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Related Experiment Videos

Negative behavioral contrast on multiple treadle-press schedules.

F K McSweeney

    Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
    |May 1, 1978
    PubMed
    Summary

    Pigeons showed negative behavioral contrast in a reinforcement study. Responding decreased when a variable schedule offered more food, but didn't consistently increase when it offered less, impacting behavioral contrast theories.

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    Area of Science:

    • Behavioral psychology
    • Animal behavior studies
    • Operant conditioning

    Background:

    • Behavioral contrast is a phenomenon where changes in reinforcement for one behavior affect the rate of another behavior.
    • Additive theories of behavioral contrast predict how changes in reinforcement rates influence responding.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate behavioral contrast in pigeons under multiple variable-interval schedules.
    • To examine the occurrence of positive and negative behavioral contrast.
    • To test predictions of additive theories of behavioral contrast.

    Main Methods:

    • Eight pigeons were trained on multiple variable-interval schedules.
    • One schedule component offered a constant rate of 30 reinforcers/hour.
    • The other component's rate varied from 0 to 240 reinforcers/hour.

    Main Results:

    • Responding during the variable component varied directly with its reinforcement rate.
    • Responding during the constant component decreased when the variable component's rate increased above 30 reinforcers/hour.
    • Responding during the constant component did not consistently increase when the variable component's rate decreased below 30 reinforcers/hour.

    Conclusions:

    • Negative behavioral contrast was observed, but positive contrast was not.
    • The findings partially support additive theories of behavioral contrast.
    • The absence of positive contrast has ambiguous implications for current theoretical models.

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