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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1982 Mar;37(2):199–215. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1982.37-199

Stimulus discriminability in free-operant and discrete-trial detection procedures.

D McCarthy, M Davison, P E Jenkins
PMCID: PMC1333134  PMID: 7069359

Abstract

Six pigeons were trained to discriminate different light intensities in four experimental procedures. Experiment 1 compared stimulus discriminability in a yes-no signal-detection task with discriminability measures obtained from two free-operant procedures. Discriminability estimates were significantly lower in the detection procedure. Experiment 2 showed this lowered discriminability to be a function of the delay between stimulus presentation and the availability of the choice-response keys in the standard detection task. In addition, reinforcement sensitivity was lowest when correct choice responses were intermittently, rather than continuously, reinforced.

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Selected References

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