Effect of signaled reinforcement on response variability

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Operant conditioning
• Animal behavior

Background:

• Operant variability is crucial for discovering new response strategies.
• Signaled reinforcement has been explored in various schedules, but not extensively for variability requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of reinforcement signals on operant variability in rats.
• To examine signaled reinforcement on schedules not previously studied in this context.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted using rats lever pressing under different reinforcement schedules.
• Variable responding schedules (lag-8, differential reinforcement of least frequent responses) and a non-variability schedule were used.
• The presence or absence of a reinforcement signal was manipulated.

Main Results:

• Rats showed increased operant variability on variability schedules when reinforcement was signaled compared to when it was not.
• A reinforcement signal decreased response variability when no variability requirement was present.
• These findings indicate that reinforcement signals influence response variability.

Conclusions:

• Operant variability is sensitive to reinforcement signal manipulations.
• Reinforcement signals facilitate the emission of required operant behaviors, including variability.
• The study extends the understanding of signaled reinforcement to novel schedules.