Second-order schedules and the problem of conditioned reinforcement

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Animal behavior studies
• Operant conditioning

Background:

• Second-order schedules involve reinforcement for responding under a component schedule.
• Component completion can involve stimulus presentation or no stimulus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of brief stimulus presentations in second-order schedules.
• To compare the effects of paired, non-paired, and no stimulus presentations on response patterning.
• To reevaluate the role of conditioned reinforcement in pigeon behavior under these schedules.

Main Methods:

• Thirteen pigeons were exposed to various second-order schedules.
• Component schedules included fixed-interval and fixed-ratio.
• Reinforcement schedules included fixed- and variable-ratio and fixed- and variable-interval.

Main Results:

• Brief stimulus presentations engendered response patterns similar to food reinforcement.
• Response patterning occurred regardless of whether stimuli were paired or non-paired with reinforcement.
• The properties of the brief stimuli and the scheduling operation influenced response patterning.

Conclusions:

• The discriminative properties of brief stimuli or the scheduling operation itself may establish stimuli as reinforcers.
• Conditioned reinforcement's role in second-order schedules may require reevaluation.
• Behavioral effects were observed even when stimuli were not directly paired with primary reinforcement.