Contrasting effects of reinforcer rate and magnitude on differential resistance to change in humans.

The effects of the magnitude of reinforcement on the resistance to change of humans engaged in a computer task were examined in two experiments. In each, responding was disrupted by increasing the force requirement of the required response. In Experiment 1, the participants were exposed to a multiple variable-interval (VI) VI schedule of reinforcement.

Pigeon in a Box: as Subject in Behavioral Research.

Pigeons () have played a central role as subjects in the experimental analysis of behavior since the 1940s. This review considers the use of pigeons by humans across several domains: (1) their early use as a domesticated species and in early psychology laboratory experiments; (2) their rise, and recent decline relative to the use of other species, as a subject in behavior-analytic research published in the ; and (3) their influence in research extending beyond behavior analysis. In addition, in the latter two sections, quantitative data are presented to document the frequency of use of laboratory pigeons and their impact outside of the lab, respectively.

Correction: Resurgence and Behavioral Contrast, Compared and Contrasted.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40614-024-00408-2.].

Resurgence and Behavioral Contrast, Compared and Contrasted.

This is a review of the relation between operant response resurgence and behavioral contrast. Both are defined by rate changes in a target response as a function of environmental changes spatially or temporally distal to the location of the target response. The typical procedures for investigating these two phenomena differ in that (1) resurgence is studied using concurrent schedules and behavioral contrast predominantly with multiple schedules and (2) resurgence is assessed against an extinction baseline of the target response and behavioral contrast has been assessed under a variety of reinforcement schedules.

An analysis of coordinated responding of pigeons.

Experimental analyses of coordinated responding (i.e., cooperation) have been derived from a procedure described by Skinner (1962) in which reinforcers were delivered to a pair of subjects (a dyad) if both responded within a short interval, thus satisfying a coordination contingency.

Response-dependent point loss and response force as disrupting operations on behavioral resistance to change in humans.

Behavioral momentum theory (BMT) provides a theoretical and methodological framework for understanding how differentially maintained operant responding resists disruption. A common way to test operant resistance involves contingencies with suppressive effects, such as extinction or prefeeding. Other contingencies with known suppressive effects, such as response-cost procedures arranged as point-loss or increases in response force, remain untested as disruptive events within the BMT framework.

Stimulus control of a social operant.

Three pigeon dyads were exposed to a two-component multiple schedule comprised of two tandem variable-interval 30-s interresponse time (IRT) > 3-s schedules in the presence of different stimuli. Pecks to keys by both pigeons of a dyad occurring within 500 ms of one another were required for reinforcement under one tandem schedule (the coordination component), and such coordinated responses were not required under the other (the control component). The terminal link of each schedule ensured that the reinforced coordination response was an IRT > 3 s.

A Tale of Two Rats: The Backstory of a Clever Cartoon.

A well-known cartoon among psychologists and behavior analysts depicts two rats in a Skinner box, leaning over a response lever as one says to the other, "Boy, do we have this guy conditioned, every time I press the bar down he drops a pellet in." Anyone who has ever conducted an experiment, worked with a client, or taught someone can relate to the cartoon's message of reciprocal control between subject and experimenter, client and therapist, and teacher and student. This is the tale of that cartoon and its impact.

Choice dynamics in concurrent ratio schedules of reinforcement.

The generalized matching law predicts performance on concurrent schedules when variable-interval schedules are programmed but is trivially applicable when independent ratio schedules are used. Responding usually is exclusive to the schedule with the lowest response requirement. Determining a method to program concurrent ratio schedules such that matching analyses can be usefully employed would extend the generality of matching research and lead to new avenues of research.

Confluence of Science and History in the Experimental Analysis of Behavior Course.

This is a review of content and method for incorporating the history of the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) into the EAB course, although the material also could be adapted for any course related to the topics of learning and behavior change, or the history of psychology. Six elements associated with establishing a new discipline are considered as a framework for introducing the history of EAB: the intellectual leader/founding scientist(s), early proponents of the new area who advance and elaborate on the founder's ideas, the cultural context in which the discipline develops, a set of methods, a textbook, and means of communicating with other, similarly inclined scientists. The historical ebb and flow of research and some of the reasons for these shifts are discussed next, with examples of EAB research themes that have shifted over time.

Grounding applied animal behavior practices in the experimental analysis of behavior.

