Appropriateness of the stimulus-reinforcement contingency in instrumental differential conditioning of the eyelid response to the arithmetic concepts of "right" and "wrong."

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Abstract
EYELID RESPONSES OF 72 SS TO 60 SIMPLE SOLVED ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION PROBLEMS, PRESENTED VISUALLY, WERE INSTRUMENTALLY CONDITIONED WITH POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. EACH PROBLEM WAS DIFFERENT AND COULD BE CORRECTLY (R) OR INCORRECTLY (W) SOLVED. A WITHIN-SS COMPARISON REVEALED THAT SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EYELID CRS WERE EVOKED BY THE R PROBLEMS, BUT THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE IN A BETWEEN-SS COMPARISON, WHERE EACH S RECEIVED ONLY R OR ONLY W PROBLEMS. WITH INTERMITTENT POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE IN CONDITIONING. 2 ADDITIONAL GROUPS OF 18 SS EACH WERE DIFFERENTIALLY CONDITIONED TO 30 R AND 30 RANDOMLY INTERSPERSED W PROBLEMS. IN THE R+ W- GROUP, RESPONSES TO R PROBLEMS WERE POSITIVELY REINFORCED AND RESPONSES TO W PROBLEMS WERE NEGATIVELY REINFORCED; IN THE W+ R- GROUP, THESE CONTINGENCIES WERE REVERSED. BETTER DIFFERENTIAL RESPONDING WAS OBTAINED IN THE R+ W- GROUP, SUPPORTING THE HYPOTHESIS THAT CS-REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES THAT WERE CONGRUENT WITH SS' PAST EXPERIENCE WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN CONTINGENCIES THAT WERE INCONGRUENT OR DISSONANT. ALL GROUPS SHOWED CONSIDERABLE TRANSFER TO THE WORDS "RIGHT" OR "WRONG" AS GENERALIZATION STIMULI, BUT THERE WAS NO DIFFERENTIAL GENERALIZATION EVEN IN THE 2 GROUPS THAT HAD RECEIVED DIFFERENTIAL TRAINING. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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