Abstract
In four experiments with rats, we examined the persistence of behavior when reinforcement was switched from immediate to delayed. In Experiment 1, lever pressing elicited by instrumental training with immediate reinforcement continued when a 20-sec delay of reinforcement was introduced (easy-to-hard condition), whereas when the delay condition was introduced from the start (hard-to-hard condition), responding remained low throughout. A similar result was obtained in Experiment 2, in which lever pressing was elicited by a classical conditioning (autoshaping) procedure. In Experiment 3, rats initially trained with delayed reinforcement continued to respond at a low rate when switched to immediate reinforcement (hard-to-easy condition). By measuring magazine entry (goal tracking) as well as lever pressing (sign tracking) in Experiment 4, we confirmed that such transfer effects at least partly involve the persistence of whatever type of behavior was initially dominant.
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Experiments 1 and 2A were reported in D.S.J.C.’s unpublished honors thesis at the University of Sydney (Costa, 2004). Experiments 2B, 3, and 4 were partially supported by an Australian Research Council grant to R.A.B. and by an Australian Postgraduate Award to D.S.J.C.
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Costa, D.S.J., Boakes, R.A. Maintenance of responding when reinforcement becomes delayed. Learning & Behavior 35, 95–105 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193044
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193044