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OBSERVING RESPONSES AND SERIAL STIMULI: SEARCHING FOR THE REINFORCING PROPERTIES OF THE S−
Author(s) -
Escobar Rogelio,
Bruner Carlos A.
Publication year - 2009
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.2009.92-215
Subject(s) - reinforcement , stimulus (psychology) , extinction (optical mineralogy) , lever , stimulus control , conditioning , psychology , neutral stimulus , time perception , audiology , classical conditioning , neuroscience , cognition , mathematics , statistics , cognitive psychology , social psychology , physics , optics , medicine , quantum mechanics , nicotine
The control exerted by a stimulus associated with an extinction component (S–) on observing responses was determined as a function of its temporal relation with the onset of the reinforcement component. Lever pressing by rats was reinforced on a mixed random‐interval extinction schedule. Each press on a second lever produced stimuli associated with the component of the schedule in effect. In Experiment 1 a response‐dependent clock procedure that incorporated different stimuli associated with an extinction component of a variable duration was used. When a single S− was presented throughout the extinction component, the rate of observing remained relatively constant across this component. In the response‐dependent clock procedure, observing responses increased from the beginning to the end of the extinction component. This result was replicated in Experiment 2, using a similar clock procedure but keeping the number of stimuli per extinction component constant. We conclude that the S− can function as a conditioned reinforcer, a neutral stimulus or as an aversive stimulus, depending on its temporal location within the extinction component.