Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning Staddon Niv

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Operant conditioning 2008 Scholarpedia 10.4249/scholarpedia.2318 Staddon2008-operant-conditioning Staddon2008-operant-conditioning.txt, the project's staged copy 1bf9a6a5a71e3ff3e2f8e22756e89e9e80bdf43c not-redistributable behavioural-psychology

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0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them Operant conditioning as a process and as an experimental paradigm - how behaviour is selected by its consequences. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. What is the relation between behaviour and its consequences, and how far does the analogy with natural selection actually carry? Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Sets out operant conditioning as ontogenetic selection - behaviour varied then selected by reinforcement - and flags that the variation half of the analogy has gone unstudied. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. critique Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. operant conditioning Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. review review Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Reinforcement acts as a selective agent on emitted behaviour, its strength set by how soon the reinforcer follows the response, how often the pairing occurs, and how well the response predicts the reinforcer Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms The predictive properties of the situation build, through innate food-related response tendencies, the repertoire of activities out of which reinforcement can then select Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms A food-predicting stimulus recruits built-in mechanisms that bias the animal's repertoire towards food-getting acts, which is why behaviour appears before any operant reinforcement Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Arousal has a bitonic effect because increasing predictiveness simultaneously raises response vigour and narrows the repertoire, so past a point the effective response drops out Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Matching emerges because reinforcement probability on a VI schedule falls as responses accumulate and rises with time away, so any reward-following rule produces it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms reinforcement acts as a selective agent through three quantities: how soon it follows the response, how often, and how well the response predicts it duplicate of: mechanisms[0] Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms contingency is about predictiveness, not pairing: adding free food WEAKENS lever pressing, because the lever stops predicting the food Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms the act closest in time to the reinforcer is the one strengthened - the principle of postremity, and the origin of the Law of Effect Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms the elicited/emitted distinction: reflexive behaviour is triggered by a stimulus, operant behaviour is emitted before any stimulus is attached to it Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The theoretical account is incomplete by the article's own statement - the empirical space is mapped, the mechanism is not. what this limits: the mechanistic account: EXACTLY HOW ALL THIS WORKS IS STILL NOT UNDERSTOOD IN FULL THEORETICAL DETAIL, though the empirical space is mapped Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. A century of research has studied selection and not variation: where the first successful response comes from is unexamined. what this limits: the scope of the whole research programme: OMITTED IS ANY DISCUSSION OF WHERE THE SUCCESSFUL RESPONSE COMES FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE - selection is studied, variation is not Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The framework that organised the field is described as not really a theory. what this limits: any use of the Skinnerian framework as an explanatory theory: SKINNER'S 'THEORY' WAS MORE AN ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK THAN A TRUE THEORY Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The credit-assignment problem is taken over from AI and made the central question that an operant conditioning process must answer Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Darwin's natural selection is imported as the model for operant conditioning, with reinforcement as the selective agent acting on a variable repertoire of emitted acts Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The reinforcement-learning framework is adopted as the normative account within which both Pavlovian and operant behaviour are interpreted Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Darwinian selection from a varied population, imported to explain how one behaviour is picked out of an emitted repertoire by reinforcement Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. operant conditioning operant conditioning Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. instrumental conditioning instrumental conditioning Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. ontogenetic selection ontogenetic selection Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. phylogenetic selection phylogenetic selection Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Pavlovian conditioning Pavlovian conditioning Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. reinforcer reinforcer Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. punisher punisher Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. contingency contingency Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. natural selection natural selection Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. selection - ontogenetic: consequences shaping behaviour within one animal's lifetime Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. selection - phylogenetic: consequences shaping a species over evolutionary time Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. conditioning - operant: the animal has control, and outcomes are contingent on its behaviour Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. conditioning - Pavlovian: the animal only observes, and no response is required for the outcome Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. claim_type: mechanism a second reading DIFFERING from the recorded value. Recorded: critique — note: a second reading, verbatim-verified, disagreeing with the value on the record. Not applied - a person decides. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. method: review a second reading reaching the same value. Recorded: review — note: a second reading reaching the same value from a different sentence. Not applied - a person decides. