Abstract
Response suppression was studied in three squirrel monkeys responding on a variable-interval 1-min schedule of food reinforcement. A brief (.75-sec) green light was presented on the response key prior to each food presentation. Responding was recorded before, during, and after longer duration green keylights (30, 20, 10, 5, and 2 sec) interpolated on the variable-interval schedule at predetermined times during an experimental session. Food presentation did not follow the longer duration green lights. Suppression of responding was observed in all animals with all stimulus durations throughout the study. Greatest suppression occurred with the 2-sec stimulus and near the end of a session. Because food never followed the longer duration stimuli, previous hypotheses inferring adventitious reinforcement and reinforcement of less effortful behavior as explanations of suppression were questioned.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Annau, Z., & Kamin, L. J. The conditioned emotional response as a function of the intensity of the US. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1961, 54, 428–432.
Azrin, N. H., & Hake, D. F. Positive conditioned suppression: Conditioned suppression using positive reinforcers as the unconditioned stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1969, 12, 167–173.
Catania, A. C., & Reynolds, G. S. A quantitative analysis of the behavior maintained by interval schedules of reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1968, 11, 327–383.
Hake, D. F., & Powell, J. Positive reinforcement and suppression from the same occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus in a positive conditioned suppression procedure. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1970, 14, 247–257.
Henton, W. W., & Brady, J. V. Operant acceleration during a pre-reward stimulus. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1970, 13, 205–209.
Kamin, L. J. Temporal and intensity characteristics of the conditioned stimulus. In W. F. Prokasy (Ed.), Classical conditioning. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965. Pp. 118–147.
Kelly, D. D. Long-term pre-reward suppression in monkeys unaccompanied by cardiovascular conditioning. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1973, 20, 93–104. (a)
Kelly, D. D. Suppression of random-ratio and acceleration of temporally spaced responding by the same pre-reward stimulus in monkeys. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1973, 20, 363–373. (b)
LoLordo, V. M. Facilitation of food-reinforcement responding by a signal for response-independent food. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1971, 15, 49–55.
Lyon, D. O. Conditioned suppression: Operant variables and aversive control. Psychological Record, 1968, 18, 317–338.
Meltzer, D., & Brahlek, J. A. Conditioned suppression and conditioned enhancement with the same positive UCS: An effect of CS duration. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1970, 13, 67–73.
Meltzer, D., Hamm, R. J., & Niebuhr, B. R. Conditioned enhancement as a function of the percentage of CS-UCS pairing and CS duration. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1974, 4, 467–470.
Miczek, K. A., & Grossman, S. P. Positive conditioned suppression: Effects of CS duration. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1971, 15, 243–247.
Millenson, J. R., & Hendry, D. P. Quantification of response suppression in conditioned anxiety training. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1967, 21, 242–252.
Van Dyne, G. Conditioned suppression with a positive US in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1971, 77, 131–135.
Willis, R., & Lundin, R. Conditioned suppression in the rat as a function of shock reinforcement schedule. Psychonomic Science, 1966, 6, 107–108. (Received for publication February 16, 1978.)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is based on portions of a Master’s thesis submitted to the University of West Florida.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bice, A.S., de Lorge, J. Response suppression during stimuli temporally different from the prefood stimulus. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 377–379 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336859
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336859