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INCENTIVE PROCESSES AND THE PEAK SHIFT
Author(s) -
Weiss Stanley J.,
Dacanay Robert J.
Publication year - 1982
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.1982.37-441
Subject(s) - reinforcement , pecking order , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , stimulus control , operant conditioning , stimulus generalization , shaping , discrimination learning , audiology , neuroscience , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , biology , medicine , perception , nicotine , evolutionary biology
Intradimensional operant discrimination schedules were employed, which eliminated the covariation of response and reinforcement rates that are found on most operant baselines. In Phase 1, one keylight (S 1 ) controlled an increase in pigeons' treadle pressing, relative to another keylight (S 2 ), while being correlated with a decrease in frequency of reinforcement. In Phase 2 both treadle pressing and reinforcement increased in the presence of one keylight, relative to the second. In Phase 1 the relatively flat treadle‐press generalization gradients peaked at S 1 , whereas the peaks of those in Phase 2 were shifted from S 1 in a direction away from S 2 . It was postulated that these positive and negative stimulus‐reinforcement contingencies influence the likelihood of obtaining peak shift through the operation of a classically conditioned “central motive state.” How response‐reinforcement and stimulus‐reinforcement contingencies might contribute to the development of inhibitory effects of S 2 is discussed. Autoshaped key pecking also was produced by these procedures. During manipulations of stimuli, the gradients obtained for autoshaped key pecking were narrow and sharply peaked at the food‐correlated stimulus (S 2 ) in Phase 1. This failure to obtain peak shift for an elicited response suggests a difference in discriminative processes operating in classical and instrumental learning.