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Related Concept Videos

Reinforcement Schedules01:24

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Positive reinforcement is a powerful method for teaching new behaviors to both animals and humans. B.F. Skinner demonstrated this with his experiments using rats in a Skinner box. When a rat pressed a lever, it received a food pellet. This immediate reward encouraged the rat to repeat the behavior. This method, where a reward follows every instance of the behavior, is known as continuous reinforcement. It is highly effective for establishing new behaviors quickly.
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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.
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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. 
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Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
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Suppression by reinforcement, a model for multiple-schedule behavioral contrast.

F K McSweeney1

  • 1Psychology Dept., Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4830, USA.

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

Delayed reinforcers suppress behavior, explaining behavioral contrast in multiple schedules. Removing these reinforcers increases responding (positive contrast), while adding them decreases responding (negative contrast).

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Animal Behavior
  • Learning Theory

Background:

  • Behavioral contrast is a phenomenon in operant conditioning.
  • Multiple schedules of reinforcement involve alternating between different schedules.
  • Existing theories do not fully explain contrast effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a novel explanation for multiple-schedule behavioral contrast.
  • To demonstrate that delayed reinforcers suppress behavior.
  • To reconcile existing findings within a unified theoretical framework.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical analysis of behavioral contrast.
  • Examination of existing experimental literature on multiple schedules.
  • Hypothesizing the suppressive effect of delayed reinforcers.

Main Results:

  • Delayed reinforcers in a second component suppress responding in the first component.
  • Removal of second-component reinforcers leads to positive contrast.
  • Addition of second-component reinforcers leads to negative contrast.

Conclusions:

  • Delayed reinforcement suppression offers a parsimonious explanation for behavioral contrast.
  • This theory accounts for both positive and negative contrast phenomena.
  • The proposed mechanism aligns with major findings in the contrast literature.