Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning, a key concept in behavioral psychology, involves using reinforcement and punishment to alter the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. B.F. introduced this type of conditioning. Skinner focused on voluntary behaviors and the consequences that follow them, influencing whether these behaviors will be strengthened or diminished.
Reinforcement in operant conditioning can be positive or negative, both of which serve to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Positive...

Reinforcement

Reinforcement

Positive and negative reinforcement are key concepts in operant conditioning, a learning process where the consequences of a behavior affect the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.
Positive reinforcement occurs when a behavior is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus, increasing the frequency of that behavior. For example:

Hindsight Biases

Hindsight Biases

Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now?

Timing and Consequences on Behavior

Timing and Consequences on Behavior

In operant conditioning, the timing of reinforcement is crucial. For animals like rats and cats, immediate reinforcement (within a few seconds) is much more effective than delayed reinforcement. For example, a food reward for a rat needs to follow within 30 seconds of pressing a bar to be effective.
Humans, however, can respond to delayed reinforcers. We often make decisions between immediate small rewards and delayed larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification is a significant factor...

Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness

Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness

Avoidance learning and learned helplessness are critical concepts in understanding behavioral responses to negative stimuli.
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...

The Influence of Cognition on Affect

The Influence of Cognition on Affect

Cognition plays a pivotal role in shaping emotional experiences, as demonstrated by Schachter and Singer’s two-factor theory of emotion. According to this model, emotion arises from a combination of physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation. The body’s physiological response to stimuli is ambiguous and only gains emotional significance through cognitive labeling. For instance, an increased heart rate and adrenaline surge while standing near an attractive person may be interpreted as...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Foreperiod and Response Complexity Effects on Movement-Related Potentials.

Psychophysiology·2025

Same author

Psychophysiological Effects of Left-Hand Contractions on Golf-Putting and Dart-Throwing Performance.

Journal of sport & exercise psychology·2025

Same author

Electromyographic correlates of effortful listening in the vestigial auriculomotor system.

Frontiers in neuroscience·2025

Same author

Monetary reward enhances response inhibition processes manifested in No-go P3.

International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology·2024

Same author

The vestigial pinna-orienting system in humans briefly suppresses superior auricular muscle activity during reflexive orienting toward auditory stimuli.

Journal of neurophysiology·2024

Same author

Effects of left-hand contraction on tennis serve performance.

Frontiers in psychology·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Irrelevant Stimuli and Action Control: Analyzing the Influence of Ignored Stimuli via the Distractor-Response Binding Paradigm

Irrelevant Stimuli and Action Control: Analyzing the Influence of Ignored Stimuli via the Distractor-Response Binding Paradigm

Published on: May 14, 2014

Stimulus-preceding negativity is modulated by action-outcome contingency.

Hiroaki Masaki¹, Katuo Yamazaki, Steven A Hackley

¹Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 2-579-15, Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359, Japan. masaki@waseda.jp

|February 6, 2010

Summary

The stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) brainwave is larger when rewards depend on actions, not random chance. This suggests SPN reflects expecting reinforcement from one's own actions.

More Related Videos

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Published on: October 6, 2011

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Irrelevant Stimuli and Action Control: Analyzing the Influence of Ignored Stimuli via the Distractor-Response Binding Paradigm

Irrelevant Stimuli and Action Control: Analyzing the Influence of Ignored Stimuli via the Distractor-Response Binding Paradigm

Published on: May 14, 2014

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Published on: October 6, 2011

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Electrophysiology

Background:

The stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) is an electrophysiological measure sensitive to motivational states.
Previous neuroimaging indicated the insular cortex, an SPN source, shows heightened activity before contingent rewards compared to gratuitous ones.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between action-outcome contingency and the SPN.
To determine if the SPN reflects the expectation of response reinforcement or general anticipatory attention.

Main Methods:

Comparison of two gambling tasks: a choice condition (action-contingent rewards) and a no-choice condition (random rewards).
Measurement of the SPN, an event-related potential, during anticipation of feedback.

Main Results:

The SPN was significantly larger in the choice condition compared to the no-choice condition.
This difference was particularly pronounced at right anterolateral scalp sites.

Conclusions:

The SPN specifically signals the expectation of reinforcement derived from one's own actions.
Findings differentiate the SPN's role from general anticipatory attention towards salient stimuli.