Showing papers on "Reinforcement published in 1999"
TL;DR: The striking similarities in teaching signals and learning behavior between the computational and biological results suggest that dopamine-like reward responses may serve as effective teaching signals for learning behavioral tasks that are typical for primate cognitive behavior, such as spatial delayed responding.
314 citations
TL;DR: Compliance was higher and problem behavior was lower for all participants when compliance produced an edible item rather than a break, and treatment gains were achieved without the use of extinction.
Abstract: We compared the effects of reinforcing compliance with either positive reinforcement (edible items) or negative reinforcement (a break) on 5 participants' escape-maintained problem behavior. Both procedures were assessed with or without extinction. Results showed that compliance was higher and problem behavior was lower for all participants when compliance produced an edible item rather than a break. Treatment gains were achieved without the use of extinction. Results are discussed regarding the use of positive reinforcement to treat escape behavior.
186 citations
TL;DR: A quantitative model of the concurrent three-term contingency that is based on the notion that an animal's behavior is controlled to differing extents by both stimulus—behavior and behavior—reinforcer relations is discussed.
Abstract: We propose that a fundamental unit of behavior is the concurrent discriminated operant, and we discuss in detail a quantitative model of the concurrent three-term contingency that is based on the notion that an animal's behavior is controlled to differing extents by both stimulus—behavior and behavior—reinforcer relations. We show how this model can describe performance in a variety of experimental procedures: conditional discrimination and matching to sample, both with and without reinforcement for responses that are traditionally identified as errors; conditional discrimination with more than two stimuli and choice alternatives; delayed matching to sample and delayed reinforcement in matching to sample; second-order and complex conditional discrimination; and multiple and concurrent schedules. Although the model is incomplete in its coverage, and may be incorrect, we believe that this conceptual approach will bear fruit in the development of behavior theory.
177 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that aggression, reinforced by access to food, could be maintained as impulsive behavior and both participants displayed self-control when the delay to reinforcement was signaled.
Abstract: Impulsivity and self-control involve a choice between a smaller, more immediate reinforcer and a larger, more delayed reinforcer. Impulsive behavior occurs when responding produces the more immediate, relatively smaller reinforcers at the expense of delayed larger reinforcers. Self-control occurs when responding produces delayed larger reinforcers at the expense of immediate smaller reinforcers. Recently, researchers in applied behavior analysis have suggested that evaluations of self-control and impulsivity are relevant to socially important behaviors. Further, common behavioral treatments such as differential reinforcement may be influenced by variables such as reinforcer delay. In this study, we showed that aggression, reinforced by access to food, could be maintained as impulsive behavior. The participants were 2 young boys with severe developmental disabilities. For both participants, descriptive observations, care provider report, and functional analyses suggested that aggression was reinforced by food access (and television access for 1 participant). Next, we introduced a differential reinforcement procedure in which appropriate mands were reinforced. After various manipulations, we showed that aggression occurred when it produced immediate but small reinforcers even though mands produced larger, more delayed reinforcers. However, both participants displayed self-control when the delay to reinforcement was signaled (with a hand gesture or a timer).
135 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that a contingent reinforcement paradigm can regulate the dynamics of neuronal activity that is centrally programmed by the intrinsic cellular properties of neurons.
Abstract: Previously, an analog of operant conditioning in Aplysia was developed using the rhythmic motor activity in the isolated buccal ganglia. This analog expressed a key feature of operant conditioning, namely a selective enhancement in the occurrence of a designated motor pattern by contingent reinforcement. Different motor patterns generated by the buccal central pattern generator were induced by monotonic stimulation of a peripheral nerve (i.e., n.2,3). Phasic stimulation of the esophageal nerve (E n.) was used as an analog of reinforcement. The present study investigated the neuronal mechanisms associated with the genesis of different motor patterns and their modifications by contingent reinforcement. The genesis of different motor patterns was related to changes in the functional states of the pre-motor neuron B51. During rhythmic activity, B51 dynamically switched between inactive and active states. Bursting activity in B51 was associated with, and predicted, characteristic features of a specific motor pattern (i.e., pattern I). Contingent reinforcement of pattern I modified the dynamical properties of B51 by decreasing its resting conductance and threshold for eliciting plateau potentials and thus increased the occurrences of pattern I-related activity in B51. These modifications were not observed in preparations that received either noncontingent reinforcement (i.e., yoke control) or no reinforcement (i.e., control). These results suggest that a contingent reinforcement paradigm can regulate the dynamics of neuronal activity that is centrally programmed by the intrinsic cellular properties of neurons.
