Term
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Definition
| A procedure used to train a chained performance. The basic idea is to first train behavior that is closest to primary reinforcement; once responding is established, links in the chain are added that are further and further from primary reinforcement. Each link in the chain is reinforced by the Sd, which is also a conditioned reinforcer signaling the next component in the sequence. |
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Term
| Chain Schedule of Reinforcement |
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Definition
| Two or more simple schedules (CRF, FI, VI, FR, or VR), each of which is presented sequentially and signaled by a discriminative stimulus (sD). Only the final or terminal link of the chain results in primary reinforcement. |
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Term
| Concurrent-chains schedule |
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Definition
| Two or more chain schedules that are simultaneously available. |
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Term
| Conditioned Reinforcement |
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Definition
| The presentation of a conditioned reinforcer and the subsequent increase in rate of the operant that produced it. |
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Term
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Definition
| An event or stimulus that has acquired its effectiveness to increase operant rate on the basis of an organism's life or ontogenetic history. |
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Term
| Delay-Reduction Hypothesis |
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Definition
| Stimuli that signal a decrease in time to positive reinforcement, or an increase in time to an aversive event, are more effective conditioned reinforcers. Generally, the value of a conditioned reinforcer is attributed to its delay reduction - how close it is to reinforcement or how far it is from punishment. |
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Term
| Discriminative-Stimulus Account of Conditioned Reinforcement |
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Definition
| The hypothesis that it is necessary for a stimulus to be an Sd in order for it to be a conditioned reinforcer. This hypothesis has been largely discounted, and the weight of the evidence supports the delay-reduction hypothesis of Fantino (1969b). |
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Term
| Established-Response Method |
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Definition
| In terms of conditioned reinforcement, an operant that produces unconditioned reinforcement is accompanied by a distinctive stimulus, just prior to reinforcement. When responding is well established, extinction is implemented but half of the subjects continue to get the stimulus that accompanied unconditioned reinforcement. The other subjects undergo extinction without the distinctive stimulus. Generally, subjects with the stimulus present respond more than the subjects who do not get the stimulus associated with unconditioned reinforcement. This result is interpreted as evidence for the effects of conditioned reinforcement. |
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Term
| Generalized Conditioned Reinforcement |
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Definition
| A reinforcement procedure using a generalized reinforcer such as money that may be exchanged for many other reinforcers (goods and services) and is relatively independent of momentary level of deprivation for any particular reinforcer such as food. |
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Term
| Generalized Conditioned Reinforcer |
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Definition
| A conditioned reinforcer that is backed up by many other sources of reinforcement. Money is a good example of a generalized conditioned reinforcer. Cash may be exchanged for a wide variety of goods and services. Human behavior is regulated by generalized reinforcement, involving social attention, approval, and affection. |
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Term
| Generalized Social Reinforcement |
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Definition
| A generalized conditioned reinforcer that is also a social reinforcer increases or maintains operant behavior. Praise is a social reinforcer backed up by many sources of reinforcement. |
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Term
| Heterogenous Chain Schedule |
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Definition
| Requires different responses for each link of the chain schedule. Dog trainers use them when they teach complex behavior sequences to their animals. When going for a walk, a seeing-eye dog stops at intersections, moves forward when traffic is clear, pauses at a curb, avoids potholes, and finds the way home. Each of these different responses is occasioned by specific stimuli and results in conditioned reinforcement. |
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Term
| Homogenous Chain Schedule |
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Definition
Operant chains are classified as this when the topography or form of response is similar in each link of the schedule - for example, a bird pecks the same key in each component of the chain.
Each link in the schedule produced a discriminative stimulus for the next link, and the Sd is also a conditioned reinforcer for the behavior that produces it. |
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Term
| Information Account of Conditioned Reinforcement |
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Definition
| A hypothesis which suggests that a stimulus becomes a conditioned reinforcer if it provides information about the occurrence of primary reinforcement. This notion has been largely discounted and replaced by the delay-reduction hypothesis of Fantino (1969b). |
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Term
| Mixed Schedule of Reinforcement |
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Definition
| Two or more basic schedules (CRF, FR, FI, VI, VR) presented sequentially in which each link ends with primary reinforcement (or in some cases extinction) and the component schedules are not signaled by discriminative stimuli. In other words, it is the same as an unsigned multiple schedule. |
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Term
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Definition
| First, a non-reinforcing stimulus is associated with a reinforcing event (sound of feeder is followed by food), and after this procedure the stimulus (sound of feeder) is shown to increase the frequency of some operant behavior. |
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Term
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Definition
| A topographically different operant that functions to produce an Sd or Sdelta depending on whether reinforcement or extinction is in effect. In other words, an observing response changes a mixed schedule of reinforcement to a multiple schedule. |
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Term
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Definition
| Two (or more) schedules of reinforcement in which completion of the requirements of one schedule in reinforced according to the requirements of a second schedule. |
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Term
| S-S Account of Conditioned Reinforcement |
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Definition
| The hypothesis that it is necessary for stimulus to be paired with primary reinforcement to become a conditioned reinforcer. This hypothesis has been largely discounted, and the weight of the evidence supports the delay-reduction hypothesis of Fantino (1969b). |
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Term
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Definition
| Two or more basic schedules (CRF, FR, FI, VI, VR) presented sequentially in which only the final link ends with primary reinforcement (or in some cases extinction) and the component schedules are not signaled by discriminative stimuli. In other words, a tandem schedule is the same as an unsignaled chain schedule. |
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Term
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Definition
| A reinforcement system based on token reinforcement; the contingencies specify when, and under what conditions, particular forms of behavior are reinforced. The system is an economy in the sense that tokens may be exchanged for goods and services, in much the same way as money is in our economy. This exchange of tokens for a variety of back-up reinforcers ensures that the tokens are conditioned reinforcers. Token economies have been used to improve the behavior of psychiatric patients, juvenile delinquents, pupils in remedial classrooms, medical patients, alcoholics, drug addicts, prisoners, nursing home residents, and developmentally delayed people. |
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Term
| Token Schedule of Reinforcement |
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Definition
| They have three distinct components involving the token-production schedule, the exchange-production schedule, and the token-exchange schedule. Thus, when we talk about token reinforcement, we are referring to three component schedules that for a higher-order sequence. Typically, one of the component schedules is varied while the other two components remain unchanged (held constant) |
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Term
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Definition
| A reinforcing stimulus that has acquired its properties as a function of species history. Although many reinforcers, such as food and sex, are general over species, other reinforcers, such as the song of a bird or the scent of a mate, are specific to a species. Behavior analysis, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience are necessary to describe, predict and control the behavior regulated by unconditioned reinforcement. |
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