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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1992 Sep;58(2):361–375. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1992.58-361

Molecular contingencies in schedules of intermittent punishment

Jeffery L Arbuckle, Kennon A Lattal
PMCID: PMC1322067  PMID: 16812670

Abstract

In two experiments, key pecking of pigeons was maintained by a variable-interval 180-s schedule of food presentation. Conjointly, a second schedule delivered response-dependent electric shock. In the first experiment, shocks were presented according to either a variable-interval or a nondifferential interval-percentile schedule. The variable-interval shock schedule differentially delivered shocks following long interresponse times. Although the nondifferential shock schedules delivered shocks less differentially with respect to interresponse times, the two shock schedules equally reduced the relative frequency of long interresponse times. The second experiment differentially shocked long or short interresponse times in different conditions, with resulting decreases in the relative frequency of the targeted interresponse times. These experiments highlight the importance of selecting the appropriate level of analysis for the interaction of behavior and environment. Orderly relations present at one level of analysis (e.g., interresponse times) may not be revealed at other levels of analysis (e.g., overall response rate).

Keywords: punishment, interresponse times, response-dependent shocks, variable-interval schedules, percentile schedules, key peck, pigeons

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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