Abstract
Background
Stimuli perfectly correlated with impending access to food have been shown to both attenuate response rates and to prevent response acquisition when they occur during delays to reinforcement. One explanation of these findings is that the stimulus better predicts food than the operant response itself, and therefore, “blocks” learning of the response-reinforcer association. That such stimuli can abolish operant learning implies a breakdown in an organism’s ability to detect causality between its own behavior and effects on the environment.
Method
Two response acquisition experiments in which a stimulus preceded food delivery were conducted. In one experiment, an attempt was made to replicate the prevention of response acquisition using a non-resetting delay procedure that parallels those that result in overshadowing. In a second experiment, stimulus-food pretraining was given to provide a better parallel to typical respondent-conditioning blocking procedures.
Results
Under neither circumstance was response acquisition prevented.
Discussion
The generality and robustness of blocking the response-reinforcer association in operant response acquisition is questioned.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bacotti, A. V. (1976). Home cage feeding time controls responding under multiple schedules. Animal Learning & Behavior, 4, 41–44. doi:10.3758/BF03211983.
Cambras, T., Vilaplana, J., Campuzano, A., Canal-Corretger, M. M., Carrulla, M., & Díez-Noguera, A. (2000). Entrainment of the rat motor activity rhythm: effects of the light-dark cycle and physical exercise. Physiology & Behavior, 70, 227–232. doi:10.1016/S0031-9384(00)00241-9.
Critchfield, T. S., & Lattal, K. A. (1993). Acquisition of a spatially defined operant with delayed reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 59, 373–387. doi:10.1901/jeab.1993.59-373.
Davenport, D. G., & Goulet, L. R. (1964). Motivational artifact in standard food-deprivation schedules. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 57, 237–240. doi:10.1037/h0041672.
Doughty, A. H., Galuska, C. M., Dawson, A. E., & Brierly, K. P. (2012). Effects of reinforcer magnitude on response acquisition with unsignaled delayed reinforcement. Behavioural Processes, 90, 287–290. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2012.02.016.
Galuska, C. M., & Woods, J. H. (2005). Acquisition of cocaine self-administration with unsignaled delayed reinforcement in rhesus monkeys. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 84, 269–280. doi:10.1901/jeab.2005.99-04.
Gibbs, C. M., Kehoe, E. J., & Gormezano, I. (1991). Conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response to a CSA-CSB-US serial compound: manipulations of CSB's associative character. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 17, 423–432. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.17.4.423.
Gray, T. (1978). Blocking in the CER: trace and delay procedures. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 32, 40–42. doi:10.1037/h0081668.
Hurwitz, H. M. B., & Davis, H. (1983). Depriving rats of food: a reappraisal of two techniques. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 40, 211–213. doi:10.1901/jeab.1983.40-211.
Johansen, E. B., Killeen, P. R., Russell, V. A., Tripp, G., Wickens, J. R., Tannock, R., et al. (2009). Origins of altered reinforcement effects in ADHD. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 5, 7. doi:10.1186/1744-9081-5-7.
Lattal, K. A., & Gleeson, S. (1990). Response acquisition with delayed reinforcement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 16, 27–39. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.16.1.27.
Lattal, K. A., & Williams, A. M. (1997). Body weight and response acquisition with delayed reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 67, 131–143. doi:10.1901/jeab.1997.67-131.
McSweeney, F. K., Hatfield, J., & Allen, T. M. (1990). Within-session responding as a function of post-session feedings. Behavioural Processes, 22, 177–186. doi:10.1016/0376-6357(91)90092-E.
Pearce, J. M., & Hall, G. (1978). Overshadowing the instrumental conditioning of a lever-press response by a more valid predictor of the reinforcer. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 4, 356–367. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.4.4.356.
Reed, P. (1992). Signalled delay of reward: Overshadowing versus sign-tracking explanations. Learning and Motivation, 23, 27–42. doi:10.1016/0023-9690(92)90021-D.
Richards, R. W. (1981). A comparison of signaled and unsignaled reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 35, 145–152. doi:10.1901/jeab.1981.35-145.
Schaal, D. W., & Branch, M. N. (1988). Responding of pigeons under variable-interval schedules of unsignaled, briefly signaled, and completely signaled delays to reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 50, 33–54. doi:10.1901/jeab.1988.50-33.
Schachtman, T. R., & Reed, P. (1990). The role of response-reinforcer correlation in signaled reinforcement effects. Animal Learning & Behavior, 18, 51–58. doi:10.3758/BF03205239.
Schachtman, T. R., Reed, P., & Hall, G. (1987). Attenuation and enhancement of instrumental responding by signals for reinforcement on a variable interval schedule. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 13, 271–279. doi:10.1037/0097-7403.13.3.271.
Smethells, J. R., Fox, A. T., Andrews, J. J., & Reilly, M. P. (2012). Immediate post-session feeding reduces operant responding in rats. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 97, 203–214. doi:10.1901/jeab.2012.97-203.
Snycerski, S., Laraway, S., Huitema, B. E., & Poling, A. (2004). The effects of behavioral history on response acquisition with immediate and delayed reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 81, 51–64. doi:10.1901/jeab.2004.81-51.
Williams, B. A. (1975). The blocking of reinforcement control. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 24, 215–225. doi:10.1901/jeab.1975.24-215.
Williams, B. A. (1981). Blocking in an autoshaping procedure. Behavior Analysis Letters, 1, 345–351.
Williams, B. A. (1982). Blocking the response-reinforcer association. In M. L. Commons, R. J. Herrnstein, & A. R. Wagner (Eds.), Quantitative analyses of behavior: Vol. 3. Acquisition (pp. 427–447). Cambridge: Ballinger.
Williams, B. A. (1999). Associative competition in operant conditioning: blocking the response-reinforcer association. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6, 618–623. doi:10.3758/BF03212970.
Williams, B. A., & Heyneman, N. (1982). Multiple determinants of “blocking” effects on operant behavior. Animal Learning & Behavior, 10, 72–76. doi:10.3758/BF03212049.
Williams, B. A., Preston, R. A., & de Kervor, D. E. (1990). Blocking of the response-reinforcer association: additional evidence. Learning and Motivation, 21, 379–398. doi:10.1016/0023-9690(90)90022-G.
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted by the first author as part of his Master’s thesis and was funded in part by a Central Michigan University Student Research and Creative Endeavors Grant. The authors thank Dennis J. Hand for assistance in running these experiments and Ben A. Williams for comments and suggestions regarding an earlier version of this manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fox, A.T., Reilly, M.P. On the Reliability of Blocking Effects in Response Acquisition with Delayed Reinforcement. Psychol Rec 64, 743–754 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-014-0075-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-014-0075-2