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Results for “Reinforcement Schedule”

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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Competition between noncontingent and contingent reinforcement schedules during response acquisition.

We examined the extent to which noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), when used as treatment to reduce problem behavior, might interfere with differential reinforcement contingencies designed to strengthen alternative behavior. After conducting a functional analysis to identify the reinforcers maintaining 2 participants' self-injurious behavior (SIB), we delivered those reinforcers under dense NCR schedules. We delivered the same reinforcers concurrently under differential-reinforcement-of-alternative-behavior (DRA) contingencies in an attempt to strengthen replacement behaviors (mands). Results showed that the NCR plus DRA intervention was associated with a decrease in SIB but little or no increase in appropriate mands. In a subsequent phase, when the NCR schedule was thinned while the DRA schedule remained unchanged, SIB remained low and mands increased. These results suggest that dense NCR schedules may alter establishing operations that result in not only suppression of problem behavior but also interference with the acquisition of appropriate behavior. Thus, the strengthening of socially appropriate behaviors as replacements for problem behavior during NCR interventions might best be achieved if the NCR schedule is first thinned.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Concurrent drinking by pigeons on fixed-interval reinforcement schedules.

Three experienced pigeons were exposed to at least ten consecutive 100-min sessions on each of three food-reinforced fixed-interval (FI) schedules: FI 50-sec, FI 100-sec and FI 200-sec. Water was freely available. Drinking was largely confined to the first third of each fixed interval, and the mean sessional water intake was directly related to the food-reinforcement rate for each animal. The animals drank very quickly, i.e., 3--4 ml/sec, but the drinking bouts were brief, i.e., 0.8--1.4 sec, and infrequent, i.e., 2--5/hr. The parameters describing concurrent drinking in the pigeon are strikingly different from those describing rats' drinking under similar reinforcement schedules, which may contribute to the difficulty in demonstrating schedule-induced polydipsia in the pigeon.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Combining noncontingent reinforcement and differential reinforcement schedules as treatment for aberrant behavior.

Research has shown that noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be an effective behavior-reduction procedure when based on a functional analysis. The effects of NCR may be a result of elimination of the contingency between aberrant behavior and reinforcing consequences (extinction) or frequent and free access to reinforcers that may reduce the participant's motivation to engage in aberrant behaviors or mands. If motivation is momentarily reduced, behavior such as mands may not be sensitive to positive reinforcement. In this study, for 3 children with aberrant behavior maintained by tangible positive reinforcement, differential-reinforcement-of-alternative-behavior schedules were superimposed on NCR schedules to determine if mands could be strengthened. Results for the participants indicated that NCR did not preclude reinforcement of mands.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1989

Breaking points on a progressive ratio schedule reinforced by intravenous apomorphine increase daily following 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the nucleus accumbens.

It has been shown previously that 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced lesions of the nucleus accumbens cause extinction of cocaine self-administration behavior, yet fail to affect the rate of apomorphine self-administration on a Fixed Ratio 1 schedule of reinforcement. Since the dopamine (DA) receptors in this nucleus should become supersensitive, and since these receptors are thought to mediate the reinforcing effects of apomorphine, then some change in apomorphine self-administration would be expected. We have therefore reinvestigated the effect of 6-OHDA lesions on apomorphine self-administration using a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement. Rats were trained to self-administer apomorphine (0.033 mg/inj, IV) on a schedule in which the response requirements increased after each reinforcement. The breaking point was defined as the final ratio completed during each daily session. Sham lesions had no effect on the breaking points, and a steady increase in the breaking point was observed in the 6-OHDA-lesioned animals which may parallel the development of DA receptor supersensitivity.

Animals↗
PubMed1973

Responding maintained by the opportunity to attack during an interval food reinforcement schedule.

Pigeons responded in a two-key situation. Responses on the right key (food key) were reinforced with food presentation on a response-initiated fixed-interval schedule, (i.e., first response after a fixed period of time was reinforced); responses on the left key (target key) were reinforced on a fixed-ratio schedule (i.e., every nth response was reinforced) with the presentation of a target bird that could be attacked. When the interval value of the food reinforcement schedule was varied from 1 min to 5 min, both the rate of attack responding on the target bird and the rate of responding on the target key were a function of the interval value. Responding on the target key was not maintained by the stimulus change associated with target availability, and was successively extinguished and reconditioned by removing and returning the target bird to the restraining box. When food was delivered independently of behavior, responding on the target key either remained unchanged or decreased, but was not eliminated. Responding on the target key was not maintained in the absence of an intermittent schedule of food presentation.

Aggression↗
PubMed2003

Concurrent schedules: reinforcer magnitude effects.

