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IS BAR‐HOLDING WITH NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT PREPARATORY OR PERSEVERATIVE?
Author(s) -
Keehn J. D.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1967.10-461
Subject(s) - bar (unit) , chaining , reinforcement , white (mutation) , computer science , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , physics , chemistry , biochemistry , meteorology , gene
Three of four white rats learned to press first one bar and then another to escape or avoid electric shocks. Cumulative bar‐holding‐time records showed that holding occurred frequently on the second bar but hardly ever on the first, indicating that bar‐holding is more “perserverative” than “preparatory”. The response chain, first‐bar press second‐bar press, was more easily established by a forward than by a backward chaining procedure.