114 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that the selection of a designated motor pattern by contingent reinforcement and the underlying neuronal plasticity resulted from the association of reinforcement with a component of central neuronal activity that contributes to a specific motor pattern.
Abstract: Previously, an analog of operant conditioning was developed using the buccal ganglia of Aplysia, the probabilistic occurrences of a specific motor pattern (i.e., pattern I), a contingent reinforcement (i.e., stimulation of the esophageal nerve), and monotonic stimulation of a peripheral nerve (i.e., n.2,3). This analog expressed a key feature of operant conditioning (i.e., selective enhancement of the probability of occurrence of a designated motor pattern by contingent reinforcement). In addition, the training induced changes in the dynamical properties of neuron B51, an element of the buccal central pattern generator. To gain insights into the neuronal mechanisms that mediate features of operant conditioning, the present study identified a neuronal element that was critically involved in the selective enhancement of pattern I. We found that bursting activity in cell B51 contributed significantly to the expression of pattern I and that changes in the dynamical properties of this cell were associated with the selective enhancement of pattern I. These changes could be induced by an explicit association of reinforcement with random depolarization of B51. No stimulation of n.2,3 was required. These results indicate that the selection of a designated motor pattern by contingent reinforcement and the underlying neuronal plasticity resulted from the association of reinforcement with a component of central neuronal activity that contributes to a specific motor pattern. The sensory stimulus that allows for occurrences of different motor acts may not be critical for induction of plasticity that mediates the selection of a motor output by contingent reinforcement in operant conditioning.
104 citations
TL;DR: A minimal set of principles based on short-term and long-term memory mechanisms that can explain the major static and dynamic properties of operant behavior in both single-choice and multiresponse situations are proposed.
Abstract: Existing models of operant learning are relatively insensitive to historical properties of behavior and applicable to only limited data sets. This article proposes a minimal set of principles based on short-term and long-term memory mechanisms that can explain the major static and dynamic properties of operant behavior in both single-choice and multiresponse situations. The critical features of the theory are as follows: (a) The key property of conditioning is assessment of the degree of association between responses and reinforcement and between stimuli and reinforcement; (b) the contingent reinforcement is represented by learning expectancy, which is the combined prediction of response-reinforcement and stimulus-reinforcement associations; (c) the operant response is controlled by the interplay between facilitatory and suppressive variables that integrate differences between expected (long-term) and experienced (short-term) events; and (d) very-long-term effects are encoded by a consolidated memory that is sensitive to the entire reinforcement history. The model predicts the major qualitative features of operant phenomena and then suggests an experimental test of theoretical predictions about the joint effects of reinforcement probability and amount of training on operant choice. We hypothesize that the set of elementary principles that we propose may help resolve the long-standing debate about the fundamental variables controlling operant conditioning.
96 citations
28 Aug 1999
86 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a limit analysis approach is applied to determine the amount of reinforcement necessary to prevent collapse of slopes due to reinforcement rupture, pullout, or direct sliding, and a rigorous lower bound to the required reinforcement strength is calculated.
Abstract: A limit analysis approach is applied to determine the amount of reinforcement necessary to prevent collapse of slopes due to reinforcement rupture, pullout, or direct sliding. The reinforcement is uniformly distributed over the height of the slope, and each layer of the primary reinforcement has the same length. A rigorous lower bound to the required reinforcement strength is calculated. This formulation is equivalent to that where a strict upper bound to the slope failure height is sought. The length of reinforcement is also calculated; both reinforcement pullout and direct sliding are accounted for. Design charts are produced for both the required reinforcement strength and its length. Although the emphasis is on the analytical considerations, the way results can be practically utilized is shown.
86 citations
TL;DR: The present study demonstrates that the progressive ratio schedule provides a valuable method to assess the influence of manipulations that might affect the perceived reinforcement value of gustatory stimuli.
