Abstract
One group of rats in each experiment experienced a 90% transition probability from nonreinforcement to reinforcement. This resulted in short runs of nonreinforced and reinforced stimulus presentations. The other group in each experiment experienced a 10% transition probability. This resulted in long runs of nonreinforced and reinforced stimulus presentations. Latencies in both groups were significantly shorter on trials with a 90% reinforcement probability than on trials with a 10% reinforcement probability. The extinction data indicated that the stimulus had become a conditioned reinforcer for both groups. However, the results of both experiments revealed that the pattern of reinforcement had no differential effect on conditioned-reinforcement strength.
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Notes
The author thanks John C. Birkimer for his comments on this manuscript.
Significance levels for the Wilcoxon signed ranks tests are one-tailed.
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F, D. Conditioned reinforcement strength in rats as a function of pattern of reinforcement. Psychon. Sci. 17, 289–290 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336535
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336535