Abstract
Groups of 8 experimentally naive rats were exposed during 8-hr sessions to resetting delay procedures in which responses on one lever (the reinforcement lever) produced water after a delay of 8, 16, 32, or 64 s. For rats in one condition, responses on a second (no-consequences) lever had no programmed consequences. For rats in another condition, responses on a second (cancellation) lever during a delay initiated by a response on the reinforcement lever prevented delivery of the scheduled reinforcer; responses on the cancellation lever at other times had no programmed consequences. Under both conditions and at all delays, most subjects emitted more responses on the reinforcement lever than did control rats that never received water emitted on either lever. At 8-s delays, both conditions engendered substantially more responding on the reinforcement lever than on the other lever, and performance closely resembled that of immediate-reinforcement controls. At delays of 16 and 32 s, however, there was clear differential responding on the two levers under the cancellation condition but not under the other condition. When the delay was 64 s, differential responding on the two levers did not occur consistently under either condition. These findings provide strong evidence that the behavior of rats is sensitive to consequences delayed by 8, 16, and 32 s, but only equivocal evidence of such sensitivity to consequences delayed 64 s. They also indicate that acquisition depends, in part, on the measure of performance used to index it.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (198.2 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Byrne T., Lesage M. G., Poling A. Effects of chlorpromazine on rats' acquisition of lever-press responding with immediate and delayed reinforcement. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1997 Sep;58(1):31–35. doi: 10.1016/s0091-3057(96)00454-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- CHURCH R. M. SYSTEMATIC EFFECT OF RANDOM ERROR IN THE YOKED CONTROL DESIGN. Psychol Bull. 1964 Aug;62:122–131. doi: 10.1037/h0042733. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Catania A. C. Reinforcement schedules: the role of responses preceding the one that produces the reinforcer. J Exp Anal Behav. 1971 May;15(3):271–287. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1971.15-271. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Critchfield T. S., Lattal K. A. Acquisition of a spatially defined operant with delayed reinforcement. J Exp Anal Behav. 1993 Mar;59(2):373–387. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1993.59-373. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lattal K. A., Gleeson S. Response acquisition with delayed reinforcement. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 1990 Jan;16(1):27–39. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- LeSage M. G., Byrne T., Poling A. Effects of D-amphetamine on response acquisition with immediate and delayed reinforcement. J Exp Anal Behav. 1996 Nov;66(3):349–367. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1996.66-349. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wilkenfield J., Nickel M., Blakely E., Poling A. Acquisition of lever-press responding in rats with delayed reinforcement: A comparison of three procedures. J Exp Anal Behav. 1992 Nov;58(3):431–443. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1992.58-431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zeiler M. D. Eliminating behavior with reinforcement. J Exp Anal Behav. 1971 Nov;16(3):401–405. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1971.16-401. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zeiler M. D. Positive reinforcement and the elimination of reinforced responses. J Exp Anal Behav. 1976 Jul;26(1):37–44. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1976.26-37. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zeiler M. D. Reinforcing the absence of fixed-ratio performance. J Exp Anal Behav. 1979 May;31(3):321–332. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1979.31-321. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- van Haaren F. Response acquisition with fixed and variable resetting delays of reinforcement in male and female Wistar rats. Physiol Behav. 1992 Oct;52(4):767–772. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(92)90412-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]