Abstract: The progressive ratio schedule provides a means to determine reinforcement value that is independent of response rate. This is achieved by increasing the number of lever presses for each successive reinforcement until, eventually, the subject fails to respond within a designated time limit. The number of responses in the final completed ratio defines the break point. When tested with appetitive gustatory stimuli (sucrose and saccharin), rats showed a concentration-dependent increase in break point when food deprived (Experiment 1A and, for sucrose only, Experiments 1B and 1C) but not when water deprived (Experiment 1A). For aversive gustatory stimuli (sodium chloride, citric acid, and quinine) break point declined as concentration increased (Experiment 1A). In Experiment 1C, reinforcement duration had a significant, although relatively small, influence on break point for each of three concentrations of sucrose. Experiment 2 found a dose-dependent effect of the neuroleptic drug haloperidol (0.025, 0.05, and 0.1 mg/kg) on break point for sucrose reinforcement. The present study demonstrates that the progressive ratio schedule provides a valuable method to assess the influence of manipulations that might affect the perceived reinforcement value of gustatory stimuli.
TL;DR: This investigation identified 2 participants whose destructive behavior was maintained by attention and used the information obtained from the assessments to develop effective treatments to reduce destructive behavior and increase an alternative communicative response.
Abstract: The analogue functional analysis described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) identifies broad classes of variables (e.g., positive reinforcement) that maintain destructive behavior (Fisher, Ninness, Piazza, & Owen-DeSchryver, 1996). However, it is likely that some types of stimuli may be more effective reinforcers than others. In the current investigation, we identified 2 participants whose destructive behavior was maintained by attention. We used concurrent schedules of reinforcement to evaluate how different types of attention affected both destructive and appropriate behavior. We showed that for 1 participant praise was not an effective reinforcer when verbal reprimands were available; however, praise was an effective reinforcer when verbal reprimands were unavailable. For the 2nd participant, we identified a type of attention that effectively competed with verbal reprimands as reinforcement. We then used the information obtained from the assessments to develop effective treatments to reduce destructive behavior and increase an alternative communicative response.
TL;DR: The present results offer support for certain conditioned reinforcement accounts of observing behavior and suggest that the choice procedure, together with the titration of effort to obtain the discriminative stimuli, offers a sensitive test of the preference for discrim inative stimuli.
TL;DR: In this paper, a multiple-baseline design was used to investigate the effectiveness of using self management strategies and reinforcement to increase the on-task behaviors of a high-functioning second grade stude...
Abstract: A multiple-baseline design was used to investigate the effectiveness of using self management strategies and reinforcement to increase the on-task behaviors of a high-functioning second-grade stude...
TL;DR: The basic principles of molecular reinforcement and specific approaches to obtain homogeneous composites with molecularly dispersed rigid rods are discussed in this paper, and successful examples of the available data covering the main characteristics are summarized.
Abstract: The basic principles of molecular reinforcement and especially the specific approaches to obtain homogeneous composites with molecularly dispersed rigid rods are focused on and discussed. Brief overviews and successful examples of the available data covering the main characteristics are summarized.
TL;DR: The results implicate procedural differences, rather than inherent behavioral differences, as the source of differences in sensitivity to concurrent variable-interval variable- Interval schedules of reinforcement.
Abstract: The determinants of human sensitivity to concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules of reinforcement have been difficult to identify, in part because of procedural differences separating published experiments. This experiment investigated vigilance to stimuli correlated with concurrent schedules. Across phases, 3 college students were provided with either no schedule-correlated stimuli, an observing response that provided brief access to the stimuli, or a contingency that required the subject to identify the stimulus correlated with the source of each obtained reinforcer. Sensitivity, as quantified by the generalized matching equation, was low when no stimuli were available. When the stimuli were response contingent, 1 subject observed them, and her behavior became more sensitive to the distribution of reinforcers across the concurrent schedules. When the procedure required discrimination of the stimulus correlated with each reinforcer, the other 2 subjects also observed the stimuli, and their schedule sensitivity was increased as well. These results implicate procedural differences, rather than inherent behavioral differences, as the source of differences in sensitivity to
TL;DR: It is reported here that the delivery of reinforcement at an earlier criterion duration produces a rightward shift in the temporal response functions for later durations by the amount of time that has already elapsed in the trial.
TL;DR: Results were successful in identifying the reinforcing component of the cigarette and suggested the feasibility of using alternative reinforcers during treatment to eliminate cigarette pica.
