Probability Relations within Response Sequences under Ratio Reinforcement.
01 Apr 1958-Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior)-Vol. 1, Iss: 2, pp 109-121
About: This article is published in Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.The article was published on 1958-04-01 and is currently open access. It has received 264 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Reinforcement.
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TL;DR: In this article, pigeons were trained in a simultaneous conditioning procedure to discriminate small arrays of dots that differed in numerosity, and the birds successfully learned to choose the array of each pair that contained fewer dots when these choices were reinforced and choices of the array with more dots led to timeout.
Abstract: Two experiments are described in which pigeons were trained in a simultaneous conditioning procedure to discriminate small arrays of dots that differed in numerosity. The birds successfully learned to choose the array of each pair that contained fewer dots when these choices were reinforced and choices of the array with more dots led to timeout. For the majority of numerosity values tested, discrimination performance for a fixed S+ value was better when the numerical difference between S+ and S-values was larger rather than smaller. This effect was seen in the first experiment when the numerical difference value was shifted between training trials and novel test trials. In the second experiment, too, performance level depended on the size of the numerosity difference when the birds were concurrently trained with two difference values that varied across trials within sessions. However, discrimination accuracy was influenced secondarily by variations in the density, or interdot spacing, of the stimulus arrays. In order to explain the latter finding, it is suggested that a tendency to “scan” a lowdensity array incompletely might alter the probability of accepting it as the smaller numerosity (S+) stimulus. This would increase error rates with S− arrays in which the dots are more widely spaced.
72 citations
TL;DR: Capuchin monkeys' ability to select the greater of two quantities of either discrete objects or a nonsolid substance is tested, suggesting that capuchins quantify objects and substances similarly and do so via analog magnitude representations.
Abstract: Humans and nonhuman animals appear to share a capacity for nonverbal quantity representations. But what are the limits of these abilities? Results of previous research with human infants suggest that the ontological status of an entity as an object or a substance affects infants' ability to quantify it. We ask whether the same is true for another primate species-the New World monkey Cebus apella. We tested capuchin monkeys' ability to select the greater of two quantities of either discrete objects or a nonsolid substance. Participants performed above chance with both objects (Experiment 1) and substances (Experiment 2); in both cases, the observed performance was ratio dependent. This finding suggests that capuchins quantify objects and substances similarly and do so via analog magnitude representations.
67 citations
Cites background from "Probability Relations within Respon..."
...Researchers have observed ratio-dependent performance in a variety of nonhuman animal species (e.g., Beran, 2001, 2004; Beran & Beran, 2004; Beran & Rumbaugh, 2001; Lewis, Jaffe, & Brannon, 2005; Mechner, 1958; Meck & Church, 1983; Nieder & Miller, 2004), as well as in infant and adult humans (e....
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...…in a variety of nonhuman animal species (e.g., Beran, 2001, 2004; Beran & Beran, 2004; Beran & Rumbaugh, 2001; Lewis, Jaffe, & Brannon, 2005; Mechner, 1958; Meck & Church, 1983; Nieder & Miller, 2004), as well as in infant and adult humans (e.g., Cordes, Gelman, Gallistel, & Whalen, 2001;…...
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...…Jordan, Brannon, Logothetis, & Ghazanfar, 2005; McCrink & Wynn, 2004; Meck & Church, 1983; Whalen, Gallistel, & Gelman, 1999), objects in the world (e.g., Hauser, MacNeilage, & Ware, 1996; Wynn, 1992), or actions produced by the animal (e.g., lever presses: Fernandes & Church, 1982; Mechner, 1958)....
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..., Hauser, MacNeilage, & Ware, 1996; Wynn, 1992), or actions produced by the animal (e.g., lever presses: Fernandes & Church, 1982; Mechner, 1958)....
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TL;DR: Overall, the results suggest that performance was based on numerical cues, and intentional acts were occasionally observed but appeared not to be essential for solving the task.
Abstract: The task of rats (Rattus norvegicus) was to enter 1 box of a defined ordinal number among an array of boxes. In Experiments 1 and 2, the rats correctly chose the 4th box from arrays of 6 and 12 boxes, respectively. In Experiments 3 and 4, in which the ordinal number of the correct box was increased in a graduated fashion, they were able to select the correct box even when its position was higher than 10th among 12 and 18 boxes, respectively. In Experiment 5, the possibility that the rats had used cues to the openability of the box doors was ruled out. In Experiments 6 and 7, the rats succeeded in the task even when the total number of boxes was varied from trial to trial. In Experiment 8, both small- and large-sized boxes were used to control for the possibility of using the cumulative length of the boxes as a cue. Overall, the results suggest that performance was based on numerical cues. Intentional acts were occasionally observed but appeared not to be essential for solving the task.
67 citations
66 citations
01 Aug 1975
TL;DR: Tests of learned behavior hold great promise toward identifying specific symptoms and toward understanding how mercury compounds affect behavior, and procedures are suggested that may help to revolve these problems.
Abstract: Intoxication by elemental mercury or by methylmercury is revealed primarily by changes in behavior and by neurological signs. Disorders of movement and posture have been most widely reported, both in animal experiments and in cases of human exposure. Specific sensory symptoms are also prominent in human methylmercury poisoning. Recent data indicate similar symptoms in monkeys during long-term exposure to methylmercury. Similar sensory impairment has not been described in experiments with sub-primates. Variations in the profile of behavioral and neurological effects are discussed in terms of differences in species and differences between acute and long-term exposure. The latter condition poses the most difficult questions for human health, yet has been less frequently studied. Procedures are suggested that may help to resolve these problems. In particular, tests of learned behavior hold great promise toward identifying specific symptoms and toward understanding how mercury compounds affect behavior.— Evans, H. L., V. G. Laties and B. Weiss. Behavioral effects of mercury and methylmercury. Federation Proc. 34: 1858-1867, 1975.
65 citations
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340 citations
203 citations
TL;DR: I am indebted to Professor Lighthill for some further illuminating remarks regarding this point and his comments on Heisenberg's Theory of Isotropic Turbulence are highly illuminating.
Abstract: 1 G. K. Batchelor, The Theory of Homogeneous Turbulence (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1954). 2 G. K. Batchelor and A. A. Townsend, \"Decay of Turbulence in the Final Period of Decay,\" Proc. Roy. Soc. London, A, 194, 527-543, 1948. 3 W. Heisenberg, \"Zur statistischen Theorie der Turbulenz,\" Z. Physik, 124, 628-657, 1948. 4W. H. Reid, \"Two Remarks on Heisenberg's Theory of Isotropic Turbulence,\" Quart. Appl. Math. 14, 201-205, 1956. 6 Cf. M. J. Lighthill, Nature, 173, 746, 1954. I am indebted to Professor Lighthill for some further illuminating remarks regarding this point.
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129 citations