Some of the earliest applications outside the laboratory of principles derived from the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB), such as the pioneering work of Keller and Marian Breland, involved animals. This translational tradition continues to the present as EAB-related behavior principles are applied with increasing frequency to behavior management and training practices with animals in nonlaboratory settings. Such translations, and those populations to which they are applied, benefit from a rigorous experimental analysis of practices that are promulgated in popular outlets.

Effects of signaled and unsignaled delays of reinforcement on response maintenance in zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Effects of delays of reinforcement on zebrafish behavior were examined following training with immediate reinforcement. The delay was either signaled by an exteroceptive stimulus present for the entire delay period (fully signaled), signaled briefly only at delay onset (partial signal), or without a stimulus (unsignaled). Unsignaled delays consistently resulted in low response rates.

Hayne Waring Reese (1931-2022).

Memorializes Hayne Waring Reese (1931-2022). Hayne is remembered for impeccable scholarship, incisive analyses, and broad perspective on psychology. Early in his career, he published seminal analyses of transpositional learning by children.

Resurgence during transitions from variable- to fixed-interval schedules.

The effects of local periods of extinction on resurgence following transitions from variable-interval (VI) to fixed-interval (FI) schedules were studied using four pigeons exposed to a within-session resurgence procedure. Each session was divided into a Training (T) Alternative-Reinforcement (AR), and Resurgence Test (RT) phase. During the T phase, key pecking was reinforced under a VI 60-s schedule on one key.

Murray Sidman (1923-2019).

Memorializes Murray Sidman (1923-2019). Murray Sidman wrote the definitive analysis of single-case experimentation, (1960). The book, never out of print, remains widely used and frequently cited.

C-3s and Model Ts: The Machines behind Two Lovely Farewells.

B. F. Skinner's 1976 editorial "Farewell my LOVELY," eulogizing the passing of the cumulative record as a primary form of data analysis, borrowed its title from a 1936 E.

Stimulus generalization of behavioral history: Interspecies generality and persistence of generalization gradients.

Four pigeons were exposed to a tandem variable-interval (VI) fixed-ratio (FR) schedule in the presence of a 50-pixel (about 15 mm) square or an 80-pixel (about 24 mm) square and to a tandem VI differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule when a second 80-pixel or 50-pixel square was present. The values of the VI and FR schedules were adjusted to equate reinforcement rates in the two tandem schedules. Following this, a square-size continuum generalization test was administered under a fixed-interval (FI) schedule or extinction.

Correction to: Big Surprises: Jackpot Reinforcers in Research and Practice.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s40617-020-00423-0.].

Early-extinction effects on a force response of humans.

Humans were used to investigate changes in response force occurring soon after reinforcement was eliminated. In Experiment 1, in a 300-s baseline phase, 10 participants received a point for holding down a pressure sensor set to operate at a force equal to 85% of the maximum force the participants exerted during a pretest. Following this, during a 600-s extinction phase, criterion responses had no consequence.

Big Surprises: Jackpot Reinforcers in Research and Practice.

Unusually large, infrequent reinforcers, described as jackpots, are the subject of considerable discussion among applied animal behaviorists. Such reinforcers offer considerable promise in applied behavior analysis as a means of both potentiating training of new responses and response classes and enhancing previously learned ones. The concept of jackpot reinforcement, however, is rife with not only a lack of definitional and procedural clarity but also a paucity of research, either basic or applied, on such reinforcement.

What is an extinction burst?: A case study in the analysis of transitional behavior.

Among the tactics of experimental science discussed by Sidman (1960) were those used to study transitional behavior. Drawing from his insights, this review considers an often cited but infrequently analyzed aspect of the transition from reinforcement to extinction: the extinction burst. In particular, the review seeks to answer the question posed in its title.

Does DRO type matter?: Cycle versus resetting contingencies in eliminating responding.

Following lever-press training on variable-interval 30-s schedules, rats were exposed to three types of schedules designed to eliminate lever pressing. The first two were variations on what is called a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO, "zero rate", or [target response] omission schedule) schedule. Under both variations, reinforcers were scheduled to occur in different conditions after either fixed or variable inter-reinforcer intervals (IRIs).

Resurgence without overall worsening of alternative reinforcement.

Three experiments were conducted with pigeons to assess discriminated periods of nonreinforcement as precipitators of resurgence. Each experiment occurred in three phases. In the Training phase, key-pecking was reinforced according to variable-interval schedules that alternated between two response keys (Experiment 1) or were concurrently available on two response keys (Experiments 2a & 2b).