Abstract
Rats received positive patterning training in which a serial light-tone compound was reinforced with food and the elements were separately nonreinforced. Conditioned responding of a form characteristic of auditory conditioned stimuli emerged to the tone within the serial compound. Separate presentations of the elements evoked little conditioned behavior. Discrimination performance was better when the light-tone interval was 20 sec than when it was 5 sec. These data suggested that the light acquired a conditional cue or occasion-setting function such that the light signaled when a tone-food relation was in effect. Comparisons with data from previous experiments involving serial feature-positive discriminations indicated that the light’s ability to serve as an occasion setter was relatively independent of its response-evoking capacity.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Carter, D. E., & Werner, T. J. Complex learning and information processing by pigeons: A critical analysis. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1978,29, 565–601.
Holland, P. C. Conditioned stimulus as a determinant of the form of the Pavlovian appetitive conditioned response. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1977, 3, 77–104.
Holland, P. C. “Occasion setting” in conditional discriminations. In M. Commons, R. Herrnstein, & A. R. Wagner (Eds.), Harvard symposium on the quantitative analyses of behavior (Vol. 4). Acquisition: Discrimination processes. New York: Ballinger, in press.
Holland, P. C., & Ross, R. T. Within-compound associations in serial compound conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1981, 7, 228–241.
Kehoe, E. J., & Gormezano, I. Configural and combination laws in conditioning with compound stimuli. Psychological Bulletin, 1980,87,351–387.
Moore, J. W., Newman, F. L., & Glasgow, B. Intertrial cues as discriminative stimuli in human eyelid conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969,79, 319–326.
Ross, R. T., & Holland, P. C. Conditioning of simultaneous and serial feature-positive discriminations. Animal Learning & Behavior, 1981,9,293–303.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported in part by Grant BNS 7903853 from the National Science Foundation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ross, R.T., Holland, P.C. Serial positive patterning: Implications for “occasion setting”. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 19, 159–162 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330218
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330218