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Positive behavioral contrast in 3-month-old infants on multiple conjugate reinforcement schedules
Insights
Infants showed positive behavioral contrast, increasing their responses to a mobile when a previously reinforced stimulus was unexpectedly removed. This highlights early learning and emotional responses to reinforcement changes.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Psychology
- Infant Learning
Background:
- Behavioral contrast is a phenomenon where response rates change based on reinforcement schedules.
- Understanding early behavioral contrast in infants provides insights into developing learning and emotional regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate positive behavioral contrast in young infants using multiple conjugate reinforcement schedules.
- To examine infants' behavioral and emotional responses to changes in reinforcement contingencies.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilized multiple conjugate reinforcement schedules with visual cues (discriminative stimuli).
- Footkicks by infants activated an overhead crib mobile, with reinforcement proportional to response vigor and rate.
- Schedules involved training with a single cue (S+) followed by a multiple schedule with an extinction component, or immediate introduction of a multiple schedule.
Main Results:
- Positive behavioral contrast was observed in both experiments, indicating increased responding in the presence of the non-extinction cue.
- Response reduction in the extinction component was evident in individual relative response curves.
- Negative emotional behaviors were associated with the extinction component, while cooing occurred with the reinforced stimulus in Experiment 1.
Conclusions:
- Young infants demonstrate positive behavioral contrast, a complex learned behavior.
- Changes in reinforcement schedules elicit significant behavioral and emotional responses in infants.
- This study contributes to understanding the foundational mechanisms of learning and adaptation in early development.
Abstract:
Positive behavioral contrast was assessed in two experiments with young infants using multiple conjugate reinforcement schedules. Reinforcement was produced by footkicks which activated the objects of an overhead crib mobile in a manner proportional to the vigor and rate of responding. Distinctive color/pattern cues on the sides of the objects served as discriminative stimuli for components of the multiple schedule. In Experiment 1, infants were trained with one cue (S+) only before insertion of S+ into a multiple schedule with an extinction component. A control group received S+ throughout all sessions. In Experiment 2, a multiple schedule was introduced at the outset, and responses in both components were reinforced before the introduction of extinction in the second component. In a final phase, reinforcement was reintroduced into the second component. Positive behavioral contrast occurred in both experiments. Response reduction in the extinction component was seen only in individual relative response curves. In both experiments, negative emotional behaviors accompanied the extinction component, and in Experiment 1, cooing accompanied presentations of S+.