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Responding under sequence schedules of electric shock presentation
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|May 1, 1981
Summary
Squirrel monkeys learned lever pressing under complex shock schedules. Behavior changed predictably with different shock timings, showing shock can maintain behavior in intricate settings.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Second-order schedules involve stimuli associated with reinforcement or punishment.
- Understanding complex schedules is key to behavioral analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate squirrel monkey lever pressing under sequence schedules of electric shock.
- To compare responding under different overall schedules of shock presentation.
Main Methods:
- Squirrel monkeys were exposed to two-minute fixed-interval schedules within overall fixed-interval, yoked variable-ratio, and fixed-ratio schedules.
- Discriminative stimuli signaled different components, with electric shock contingent on overall schedule requirements.
- Response patterns were analyzed across components and schedule types.
Main Results:
- Responding showed a pause followed by a single response in early components.
- Later components exhibited shorter pauses and positively accelerated responding.
- Behavioral changes mirrored those seen with food-based schedules, indicating shock's efficacy.
Conclusions:
- Complex sequence schedules of electric shock can effectively maintain lever pressing behavior in squirrel monkeys.
- Behavioral responding under shock schedules is comparable to that under food schedules.
- These findings expand the understanding of behavioral control under aversive conditions.