Abstract: We conducted a multicomponent assessment and treatment for 4 individuals who engaged in cigarette pica. During Phase 1, three stimulus preference assessments were conducted to identify (a) the reinforcing component of the cigarette, (b) potential alternative reinforcers that may be used during treatment, and (c) whether the alternative reinforcer would compete effectively with cigarettes. Results were successful in identifying the reinforcing component of the cigarette and suggested the feasibility of using alternative reinforcers during treatment to eliminate cigarette pica. During Phase 2, the effects of two treatment procedures were evaluated. Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) with the alternative edible reinforcer reduced the pica of 2 of the participants, but effects were not maintained when the initial dense schedule of NCR was thinned. Subsequently, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior with the alternative edible reinforcer was effective in reducing pica for 3 participants. An evaluation of nine treatment procedures failed to identify an effective intervention for the remaining participant; consequently, preventive measures were designed to minimize occurrences of cigarette pica.
TL;DR: The effect of prior attention was systematically manipulated to study its influence on rates of yelling and head hitting, both maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention.
Abstract: The effect of prior attention was systematically manipulated to study its influence on rates of yelling and head hitting, both maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention. Higher levels of head hitting occurred in analogue attention conditions when the person was deprived of attention (no social interactions for 1 hr) prior to the analysis in comparison to when the person received high levels of attention (attention delivered on a fixed-time 30-s schedule for 1 hr) prior to the analysis.
TL;DR: This work evaluated the effects of relatively benign punishment procedures on the self-injurious behavior of 4 individuals who had been diagnosed with mental retardation, when access to reinforcement for alternative behavior was and was not available.
Abstract: A number of variables influence the effectiveness of punishment and may determine the extent to which less intrusive forms of punishment may be used as alternatives to more intrusive interventions. For example, it has been suggested that response suppression during punishment may be facilitated if reinforcement is concurrently available for an alternative response. However, results of basic research demonstrating this finding have not been replicated with interventions more commonly prescribed as treatments for problem behavior. We evaluated the effects of relatively benign punishment procedures (reprimands or brief manual restraint) on the self-injurious behavior of 4 individuals who had been diagnosed with mental retardation, when access to reinforcement for alternative behavior (manipulation of leisure materials) was and was not available. In all cases, punishment produced greater response suppression when reinforcement for an alternative response was available.
TL;DR: In this article, Tucker, Sigafoos, and Bushell demonstrate that fixed-time (FT) schedules can be used to reduce troublesome behaviors (for a review of these and related articles, see Tucker et al. 1998).
Abstract: Several articles published recently in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis demonstrate that fixed-time (FT) schedules can be used to reduce troublesome behaviors (for a review of these and related articles, see Tucker, Sigafoos, & Bushell, 1998). In the first article in this series, Vollmer, Iwata, Zarcone, Smith, and Mazaleski (1993) demonstrated through functional analysis that the self-injurious behavior of 3 women was maintained by attention. Subsequently, they reduced the self-injurious behavior of those women by delivering attention under an FT schedule. They referred to the FT schedule as a noncontingent reinforcement procedure, and the name unfortunately has stuck. For example, in the most recent article in the series, Carr, Bailey, Ecot, Lucker, and Weil (1998) indicate that ‘‘In a noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) procedure, the reinforcer responsible for maintaining a problem behavior is delivered on a fixed-time (FT) or variable-time schedule’’ (p. 313). It is standard practice in behavior analysis to define reinforcement functionally, that is, as an operation or process in which the occurrence of a behavior is followed by a change in the environment (reinforcer) and as a result such behavior subsequently increases in rate, or is otherwise strengthened (e.g., Catania, 1991; Chance, 1998; Miltenberger, 1997). Operations that have other effects characteristically are not referred to as reinforcement. If this convention is followed, delivery of attention under an FT schedule did not constitute reinforcement in
TL;DR: It is suggested that positive reinforcement affected choice behavior and that escape extinction affected amount of food consumed.
Abstract: The authors evaluated the responsiveness of 4 preschool-aged children to positive reinforcers within a concurrent operants paradigm during mealtimes. The children were presented with two identical, concurrently available sets of food. Each set differed in quantity and quality of positive reinforcement paired with acceptance of each bite of food or in the number of bites of food required to obtain positive reinforcement. Experiment 1 evaluated 1 child's responsiveness to positive reinforcement while permitting escape from bite offers. Experiment 2 evaluated 2 children's responsiveness to positive reinforcement when escape extinction occurred. Results from these experiments suggested that the children were responsive to positive reinforcers and chose more often the bites paired with the greater quantity and/or quality of reinforcement. Experiment 3 evaluated 1 child's responsiveness to positive reinforcement both without and with escape extinction. Results suggested that positive reinforcement affected choice behavior and that escape extinction affected amount of food consumed.
