AUTOMATED ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE CHOICE BEHAVIOR

The range, precision, and speed of befrom the display window microswitch accordhavioral testing is often facilitated through ing to instructions entered on the program automation. At present most automatic equippanel and so proviaes reinforcements and ment available is of the operant conditioning program, changes automatically; and (c) type (1). However, the results of many experirecords for each trial, on punched paper tape ments depend on a more intimate analysis of suitable for analysis by a general purpose changes in the relation between response, disdigital computer, the cue pattern and position criminative and reinforcing stimulus on sucto which response is made as well as the outcessive discrete trials. Also, as task complexity come of the response. is increased, the operant type of equip~ent This Discrimination Apparatus for Discrete must be considerably modified if it is not to Trial Analysis, has been successfully used in become too curpbersome in construction and testing subhuman primates for over four operation. months. Mechanical difficulties have been To overcome these limitations of operant minimal' and easily corrected. equipment, the following device was designed The advantages over manual testing which and has proved, in use, to be a powerful have made operant equipment so valuable are laboratory instrument. Simple or complex. maintained: testing" time is reduced,' experisingle or multiple choice tasks can be promenter bias is eliminated and an accurate, grammed and both stimulus and response complete record of behavior is available for events recorded, trial by trial, ready for analysis. analysis by any general purpose computer. An additional advantage over manual' testThe apparatus consists of two sections: the ing in apparatus such as the Wisconsin display unit and the control console. These General Testing Apparatus should be menmay be separated by as much as 50 ft through tioned. Ordinarily, place and discriminative the use of three interconnecting cables. The stimulus are confounded. The trial-to-trial display unit consists of 16 clear plastic winchange of stimuli over 16, positions, shapes dows, and of a feeder mechanism and tray. the subjects' respons'e to the discriminative Behind each window is placed a commercially stimuli rather than to place. Position habits available removable electronic projection unit do not occur. Our experience shows that in 'a which can display 12 different patterns. The two-choice situation, normal Rhesus monkeys plastic windows, through which the projected will quickly make discriminations (e.g. of the patterns are visible, are hinged and activate arabic numerals 4 vs 6) in DADTA within 250 a microswitch when pressure is applied to the trials (five runs) that are 'next to impossible ,window surface. The operation of the display to achieve in manual testing. For certain types unit is controlled remotely by the console. In of problems such as multiple choice, response addition, for initial training and shaping of to ordered sequences, massed vs spaced trial. behavior, manual control of trial presentalearning, DADTA has also proved superior tions and of reinforcements is provided. to the usual operant type of equipment since The control console provides the following the discriminative and reinforcing stimuli are operations: (a) programs the display of cues flexibly, yet intimately coupled to each reon the display unit as determined by settings sponse on a trial-to-trial basis. made manually on the console panel; (b) Data analysis has been handled in various processes the response information received ways depending upon the particular behavior 123 ./