Parallel experiments with rats and pigeons examined whether the size of a pre-trial ratio requirement would affect choices in a self-control situation. In different conditions, either 1 response or 40 responses were required before each trial. In the first half of each experiment, an adjusting-ratio schedule was used, in which subjects could…

Individual differences in impulsive choice behavior have been linked to a variety of behavioral problems including substance abuse, smoking, gambling, and poor financial decision-making. Given the potential importance of individual differences in impulsive choice as a predictor of behavioral problems, the present study sought to measure the extent…

Chen, Lakshminarayanan, and Santos (2006) claim to show in three choice experiments that monkeys react rationally to price and wealth shocks, but, when faced with gambles, display hallmark, human-like biases that include loss aversion. We present three experiments with monkeys and humans consistent with a reinterpretation of their data that…

Does similarity in the location and temporal intensity pattern of the CS and UCS permit more rapid conditioning despite the presence of stimulus pairings in all groups? The following experiments attempt to assess the role of such factors in determining the rate of acquisition of a conditioned emotional response. (Author)

Pigeons pecked left versus right keys contingent upon the color presented at 1 of those locations. Spatial-response latencies were shorter when the color appeared at the same location as the required response than at the opposite location. This Simon effect occurred when the stimulus on the alternative key was constant, varied from trial to trial,…

The experiments reported here describe the relationships between the reflex-modulating effects of compounded stimuli and the effects of these stimuli when they act in isolation. (Author)

Using rats and pigeons as subjects, the effects of varying amounts of reinforcement on the rate and temporal patterns of interim and terminal behaviors engendered by periodic feeding schedules were assessed in three experiments. (Author/KC)

In three experiments the location of pigeons was monitored during 20-second illuminations of a right or left key presented in various temporal relationships with food delivery. In general, subjects approached a signal positively correlated with food and withdrew from a signal negatively correlated with food. (Editor)

In his comment, Black (AA 526 155) argued that Maier and Seligman (EJ 138 911) incorrectly interpreted competing motor response explanations of the learned helplessness effect. Here, it is argued that no article that has proposed a competing motor response explanation of the learned helplessness effect has alluded to a mechanism similar to the one…

The main finding of these four experiments was that the strong conditioning produced by a brief exposure to a truly random control weakened with prolonged exposure. (Author/RK)

Predictions of two-stage learning theories were evaluated by measuring observing responses which produced the discriminative stimuli for .5 sec. (Editor)

Whether a stimulus compound is separable or integral has predictable consequences for several human information processing tasks. The purpose of these experiments was to explore the implications of this distinction for research in animal learning and the development of learning theory. (Author/RK)

Assesses the validity of physiological versus learning interpretations of illness-preexposure effects. (Author/RK)

Comments on Maier and Seligman's research (EJ 138 911) on learned helplessness, specifically on their analysis of alternatives to the learned helplessness hypothesis. (Author/RK)

A general hypothesis of associative learning should be based on the broadest possible foundation of empirical evidence, including confirmation in both aversive and appetitive situations. For this reason the present experiment was designed to test the surprise hypothesis using a procedure in which the unconditioned stimulus was the presentation of…