIPLE SCHEDULE OF FOOD REINFORCEMENT¹

Cited by 21 publications

References 11 publications

The Neuropsychology of Attention

The Neuropsychology of Attention

BEHAVIORAL CONTRAST AS A FUNCTION OF THE TEMPORAL LOCATION OF REINFORCEMENT¹

FAILURE TO OBTAIN POSITIVE CONTRAST WHEN PIGEONS PRESS A BAR¹

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TIME‐DEPENDENT CONTRAST EFFECTS IN A MULTIPLE SCHEDULE OF FOOD REINFORCEMENT1

Cited by 21 publications

References 11 publications

The Neuropsychology of Attention

The Neuropsychology of Attention

BEHAVIORAL CONTRAST AS A FUNCTION OF THE TEMPORAL LOCATION OF REINFORCEMENT1

FAILURE TO OBTAIN POSITIVE CONTRAST WHEN PIGEONS PRESS A BAR1

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TIME‐DEPENDENT CONTRAST EFFECTS IN A MULTIPLE SCHEDULE OF FOOD REINFORCEMENT¹

BEHAVIORAL CONTRAST AS A FUNCTION OF THE TEMPORAL LOCATION OF REINFORCEMENT¹

FAILURE TO OBTAIN POSITIVE CONTRAST WHEN PIGEONS PRESS A BAR¹