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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1970 Jan;13(1):57–64. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1970.13-57

A choice technique to assess the effects of selective punishment on fixed-ratio performance1

M C Davison
PMCID: PMC1333656  PMID: 16811428

Abstract

The emission of a fixed number of responses by rats was followed by food reinforcement. This fixed number could be accumulated in any way from two continuously available but mutually incompatible response classes, bar pressing, and not bar pressing for a fixed time period. A preference for one response class was arranged by specifying different maximum reinforcement rates for the two classes. Under selective punishment conditions, the preferred response occasionally led to both food and electric shock, while the non-preferred response led only to food. Selective punishment effects were measured through changes in the preference to the two responses in the sequence. The actions of shock intensity, deprivation, the specification of the non-preferred response, and three drugs were investigated. The results were broadly similar to the work reported by Dardano and Sauerbrunn (1964), who found localized increases in interresponse times before punished responses in fixed-ratio schedules. Performance under this procedure was found to be stable and sensitive to each of the experimental variables examined.

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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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