Motivational control after extended instrumental training

Hungry rats were trained to press a lever for food pellets prior to an assessment of the effect of a shift in their motivational state on instrumental performance in extinction. The first study replicated the finding that a reduction in the level of food deprivation has no detectable effect on extinction performance unless the animals receive prior experience with the food pellets in the nondeprived state (Balleine, 1992; Balleine & Dickinson, 1994). When tested in the nondeprived state, only animals that were reexposed to the food pellets in this state between training and testing showed a reduction in the level of pressing during the extinction test relative to animals tested in the deprived state. The magnitude of this reexposure effect depended, however, on the amount of instrumental training. Following more extended instrumental training, extinction performance was unaffected by reexposure to the food pellets in the nondeprived state whether or not the animals were food deprived at the time of testing. A second study demonstrated that the resistance to the reexposure treatment engendered by overtraining was due to the animals’ increased experience of the food pellets in the deprived state during training rather than to the more extensive exposure to the instrumental contingency. In contrast to the results of the first two experiments, however, a reliable reexposure effect was detected after overtraining in a final study, in which the animals were given greater reexposure to the food pellets in the nondeprived state.     

The role of response-reinforcer correlation in signaled reinforcement effects

In three experiments, we examined the effects of signaling reinforcement during operant responding in order to illuminate the factors underlying instrumental overshadowing and potentiation effects. Specifically, we examined whether signaling reinforcement produces an enhancement and attentuation of responding when the response-reinforcer correlation is weak and strong, respectively. In Experiment 1, rats responded on variable-ratio (VR) or variable-interval (VI) schedules that were equated for the number of responses emitted per reinforcer. A signal correlated with reinforcement enhanced response rates on the VR schedule, but attenuated response rates were produced by the signal on the VI schedule. In Experiment 2, two groups of rats responded on a VI schedule while the two other groups received a conjoint VI, negative fixed-ratio schedule in which the subjects lost the availability of reinforcements if they emitted high response rates. A reinforcement signal attenuated responding for the simple VI groups but not for the animals given the negative fixed-ratio component, although the signal improved response efficiency in both groups. In Experiment 3, a poor correlation between responding and reinforcement was produced by a VI schedule onto which the delivery of response-independent food was superimposed. A signal for reinforcement initially elevated responding on this schedule, relative to an unsignaled condition; however, this pattern was reversed with further training. In sum, the present experiments provide little support for the view that signaling reinforcement enhances responding when the response-reinforcer correlation is weak and attenuates responding when this correlation is strong.     

The influence of context-reinforcer associations on instrumental performance

In each of two experiments, rats were trained to press the lever in a Skinner box, food reinforcement being available on a variable-interval 60-sec schedule (VI 60). There followed an “exposure phase” for which the levers were removed from the boxes, and then a final test with the levers replaced to assess the effects of the intervening treatment on instrumental responding. Experiment 1 showed that simple exposure to the box reduced the vigor of instrumental performance in comparison with a condition in which food was made available during the exposure phase. Animals which received no exposure treatment also showed a relatively high rate of response. Experiment 2 demonstrated that an exposure treatment in which the occurrence of food is signaled by a light stimulus also leads to a decline in instrumental responding. These results are held to support the notion that associations between the context and the reinforcer serve to energize appetitive instrumental behavior.     

The dual role of the context in postpeak performance decrements resulting from extended training

The context??s role in Pavlovian conditioning depends on the trial spacing during training, with massed trials revealing a function akin to that of discrete stimuli, and spaced trials revealing a modulatory function (Urcelay & Miller, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes, 36, 268?C280, 2010). Here we examined the contextual determinants of a common but largely ignored effect: attenuated conditioned responding with extended reinforced training (i.e., a postpeak performance deficit [PPD]). Contextual sources of PPDs were investigated in four fear-conditioning experiments with rats. In Experiment 1, as the number of reinforced trials increased, conditioned responding decreased, even when testing occurred outside the training context. Experiment 2 revealed opposing influences of context on the PPD based on trial spacing, which interacted with whether testing occurred in the training context. This finding reconciles Experiment 1??s results with previous data (Bouton, Frohardt, Sunsay, Waddell, & Morris, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes, 34, 223?C236, 2008). Experiment 3 suggested that extended training with these parameters did not lead to habituation to conditioned or unconditioned stimuli. In Experiment 4, few or many massed training trials were followed orthogonally by context extinction or no context extinction. After many pairings, context extinction reduced the PPD (i.e., enhanced responding), suggesting a competitive role of the context. These results, together with prior data suggesting that context modulates expressions of the PPD, are consistent with the view that contexts can play two distinctly different roles.     

