Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
A Comparison Of Response-Contingent And Noncontingent Pairing In The Conditioning Of A Reinforcer, Sarah Joanne Miller
A Comparison Of Response-Contingent And Noncontingent Pairing In The Conditioning Of A Reinforcer, Sarah Joanne Miller
LSU Master's Theses
Two pairing procedures were compared in the conditioning of a secondary reinforcer. Pairings of a neutral stimulus and primary reinforcer were delivered either contingent upon a participant response or noncontingently (i.e., independent of a participant response). Maintenance of responding when responses resulted in the neutral stimulus alone was compared before and throughout pairing using progressive-ratio probes. Results yielded undifferentiated responding between the contingently-paired and noncontingently-paired stimuli and a stimulus never paired with reinforcement, indicating that no conditioning effect occurred. Potential factors in producing this lack of differentiation are discussed, including differences in methodology between this study and past studies.