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Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
08:30

Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats

Published on: February 15, 2015

Resistance to change and preference for variable versus fixed response sequences.

Joana Arantes1, Mark E Berg, Dien Le

  • 1University of Canterbury, Department of Psychology, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|August 2, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Pigeons preferred operant variation over repetition, showing greater resistance to change. This preference held even when reinforcer rates were equal, suggesting a fundamental behavioral bias towards variability.

Keywords:
choiceconcurrent chainskey peckmultiple schedulesoperant variationpigeonsresistance to changestereotypy

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Operant conditioning
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • Operant variation and repetition are key concepts in understanding behavioral flexibility.
  • Previous research suggests operant variation is more resistant to change than repetition.
  • Behavioral momentum theory offers a framework for understanding resistance to change.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate pigeons' preference between operant variation and repetition under controlled conditions.
  • To examine the resistance to change of operant variation versus repetition.
  • To test predictions of behavioral momentum theory regarding preference and resistance.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Pigeons trained on a multiple chain schedule with distinct REPEAT and VARY terminal links; reinforcer rates equated.
  • Experiment 2: REPEAT and VARY contingencies as terminal links in a concurrent chain schedule with manipulated relative reinforcer rates.
  • Measures included initial- and terminal-link responding, resistance to extinction, prefeeding, and response-independent food.

Main Results:

  • Operant variation (VARY component) showed greater resistance to extinction, prefeeding, and response-independent food than operant repetition (REPEAT component).
  • Pigeons consistently allocated more responses to the initial link associated with the VARY terminal link, indicating a preference for variation.
  • Preference for variation was observed even when reinforcer rates were equalized.

Conclusions:

  • Pigeons demonstrate a preference for operant variation over repetition, independent of reinforcer rate.
  • Operant variation is inherently more resistant to change than operant repetition.
  • Behavioral momentum theory accounts for the covariation of preference and resistance but not the underlying cause of variation/repetition effects.