Abstract
The effects of orienting instructions—those instructions usually given to human subjects to acquaint them with the experimental task and contextual stimuli prior to the start of an operant experiment—on human fixed-interval performance were investigated in a between-groups design. Each of four groups of subjects was exposed to only one set of the following instructions: (1) instructions that described the apparatus but not the response manipulandum; (2) same as Instruction 1, but with a description of the response manipulandum; (3) same as Instruction 2, but with a demonstration of the response; or (4) same as Instruction 3, but with an additional instruction to maximize reinforcement. Each of the instructional sets differentially affected responding between groups: Instruction 1 produced the lowest rates and Instruction 4 produced the highest. Thus, different orienting instructions, as discriminative stimuli, do not set equivalent occasions for responding. Moreover, orienting instructions may interact with scheduled contingencies and/or contingency-specifying instructions to jointly control human performance in operant contexts.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baron, A., & Galizio, M. (1983). Instructional control of human operant behavior. The Psychological Record, 33, 495–520.
Catania, A. C., Matthews, B. A., & Shimoff, E. (1982). Instructed versus shaped human verbal behavior: Interactions with nonverbal responding. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 38, 233–248.
Duvinsky, J. D., & Poppen, R. (1982). Human performance on conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedules. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 243–250.
Galizio, M. (1979). Contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior: Instructional control of human loss avoidance. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 31, 53–70.
Harzem, P., Lowe, C. F., & Bagshaw, M. (1978). Verbal control in human operant behavior. The Psychological Record, 28, 405–423.
Kaufman, A., Baron, A., & Kopp, R. E. (1966). Some effects of instructions on human operant behavior. Psychonomic Monograph Supplements, 11, 343–350.
Lippman, G., & Meyer, M. E.(1967). Fixed-interval performance as related to instructions and to subjects’ verbalizations of the contingency. Psychonomic Science, 8, 135–136.
Perone, M., & Baron, A. (1980). Reinforcement of human observing behavior by a stimulus correlated with extinction or increased effort. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 34, 239–261.
Poppen, R. (1982). Human fixed-interval performance with concurrently programmed schedules: A parametric analysis. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 251–266.
Shimoff, E., Catania, A. C., & Matthews, B. A. (1981). Uninstructed human responding: Sensitivity of low-rate performance to schedule contingencies. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 36, 207–220.
Stromer, R., & Osborne, J. G. (1982). Control of adolescents’ arbitrary matching-to-sample by positive and negative stimulus relations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 329–348.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Terrell, D.J., Bennett, R.H., Buskist, W. et al. Effects of orienting instructions on human fixed-interval performance. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 24, 107–109 (1986). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330517
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330517