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A TEST OF THE REINFORCING PROPERTIES OF STIMULI CORRELATED WITH NON REINFORCEMENT 1
Author(s) -
Katz Harold N.
Publication year - 1976
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.1976.26-45
Subject(s) - reinforcement , stimulus (psychology) , psychology , stimulus control , neutral stimulus , peck (imperial) , audiology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , mathematics , medicine , geometry , nicotine
The information hypothesis of conditioned reinforcement predicts that a stimulus that “reduces uncertainty” about the outcome of a trial will acquire reinforcing properties, even when the stimulus reliably predicts nonreinforcement. Four pigeons' key pecks produced one of two 5‐sec stimuli with 0.50 probability according to a discriminated variable‐interval schedule. One stimulus was followed by reinforcement; a second stimulus was followed by blackout. To the same extent, therefore, both stimuli reduced uncertainty about the possibility that food would arrive at the termination of the schedule interval. When a second key in the chamber was lighted, each peck on it could produce the stimulus preceding reinforcement, the stimulus preceding nonreinforcement, a novel stimulus, or no stimulus, across separate conditions. The stimulus preceding food maintained responding at substantial levels on the second, stimulus‐producing, key. Such responding was not maintained by other stimuli. These data, replicated when the stimuli were reversed on the variable‐interval schedule, do not support the prediction that uncertainty‐reducing stimuli are necessarily conditioned reinforcers.