How is behavior “shaped” through operant conditioning? Operant shaping: demonstration, analysis and terminology Chaining operant behavior (again) The cumulative recorder Asymptotic effects of basic schedules of reinforcement: Fixed-ratio (FR) Fixed-interval (FI) Variable-ratio (VR) Variable-interval (VI)
Rat in Skinner Box: RSRS ?bell approaches Experimenter Professor Wall on Stage: RSRS presses bar click of feeder approaches feeder food pellet candy Examples of operant sequences:
S D : R S Rf bell approach candy Unconditioned Reinforcer S D : R S Rf Conditioned Reinforcer Professor Wall on Stage: “target response”
Successive approximations Differential reinforcement Reinforcement variables: Delay of reinforcement Magnitude of reinforcement Frequency of reinforcement Partial Reinforcement Effect (PRE) Operant level
S D : R S Rf click approach food bar-press tone ?? etc. Unconditioned Reinforcer Conditioned Reinforcer order of chained performance order in which links are learned (from last week’s lecture)
Spool Time Movement of paper pen
Time Cumulative Responses Low response rate High response rate Reading and interpreting a cumulative record: No responses
Transient vs. asymptotic behavior
Sample Asymptotic Cumulative Records: etc. FR10 FI 1min. VR10 VI 1min Time Cumulative Responses etc. reinforcer “ scallop ” etc.