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. phenomenon: selection of behaviour by its consequences within the lifetime of an individual a second reading DIFFERING from the recorded value. Recorded: operant conditioning — note: a second reading, verbatim-verified, disagreeing with the value on the record. Not applied - a person decides. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. contradicts → Herrnstein's matching law (Richard Herrnstein, 1961), as a general law relating response rate to reinforcement rate Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Thorndike's Law of Effect Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. contradicts → Skinner's framework as a theory in the ordinary sense Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. instrumental conditioning —same-as→ operant conditioning instrumental conditioning operant conditioning strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. ontogenetic selection —same-as→ operant conditioning ontogenetic selection operant conditioning strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. EVIDENCE CORRECTED (RE-GROUNDED) · operant conditioning —distinct-from→ Pavlovian conditioning operant conditioning Pavlovian conditioning EVIDENCE CORRECTED: RE-GROUNDED. The old span states the difference but names the wrong term for one end - that '…in CLASSICAL conditioning no…' response is required, unlike operant conditioning. The edge's endpoint is Pavlovian conditioning, and the span says CLASSICAL, which is the same thing under another name and therefore attests nothing for that endpoint. The replacement names both terms as the edge does AND gives the basis of the distinction: 'BETWEEN PAVLOVIAN…' conditioning, resting on whether the animal only observes the relations between events. Both spans carry a differentiation cue - 'unlike' and 'distinct' - so this is not a trade of strength for form; the new one simply uses the vocabulary the edge does. — strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but endpoint by synonym: the span writes 'classical conditioning', which the previous sentence introduces as Pavlovian conditioning; the contrast is stated. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. reinforcer —contrasted-with→ punisher reinforcer punisher strength of the relation: 1 Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. reinforcer —part-of→ contingency reinforcer contingency strength of the relation: 0.9 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its span and kept, but the span describes reinforcement contingencies; part-of is loose. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. operant conditioning —distinct-from→ Pavlovian conditioning operant conditioning Pavlovian conditioning the relation itself is separately evidenced · strength of the relation: 1 · the relation stated: The distinction between Pavlovian and operant conditioning therefore rests on Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Adding free food pellets that arrive independently of lever pressing makes the rat press less, not more. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Matching can be seen as a result of the negative-feedback properties of the concurrent variable-interval schedule in which it is measured. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Matching depends on the animal's switching history: pigeons trained on each option separately and only then given the choice abandon matching and respond exclusively to the richer schedule. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. That steady-state behaviour is often reversible does not mean the animal's state is equally reversible. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The field concentrated almost entirely on how reinforcement strengthens behaviour and neglected where the reinforced behaviour comes from in the first place — the problem of behavioural variation. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Research of the last two decades has convincingly shown that both stimulus-response and action-outcome control structures exist. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. In autoshaping, a pigeon is likely to keep pecking the key even when pecking removes the food. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Much evidence suggests dopamine provides basal ganglia targets with a reward prediction error that can influence learning and action selection. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Because simple operant behaviour occurs even in bacteria, the essentials of operant conditioning need not depend on specific neural structures. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Behaviour guided by consequences is universal across animals, from protists to humans. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Adding reward that is NOT contingent on the response reduces responding - the animal tracks predictiveness, not frequency of pairing. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The field's own gap, stated plainly: research has studied how responses are strengthened and almost never where they come from. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Early neo-behaviourists were led to an exponential learning curve and a learning principle of the form V(t+1) = A(1-V(t)). Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. assignment of credit assignment of credit Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Yerkes-Dodson law Yerkes-Dodson law Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. interval schedule interval schedule Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. ratio schedule ratio schedule Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. matching law matching law Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. habitual behavior habitual behavior Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. operant conditioning operant conditioning Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. ontogenetic selection ontogenetic selection Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. reinforcer reinforcer Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. punisher punisher Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. response rate response rate Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. reinforcement delay, rate and contingency reinforcement delay, rate and contingency Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. response strength response strength Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. twice — How much faster rats press the lever on the richer RI15 schedule than on the leaner RI30 schedule, illustrating matching Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. V(t+1) = A(1-V(t)) — the neo-behaviourist exponential learning rule, with V response strength and A a learning rate below one Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

The full text of this article is not redistributable, so it is not included here. The evidence sentences are withheld with it; the tag layer and its grounding status remain. The article itself is at https://doi.org/10.4249/scholarpedia.2318.