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Related Experiment Video

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Operant Procedures for Assessing Behavioral Flexibility in Rats
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Behavioral contrast of a complex operant.

S B Kendall1

  • 1Psychology Dept., University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario Canada, N6A 5C2.

Behavioural Processes
|June 14, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Complex operant behavior in pigeons can exhibit behavioral contrast. Stimulus-reinforcer contingencies can enhance trained complex responses, as shown in two pigeon experiments.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Animal behavior studies
  • Operant conditioning

Background:

  • Complex operant responses involve sequential actions.
  • Behavioral contrast is a phenomenon where an organism's rate of responding is affected by changes in reinforcement contingencies in another component of a multiple schedule.
  • Understanding factors influencing complex behavior is crucial in operant conditioning research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate behavioral contrast in pigeons performing a complex operant response.
  • To examine the effect of stimulus-reinforcer contingencies on the reappearance of a trained complex response.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted with pigeons trained on a two-key complex operant response.
  • Experiment I involved variable-interval reinforcement followed by multiple schedules alternating with extinction or discrimination.
  • Experiment II involved extinction followed by a phase with stimulus-reinforcer contingencies.

Main Results:

  • Pigeons demonstrated behavioral contrast under specific multiple schedule conditions.
  • A complex response temporarily reappeared when a stimulus-reinforcer contingency was introduced after extinction.
  • Some individual differences in response to the experimental manipulations were observed.

Conclusions:

  • Complex operant behavior in pigeons is susceptible to behavioral contrast.
  • Stimulus-reinforcer contingencies can reinstate previously trained complex responses.
  • These findings contribute to understanding the dynamics of complex operant behavior and reinforcement schedules.