Stimulus change in light-contingent bar pressing.
- 1 April 1965
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
- Vol. 59 (2) , 258-262
- https://doi.org/10.1037/h0021851
Abstract
An attempt was made to separate the effects of initial intensity, consequent intensity, and amount of change on light-contingent bar pressing (LCBP) in order to test the stimulus-change hypothesis that increments and decrements in illumination will be equally reinforcing and that rate will be an increasing function of the amount of change. Each of 12 combinations of change between 4 intensities were tested with 5 male albino rats which were given 5 days each of operant and LCBP conditions and 2 days of extinction. The interaction between initial and consequent level was consistent with the stimulus-change hypothesis; no differences in response duration were observed between operant and LCBP testing, and the reinforcer was affective after 3 responses.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- The Reinforcing Effect of Changes in Illumination on Lever-Pressing in the MonkeyThe American Journal of Psychology, 1956