Abstract
Nine rats were reinforced for barpressing on a FI 3-min schedule. Every odd-numbered interval (i.e., the first, third, fifth, etc. interval in the session) ended with a two-pellet reinforcement. Even-numbered intervals ended with either a one- or a three-pellet reinforcement. During nondiscrimination sessions, a light was on during the even-numbered intervals while no.light was on during the odd-numbered intervals. These were called nondiscrimination sessions because the subject could not predict the number of pellets it would receive at the end of the variable reinforcement interval. During discrimination sessions, light plus tone was presented in intervals which ended with one pellet, and light plus click was presented during intervals wnich ended with three pellets. The animals learned to discrimmate between these auditory stimuli. It was shown that the subjects made more responses during the last half of an interval following a one-pellet reinforcement during discrimination sessions as compared to nondiscrimination sessions. These results indicate that behavioral contrast was produced by the discriminative stimuli.
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Meltzer, D., Howerton, D.L. Sequential effects of signaled and unsignaled variations in reinforcement magnitude on fixed-interval performance. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 6, 461–464 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337537
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337537