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STIMULUS‐SPECIFIC CONTRAST EFFECTS DURING OPERANT DISCRIMINATION LEARNING 1
Author(s) -
Malone John C.
Publication year - 1975
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.1975.24-281
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , emotionality , discrimination learning , stimulus generalization , cognitive psychology , extinction (optical mineralogy) , contrast effect , contrast (vision) , audiology , developmental psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , artificial intelligence , perception , optics , computer science , physics , medicine
In two experiments, pigeons' responding was equally reinforced in the presence of four line‐orientation stimuli. Responding was then reinforced when only two of the four orientation stimuli were present; the remaining two orientations appeared during extinction. Response rates were often highest in the stimulus adjacent to the orientations presented during extinction and often lowest in that orientation adjacent to the orientations presented with reinforcement. These effects were stronger and more persistent when the stimuli were separated by a smaller angle, rendering the discrimination more difficult. These and other data suggest that discrimination training may not be accurately explained in terms of the simple effects of reinforcement and nonreinforcement associated with isolated stimuli, nor by accounts that depend upon stimulus generalization. Recent accounts of contrast that depend upon “emotionality” produced by nonreinforced responding or upon reinforcement‐elicited responses are also difficult to apply to these data.