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Updated: Aug 7, 2026
08:30
Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
Published on: February 15, 2015
Behavioral contrast and the automaintained key peck
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|January 1, 1981
Summary
Behavioral contrast was observed in pigeons during discrimination training with positive automaintenance. Response rates increased for the food-associated stimulus and decreased for the non-associated stimulus, demonstrating this effect.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral psychology
- Animal learning
Background:
- Positive automaintenance procedures involve response-independent reinforcement.
- Discrimination training is used to establish differential responding to stimuli.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate behavioral contrast in positive automaintenance.
- To compare findings with traditional operant and Pavlovian discrimination training.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilized discrimination training with conditioned stimuli (CS) and response-independent food presentation.
- Food was selectively omitted for one CS, then reinstated and reversed.
- Response rates during CS presentations were measured.
Main Results:
- Six of eight subjects exhibited positive behavioral contrast, with increased responding to the food-associated CS and decreased responding to the non-associated CS.
- Behavioral contrast was replicated when food and its CS were removed, but not when both were eliminated.
- Results align with findings from operant and Pavlovian discrimination training.
Conclusions:
- Behavioral contrast can be demonstrated in positive automaintenance procedures.
- Additivity theories may not fully explain the observed behavioral contrast data.
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