Five pigeons were trained on pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules in a switching-key procedure. The arranged overall rate of reinforcement was constant in all conditions, and the reinforcer-magnitude ratios obtained from the two alternatives were varied over five levels. Each condition remained in effect for 65 sessions and the last 50 sessions of data from each condition were analyzed. At a molar level of analysis, preference was described well by a version of the generalized matching law, consistent with previous reports. More local analyses showed that recently obtained reinforcers had small measurable effects on current preference, with the most recently obtained reinforcer having a substantially larger effect. Larger reinforcers resulted in larger and longer preference pulses, and a small preference was maintained for the larger-magnitude alternative even after long inter-reinforcer intervals. These results are consistent with the notion that the variables controlling choice have both short- and long-term effects. Moreover, they suggest that control by reinforcer magnitude is exerted in a manner similar to control by reinforcer frequency. Lower sensitivities when reinforcer magnitude is varied are likely to be due to equal frequencies of different sized preference pulses, whereas higher sensitivities when reinforcer rates are varied might result from changes in the frequencies of different sized preference pulses.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Self-control and impulsiveness with asynchronous presentation of reinforcement schedules.

IN DISCRETE TRIALS, PIGEONS WERE PRESENTED WITH TWO ALTERNATIVES: to wait for a larger reinforcer, or to respond and obtain a smaller reinforcer immediately. The choice of the former was defined as self-control, and the choice of the latter as impulsiveness. The stimulus that set the opportunity for an impulsive choice was presented after a set interval from the onset of the stimulus that signaled the waiting period. That interval increased or decreased from session to session so that the opportunity for an impulsive choice became available either more removed from or closer in time to the presentation of the larger reinforcer. In three separate conditions, the larger reinforcer was delivered according to either a fixed interval (FI) schedule, a fixed time (FT) schedule, or a differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) schedule. The results showed that impulsive choices increased as the opportunity for such a choice was more distant in time from presentation of the larger reinforcer. Although the schedule of the larger reinforcer affected the rate of response in the waiting period, the responses themselves had no effect on choice unless the responses postponed presentation of the larger reinforcer.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

MDL 72222, ketanserin, and methysergide pretreatments fail to alter breaking points on a progressive ratio schedule reinforced by intravenous cocaine.

The effects of three serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] receptor antagonists on cocaine self-administration behavior were investigated. Specifically, the effects of MDL 72222 (a specific 5-HT3 receptor antagonist), ketanserin (a specific 5HT2 receptor antagonist), and methysergide (an aselective 5-HT1/5-HT2 receptor antagonist) on the breaking points reached by rats on a progressive ratio schedule for cocaine reinforcement were examined. Pretreatments with MDL 72222 (7.5-1,920 micrograms/kg, SC), ketanserin (0.4-6.4 mg/kg, IP), and methysergide (2.5-20 mg/kg, IP) failed to alter breaking points from baseline values. Although tested at twice the highest doses previously reported to have significant behavioral effects, the three 5-HT receptor antagonists were without effect. These data suggest that relatively specific blockade of 5-HT receptor subtypes does not influence the reinforcing effects of cocaine.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Effect of runway training on rat brain tyrosine hydroxylase: differential effect of continuous and partial reinforcement schedules.

Previous experiments have implicated ascending noradrenergic systems in the development of the behavioural responses to different patterns of reward. In this report food deprived male Sprague--Dawley rats were trained to run a straight alley for good reward on a continuous reinforcement (CRF) or a partial reinforcement (PRF) schedule. Tyrosine hydroxylase measured in a partially solubilized preparation from hippocampus and hypothalamus at the end of acquisition was not different from controls, indicating that enzyme induction does not occur during either training schedules. However, hippocampal synaptosomal tyrosine hydroxylation rates from the CRF group was significantly higher than from either the PRF group or the handled controls. This indicates that at the end of the acquisition schedule the noradrenergic projection to hippocampus was more active in the CRF group than with the PRF group or the handled control.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Lesions of central serotonin systems affect responding on a progressive ratio schedule reinforced either by intravenous cocaine or by food.

The effect of intraventricular infusions of the serotonergic neurotoxin, 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT), was examined in rats trained on a progressive ratio schedule for either IV cocaine or food reinforcement. Animals in the 5,7-DHT treatment group responded to significantly higher breaking points than vehicle-injected control animals, regardless of whether food or cocaine was used as the reinforcing stimulus. Analysis of the regional brain amines indicated that depletions of mesencephalic 5-HT correlated with postsurgical alterations in responding. These findings suggest that depletion of forebrain 5-HT produces a general effect on responding rather than a specific alteration in the reinforcing effects of psychomotor stimulant drugs.

5,7-Dihydroxytryptamine↗