Biomedical subjects

Allen Neuringer

Publications and source records attributed to Allen Neuringer.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Operant variability when reinforcement is delayed.

Operant responses are often weakened when delays are imposed between the responses and reinforcers. We examined what happens when delayed reinforcers were contingent upon operant response variability. Three groups of rats were rewardedfor varying their response sequences, with onegroup rewarded for high variability, another for middle, and the third for low levels. Consistent with many reports in the literature, responding slowed significantly in all groups as delays were lengthened. Consistent with other reports, large differences in variability were maintained across the three groups despite the delays. Reinforced variability appears to be relatively immune to disruption by such things as delays, response slowing, prefeeding, and noncontingent reinforcement. Furthermore, the small effects on variability depended on baseline levels: As delays lengthened, variability increased in the low group, was statistically unchanged in the middle group, and decreased in the high group, an interaction similar to that reported previously when reinforcement frequencies were lowered. Thus, variable operant responding is controlled by reinforcement contingencies, but sometimes differently than more commonly studied repetitive responding.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Reinforced variability in animals and people: implications for adaptive action.

Although reinforcement often leads to repetitive, even stereotyped responding, that is not a necessary outcome. When it depends on variations, reinforcement results in responding that is diverse, novel, indeed unpredictable, with distributions sometimes approaching those of a random process. This article reviews evidence for the powerful and precise control by reinforcement over behavioral variability, evidence obtained from human and animal-model studies, and implications of such control. For example, reinforcement of variability facilitates learning of complex new responses, aids problem solving, and may contribute to creativity. Depression and autism are characterized by abnormally repetitive behaviors, but individuals afflicted with such psychopathologies can learn to vary their behaviors when reinforced for so doing. And reinforced variability may help to solve a basic puzzle concerning the nature of voluntary action.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Modifying behavioral variability in moderately depressed students.

This study asked whether response sequences generated by moderately depressed students are more repetitive than those generated by nondepressed students and whether sequence variability can be increased in those identified as depressed. Seventy-five undergraduate students completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and were divided into moderately depressed and nondepressed groups. Some of the students had received class instruction concerning behavioral variability; others did not. All students participated in a two-phase, computer-game procedure in which response-sequence variability was measured. When reinforcement was provided independently of sequence variability, the depressed participants responded more repetitively than did the nondepressed. When high sequence variability was required for reinforcement, variability increased significantly in all participants, with the depressed achieving the same high levels as the nondepressed. The students who had been instructed about variability responded more variably throughout than the noninstructed. Therefore, both direct reinforcement and instruction increased behavioral variability of depressed individuals, a goal of some therapies for depression.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Reinforcement of variations and repetitions along three independent response dimensions.

Reinforcement was presented contingent upon human subjects simultaneously varying three dimensions of an operant response. The response was drawing rectangles on a computer screen. The dimensions were area of the rectangle, its location on the screen, and its shape. In Experiment 1, an experimental group was reinforced for satisfying the three-part variability contingency. A control group was equally reinforced for drawing rectangles but independently of levels of variability. Results showed that the experimental group varied significantly more along each of the dimensions than did the control group. In Experiment 2, another group of subjects was reinforced for repeating instances along one of the dimensions, e.g. repeatedly draw a rectangle in approximately the same location, while simultaneously varying along the other two dimensions. The subjects learned to satisfy these contingencies as well. These results show reinforcement simultaneously and independently controls the variability of three orthogonal dimensions of a response.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Learning to vary and varying to learn.

We compared two sources of behavior variability: decreased levels of reinforcement and reinforcement contingent on variability itself. In Experiment 1, four groups of rats were reinforced for different levels of response-sequence variability: one group was reinforced for low variability, two groups were reinforced for intermediate levels, and one group was reinforced for very high variability. All of the groups experienced three different reinforcement frequencies for meeting their respective variability contingencies. Results showed that reinforcement contingencies controlled response variability more than did reinforcement frequencies. Experiment 2 showed that only those animals concurrently reinforced for high variability acquired a difficult-to-learn sequence; animals reinforced for low variability learned little or not at all. Variability was therefore controlled mainly by reinforcement contingencies, and learning increased as a function of levels of baseline variability. Knowledge of these relationships may be helpful to those who attempt to condition operant responses.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Operant variability: evidence, functions, and theory.

Although responses are sometimes easy to predict, at other times responding seems highly variable, unpredictable, or even random. The inability to predict is generally attributed to ignorance of controlling variables, but this article is a review of research showing that the highest levels of behavioral variability may result from identifiable reinforcers contingent on such variability. That is, variability is an operant. Discriminative stimuli and reinforcers control it, resulting in low or high variability, depending on the contingencies. Schedule-of-reinforcement effects are orderly, and choosing to vary or repeat is lawfully governed by relative reinforcement frequencies. The operant nature of variability has important implications. For example, learning, exploring, creating, and problem solving may partly depend on it. Abnormal levels of variability, including those found in psychopathologies such as autism, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may be modified through reinforcement. Operant variability may also help to explain some of the unique attributes of voluntary action.

Analysis of Variance↗