Forming chunks in instrumental learning: The role of overshadowing

Lower order units combined into higher order functional units (e.g., letters into words) are calledchunks. The hypothesis tested here suggests that chunks are formed when memories of goal events signal other goal events, a signal capacity that can be reduced when memories are seriously overshadowed by other more valid cues calledgrouping cues. In support of this hypothesis, it was found, in each of three experiments employing rats in runways, that the capacity of the memory of nonreward to signal reward depended on its validity relative to that of two other situational cues, runway brightness cues and a change in brightness cues, from one trial to the next. Specifically, the capacity of the memory of nonreward to signal reward was much more seriously reduced when it was in competition with more valid situational cues (.33 vs. 1.00, Experiment 1; .50 vs. 1.00, Experiment 2) than when it was in competition with situational cues having either the same validity (.33, Experiment 1) or a slightly higher validity (.33 vs. .50, Experiment 3). It was also found that grouping each of two series was less effective in producing chunking than was grouping only one of the series.     

The role of inhibitory associations in perceptual learning

Preexposure to two compound flavors (AX and BX) typically enhances their discriminability: An aversion conditioned to AX will generalize less to BX, especially if the preexposure regime has involved alternated presentations of AX and BX rather than presenting all AX trials before BX trials (or vice versa). One possible explanation of this finding is that alternating preexposure establishes inhibitory associations between the two unique features A and B, thus counteracting the generalization produced by excitatory associations between X and A and between X and B, which might result in either the retrieval of B on a conditioning trial to AX, or the retrieval of A on a test trial to BX. Three experiments on flavor aversion conditioning in rats tested these predictions. Experiment 1 suggested that the more important of these excitatory associations was that which allowed X to retrieve A on the test trial to BX. Experiment 2 suggested that the more important inhibitory association was that which allowed B to inhibit the representation of A on this test trial. Experiment 3 provided direct evidence of the role of this inhibitory B⊣A association.     

The role of incentive learning in instrumental outcome revaluation by sensory-specific satiety

Hungry rats were trained to perform two instrumental actions, one for salt- and the other for lemonflavored polycose solution. When they were sated on one of these two outcomes by prefeeding immediately prior to a choice extinction test, the action trained with the prefed solution was performed less than the other action. The subsequent experiments examined the role of incentive learning in this specific satiety-induced outcome revaluation effect. The second experiment demonstrated that the experience of consuming a flavored polycose solution to satiety enabled the state induced by polycose consumption to control the devaluation of the flavored outcome. By contrast, the third study found that, although devaluing the prefed outcome, specific-satiety treatments could induce a relative inflation in the incentive value of other food outcomes. The final two studies demonstrated an increased outcome-devaluation effect in instrumental performance when these devaluation and revaluation effects were combined. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that specific satiety treatments produce changes in outcome value that depend upon incentive learning.     

Contextual control of operant behavior: evidence for hierarchical associations in instrumental learning

Recent research has suggested that operant responses can be weakened when they are tested in new contexts. The present experiment was therefore designed to test whether animals can learn a context–(R–O) relation. Rats were given training sessions in context A, in which one response (R1; lever pressing or chain pulling) produced one outcome (O1) and another response (R2; chain pulling or lever pressing) produced another outcome (O2) on variable interval reinforcement schedules. These sessions were intermixed with training in context B, where R1 now produced O2 and R2 produced O1. Given the arrangement, it was possible for the animal to learn two distinct R–O associations in each specific context. To test for them, rats were then given aversion conditioning with O2 by pairing its presentation with lithium-chloride-induced illness. Following the aversion conditioning, the rats were given an extinction test with both R1 and R2 available in each context. During testing, rats showed a selective suppression in each context of the response that had been paired with the reinforcer subsequently associated with illness. Rats could not have performed this way without knowledge of the R–O associations in effect in each specific context, lending support to the hypothesis that rats learn context–(R–O) associations. However, despite a complete aversion to O2, responding was not completely suppressed, leaving the possibility open that rats form context–R associations in addition to context–(R–O) associations.     

The role of within-compound associations in learning about absent cues

When two cues are reinforced together (in compound), most associative models assume that animals learn an associative network that includes direct cue–outcome associations and a within-compound association. All models of associative learning subscribe to the importance of cue–outcome associations, but most models assume that within-compound associations are irrelevant to each cue’s subsequent behavioral control. In the present article, we present an extension of Van Hamme and Wasserman’s (Learning and Motivation 25:127–151, 1994) model of retrospective revaluation based on learning about absent cues that are retrieved through within-compound associations. The model was compared with a model lacking retrieval through within-compound associations. Simulations showed that within-compound associations are necessary for the model to explain higher-order retrospective revaluation and the observed greater retrospective revaluation after partial reinforcement than after continuous reinforcement alone. These simulations suggest that the associability of an absent stimulus is determined by the extent to which the stimulus is activated through the within-compound association.     

