RELATIVE CS DURATION IN CONDITIONED SUPPRESSION: SCHEDULING EFFECTS OF THE UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS AND THE OPERANT REINFORCER.
Item
-
Title
-
RELATIVE CS DURATION IN CONDITIONED SUPPRESSION: SCHEDULING EFFECTS OF THE UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS AND THE OPERANT REINFORCER.
-
Identifier
-
AAI8401923
-
identifier
-
8401923
-
Creator
-
COLEMAN, DAVID A., JR.
-
Contributor
-
Prof. Nancy S. Hemmes
-
Date
-
1983
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Experimental
-
Abstract
-
The effects of varying the relative durations of the conditioned stimulus (light) and the intertrial interval (ITI), in a conditioned suppression paradigm, were investigated as a function of two additional variables--type of operant baseline schedule and density of the unconditioned stimulus (shock). In Experiment 1 light shock pairings were superimposed on a multiple fixed ratio, random ratio, fixed interval, random interval schedule of reinforcement for rats' bar pressing, in which a differential reinforcement of low response rates contingency had been embedded in order to reduce schedule-specific response and reinforcer rate differences. Using a within-group manipulation subjects were exposed to CS/ITI duration ratios of 1/1, 1/4, and 1/9. During shock sessions bar pressing was totally suppressed during the conditioned stimulus (CS) on all operant schedule components. Responding during the ITI was also suppressed but ITI response rates, which did not vary as a function of schedule contingency, did vary inversely with relative CS duration. However control of ITI responding could not be attributed uniquely to variation in relative CS duration, since the relative duration manipulation produced consequent changes in shock density. In Experiment 2 effects of shock density and relative CS duration were isolated in a factorial design in which relative CS duration was manipulated between groups (CS/ITI duration ratios were 1/5, 1/1, or 5/1) while shock density was manipulated within groups (2, 6, or 10 US/hr). Relative CS duration affected the patterning of responding between successive shocks, shock density was inversely related to absolute response rates during the ITI, and the two variables interacted to control differential responding between the CS and the ITI. As in Experiment 1, responding during the CS was almost totally suppressed during all shock conditions. The results of the two experiments were discussed in terms of associative control of behavior. While the procedures used did not permit a test of the associative basis of shock density effects, tentative support was obtained for the position that relative CS duration controls behavior through acquired sensitivity to relationships between the US and the ITI, independent of CS-US relations.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Psychology
