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FIXED‐INTERVAL PUNISHMENT 1
Author(s) -
Appel James B.
Publication year - 1968
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.1968.11-803
Subject(s) - punishment (psychology) , reinforcement , shock (circulatory) , interval (graph theory) , intensity (physics) , psychology , mathematics , audiology , developmental psychology , physics , social psychology , medicine , combinatorics , optics
The average rate of bar‐pressing maintained by a variable‐interval schedule of milk reinforcement in 33 rats was found to be a decreasing function of intensity of concurrent punishment and, over a wide range of shock intensities, was inversely related to punishment frequency. Cumulative records were, however, negatively accelerated during 30‐min punishment sessions with complete suppression occurring earlier and earlier (after fewer and fewer shocks) as intensity increased. In addition, acceleration was often observed between successive fixed‐interval shock presentations and, at low and moderate intensities, bursts of responding occurred after each shock. The time to recover between punishment sessions (post‐punishment recovery) was an increasing monotonic function of punishment intensity.