The role and the training of teacher-counsellors

The example of teachers not seeking counselling was used. Some reasons for this situation were given as well as one possible way to change it by providing early information and training during the students' regular studies. My hope is that if teachers have the necessary information, abilities and positive experiences, when they have problems, it should be easier for them to use counsellors than it is for other today.Teachers were used as an example of how one group could be encounraged to make use of counsellors. However, similar strategies could be used with other groups whose jobs involve high personal stress (for example social workers, medical doctors etc.). The example of teachers was also used to show how change can be introduced within a system. Here it might be useful to develop the ability to work with a counsellor during the regular education, so that it becomes part of their understanding of their professional role.     

The role of mentoring in the CPD programmes of professional associations

This paper seeks to position the current role of mentoring within the continuing professional development (CPD) programmes of UK professional associations and to examine its potential for developing reflective practice. Following a review of mentoring and CPD in terms of their relationship to the ethos of lifelong learning, it indicthes the extent to which mentoring has been embraced by professional associations. Here, reference is made to a wider research project that set out to map the CPD policies and programmes of UK professional associations by analysing the documentation of over 100 associations. The paper puts forward the idea that mentoring could form an important support for reflective practice, particularly where participation in CPD is compulsory. In conclusion, it argues that the wider introduction of mentoring could help forge new relationships between professionals and their clients, and overcome some of the tensions inherent within CPD itself.     

Effects of extended fixed-interval training on reversed scallops

Two groups of pigeons were used to determine if different amounts of fixed-interval training with an added clock resulted in different local response rates when the clock was reversed. One group of seven pigeons received 120 reinforcements on a fixed-interval 90-sec schedule, while the other group received 1200 reinforcements. Following training, the added clock was reversed in extinction. Reversed scallops were obtained for both of the groups. Only the group with extended training showed an increase in responding during the previously reinforced segment of the interval. This suggests the development of greater temporal control with extended training.     

Counseling disabled persons throughout the period of further education and training

In this paper the special problems and needs of disabled adults during vocational rehabilitation in rehabilitation centers will be analyzed. For this purpose, the goals and measures of ideal counseling in regard to vocational choice, work and training adjustment, and social adjustment are compared with the results of evaluation studies and studies with drop-outs of these facilities. Conclusions are derived by which measures counselors can contribute essentially to the disabled trainees being better enabled to handle their adjustment problems more effectively.Paper presented at the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counseling Consultation on Counseling Disabled People and their Families, July 4–8, 1987, Vienna, Austria.     

高校辅导员在培养高素质人才中的作用

高校辅导员承担大学生的日常思想政治教育和管理工作.深入学生之中,引导和帮助学生树立正确的人生观,形成社会主义思想道德品质,指导和帮助他们成为社会主义现代化建设中所需要的高素质人才.     

论融入性与工具性动机在专业硕士英语教学中的指导效用

Gardner和Lambert将学习动机区分为工具性动机和融入性动机。在专业硕士英语的教学中,笔者结合专业硕士学生的学习特点,将学生的工具性动机和融入性动机有机结合起来,围绕学生的这两种动机进行课前、课中和课后的教学设计,最大程度地提高学生学习语言的兴趣。这样的课堂设计能加深专业硕士学生对于语言的理解,提高学生英语运用能力,为学生将来工作中进一步熟练运用语言打下良好的基础,促使学生真正实现从基于工具性动机的功利性学习到基于融入性动机的自主性学习的转变。     

The context for reinforcement: Modulation of the response-reinforcer relation by concurrently available extraneous reinforcement

Learning & Behavior - Right-lever presses by hooded rats in three groups produced reinforcers at variable-intervals that differed over five conditions. The groups differed by virtue of the...     

The role of student and alumni associations in the democratization process in Spain

Alumni associations are institutions that are used to create, maintain, or modify relations between educational organizations and their publics. Thus, student and alumni associations were a fundamental part of the workings of the education and employment engine in Spain during the political transition. Public relations managers of higher education institutions could gain information from alumni associations, professional associations, student associations, government, and the public in general, and therefore, achieve their goals with greater ease.     

文化导入在高职高专人才培养中的作用

随着我国素质教育的不断深入,高职高专教育在培养专业型人才、应用型人才方面发挥重要作用。结合高职高专英语教学中的文化导入问题,对文化导入的作用、应用原则等进行分析,并有针对性地提出运用文化导入培养人才的相关策略。