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Related Experiment Videos

Segmentation and the pairing hypothesis.

Orn Bragason1

  • 1Pattern Vision, Bovgartuni 37, 105 Reykjavik, Iceland. orn.bragason@canterbury.ac.nz

Behavioural Processes
|July 9, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Stimulus contiguity and response contingency influence behavior in chain schedules. A stimulus not immediately preceding food can maintain responding, challenging the pairing hypothesis of conditioned reinforcement.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • Conditioned reinforcement is typically explained by stimulus-contiguity with primary reinforcement.
  • Chain schedules of reinforcement involve a series of responses, each followed by a stimulus that signals the next component.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of stimulus contiguity and response contingency in maintaining responding within chain schedules.
  • To examine whether stimuli not directly paired with primary reinforcement can sustain behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted using pigeons trained on multi-link chain schedules.
  • Variations in stimulus-signaling (two-stimulus vs. three-stimulus chains) and response contingencies (delays to terminal-link entry) were manipulated.

Main Results:

  • Pigeons in a three-stimulus chain schedule showed higher initial-link responding than in a two-stimulus chain.
  • A three-stimulus chain with a delay to terminal-link entry maintained responding comparable to a two-stimulus chain without such a delay.
  • Stimuli not contiguous with food delivery could maintain responding.

Conclusions:

  • The findings challenge the traditional pairing hypothesis of conditioned reinforcement.
  • Response contingency plays a critical role in maintaining behavior, sometimes overriding the effect of stimulus contiguity with primary reinforcement.

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