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Related Experiment Videos

Negative automaintenance omission training is effective.

Federico Sanabria1, Matthew T Sitomer, Peter R Killeen

  • 1Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287-1104, USA. Federico.Sanabria@asu.edu

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|August 15, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Negative automaintenance contingencies drastically reduced responding in pigeons, regardless of prior training. A mathematical model confirmed this rapid decline in response rates to near operant levels.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Animal behavior studies

Background:

  • Automaintenance procedures involve contingent reinforcement for a response that is not required for reinforcement.
  • Negative automaintenance involves a response that results in the removal of reinforcement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of negative automaintenance on established responding in pigeons.
  • To quantify the rate of response reduction under negative automaintenance.

Main Methods:

  • Pigeons underwent either brief or extended positive automaintenance, or instrumental training.
  • Subsequently, they were exposed to negative automaintenance contingencies.
  • Response rates were recorded and analyzed using a transition rate model.

Main Results:

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  • Negative automaintenance contingencies led to a near-complete cessation of responding across all conditions.
  • Average response rates decreased to approximately 1.3 responses per minute.
  • A validated mathematical model accurately predicted the transition to low response rates.

Conclusions:

  • Negative automaintenance is a potent procedure for suppressing behavior, even when responding is well-established.
  • The rapid decline in responding suggests a strong aversion to the response-produced punishment.