TL;DR: Training associated pairs of perceptually dissimilar stimulus classes with a common delay or probability of food reinforcement in pigeons suggested that categorization was based on the relative reinforcement or hedonic value and not on the parametric details of reinforcement.
Abstract: Training associated pairs of perceptually dissimilar stimulus classes with a common delay or probability of food reinforcement in pigeons. Then, different choice responses were trained to 1 component class in each pair. In a choice test, the untrained class in each pair occasioned the same response as did the choice-trained class. In a 3rd experiment, 2 classes had reinforcement delays of 1 s and 15 s, respectively, and 2 other classes had reinforcement probabilities of 0.1 and 0.9. Then, 1 choice response was reinforced to a class previously associated with a better condition of reinforcement (e.g., 1-s delay or 1.0 probability), and a different response was reinforced to a class previously associated with a worse condition of reinforcement (0.1 probability or 0-s delay). Testing with all classes suggested that categorization was based on the relative reinforcement or hedonic value and not on the parametric details of reinforcement.
TL;DR: This paper examined the effect of delayed reinforcement on digits completed by elementary school children and the effect programming stimuli common to reinforcement conditions on the maintenance of their performance, and found that participants exhibited similar levels of responding during intermittent and continuous reinforcement.
Abstract: This study examined the effect of delayed reinforcement on digits completed by elementary school children and the effect of programming stimuli common to reinforcement conditions on the maintenance of their performance. Participants exhibited similar levels of responding during intermittent and continuous reinforcement. Responding continued for a number of sessions at similar levels during a maintenance phase that included stimuli present during delayed reinforcement.
TL;DR: The occurrence of spontaneous recovery and its attenuation with large amounts of reinforcement were examined during the treatment of disruption.
Abstract: Extinction of operant behavior has been associated with a number of undesirable effects. One such effect is the temporary reappearance of behavior after responding appears to be completely extinguished, known as spontaneous recovery. In this report, the occurrence of spontaneous recovery and its attenuation with large amounts of reinforcement were examined during the treatment of disruption.
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, a Scientific Approach to Behavior is presented, which includes concept acquisition, model-based and verbal behavior analysis, with a focus on adaptive behavior in the context of applied settings.
Abstract: Preface. Acknowledgements. A Scientific Approach to Behavior. Operant Behavior and Operant Conditioning. Extinction and Intermittent Reinforcement. Stimulus Control. Aversive Contingencies. Complex Behavior: Concept Acquisition, Modeling, and Verbal Behavior. Assessing Behavior in Applied Settings. Single-case Experimental Designs. Increasing Adaptive Behavior in Applied Settings. Decreasing Maladaptive Behavior in Applied Settings. Behavior Analysis: Current Status and Future Directions. References. Index.
TL;DR: In this study, a detailed microanalysis of the antecedents and consequences of aggressive and communicative behavior of a 7-year-old boy was conducted and suggested that problem and Communicative behavior were maintained on thin concurrent schedules of social negative reinforcement.
TL;DR: Reductions in destructive behavior were mostly due to the participants choosing not to access contingent reinforcement when NCR was being delivered and only minimally due to reinforcer satiation, which means the reductive effects of NCR should be relatively constant over the course of a session.
TL;DR: A methodology for identifying the range of stimulus features of antecedent stimuli associated with aberrant behavior in demand contexts in natural settings and a treatment package that interspersed play with task instructions was conducted to disrupt the ongoing occurrence of Aberrant behavior.
Abstract: We evaluated a methodology for identifying the range of stimulus features of antecedent stimuli associated with aberrant behavior in demand contexts in natural settings. For each participant, an experimental analysis of antecedents (Phase 1) was conducted to confirm the hypothesis that task instructions occasioned increases in aberrant behavior. During Phase 2, specific stimulus features associated with the presentation of task instructions were assessed by evaluating the child's behavior across two distinct settings, therapists, and types of tasks in a sequential fashion. Aberrant behavior occurred immediately across settings and therapists, presumably because the presence of a discriminative stimulus for escape-maintained behavior (the delivery of a task instruction) occasioned aberrant behavior. However, aberrant behavior decreased initially across tasks, suggesting that familiarity with the task might be a variable. During Phase 3, an experimental (functional) analysis of consequences was conducted with 2 participants to verify that aberrant behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement. During Phase 4, a treatment package that interspersed play with task instructions was conducted to disrupt the ongoing occurrence of aberrant behavior. Immediate and durable treatment effects occurred for 2 of the 3 participants.