Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
The Effects Of Added Reinforcers On Resistance To Change, Christopher A. Podlesnik
The Effects Of Added Reinforcers On Resistance To Change, Christopher A. Podlesnik
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
The fundamental unit of behavior, defined by the discriminated operant, can be reduced to the three-term contingency, which includes an antecedent stimulus, a response, and a reinforcing consequence. Behavioral momentum theory suggests that resistance to disruption (i.e., resistance to change) of operant behavior is governed by the relation between the antecedent stimulus context and the rate of reinforcement within that context (i.e., Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer relation). Further, behavior momentum theory suggests that resistance to change is independent of the contingency between the response and the reinforcer (i.e., operant response-reinforcer relation). Thus, although additional response-independent food decreases response rates by greatly degrading …
Resistance To Change Of Ethanol Self-Administration: Effects Of Naltrexone And Extinction, Corina Jimenez-Gomez
Resistance To Change Of Ethanol Self-Administration: Effects Of Naltrexone And Extinction, Corina Jimenez-Gomez
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Drug self-administration has proven to be an adequate model for assessing variables that contribute to the maintenance of drug taking. The present experiment was concerned with the persistence of drug self-administration, a defining characteristic of drug dependence and abuse. Findings from studies of the resistance to change of food-maintained responding may contribute to a better understanding of the persistence of drug abuse and dependence. Using an animal model of alcohol self-administration, this study evaluated the effects of rate of reinforcement on the persistence of ethanol self-administration in rats in the face of behavioral (i.e., extinction) and pharmacological (i.e., naltrexone) disruptors. …