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R Pierrel

Publications and source records attributed to R Pierrel.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1971

Differential responding as a function of auditory stimulus intensity without differential reinforcement.

Two groups of four rats each were trained to bar press on a variable-interval 2-min schedule. During training, either 3, 5, or 9 auditory stimuli of various intensities were randomly presented. A direct relationship between stimulus intensity and rate of responding was obtained, but it was more consistent in the group trained initially with three stimuli than for the group that started with nine stimuli. The results are related to the concept of stimulus intensity dynamism and the necessary conditions for the acquisition of stimulus control.

Animals↗
PubMed1970

Auditory discrimination: a three-variable analysis of intensity effects.

The acquisition of auditory intensity discriminations in rats trained on multiple variable-interval extinction schedules was studied as a function of some of the variables that contribute to the speed of development of differential responding and the final level attained. The effects of three variables were isolated and studied in detail: (1) the decibel difference between the discriminative stimuli (intensity difference); (2) the intensity relationship between the stimuli (relative intensity); and (3) the position of the stimuli on the intensity continuum (absolute intensity). Each of the three variables generated orderly relationships and interacted with one another to produce complex effects upon differential responding.

Animals↗
PubMed1967

Antecedent reinforcement contingencies in the stimulus control of an auditory discrimination.

In order to assess possible confounding of discriminative stimulus effects with those produced by the reinforcing stimulus, three groups of four rats each were trained for 45 hr on a variable-interval 1-min reinforcement program. Two groups were run on a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule in which the reinforcement stimulus (S(D)) and the nonreinforcement stimulus (S(Delta)) were two intensities of a 4-kHz (cps) tone separated by 40 or 10 db. The third group was run on a mixed schedule with a single intensity constantly present. The mixed-schedule animals showed no discrimination of the reinforcement program. Under the multiple schedule, the highest S(Delta) rates were obtained after S(D) intervals, regardless of the reinforcement availability in the S(D) interval. These local rate variations in S(Delta) were small in proportion to those produced by the S(D)versus S(Delta) intensities.

Animals↗