Shahan Timothy A
J Exp Anal Behav. 2002 Sep;78(2):161-78. doi: 10.1901/jeab.2002.78-161.
Four experiments examined the free-operant observing behavior of rats. In Experiment 1, observing was a bitonic function of random-ratio schedule requirements for the primary reinforcer. In Experiment 2, decreases in the magnitude of the primary reinforcer decreased observing. Experiment 3 examined observing when a random-ratio schedule or a yoked random-time schedule of primary reinforcement was in effect across conditions. Removing the response requirement for the primary reinforcer increased observing, suggesting that the effects of the random-ratio schedule in Experiment 1 likely were due to an interaction between observing and responding for the primary reinforcer. In Experiment 4, decreasing the rate of primary reinforcement by increasing the duration of a random-time schedule decreased observing monotonically. Overall, these results suggest that observing decreases with decreases in the rate or magnitude of the primary reinforcer, but that behavior related to the primary reinforcer can affect observing and potentially affect measurement of conditioned reinforcing value.
四项实验研究了大鼠的自由操作观察行为。在实验1中，观察是对初级强化物的随机比率强化程序要求的双调函数。在实验2中，初级强化物强度的降低会减少观察行为。实验3考察了在不同条件下，当对初级强化物采用随机比率强化程序或匹配随机时间强化程序时的观察行为。取消对初级强化物的反应要求会增加观察行为，这表明实验1中随机比率强化程序的效果可能是由于观察行为与对初级强化物的反应之间的相互作用。在实验4中，通过增加随机时间强化程序的时长来降低初级强化的速率，会使观察行为单调减少。总体而言，这些结果表明，观察行为会随着初级强化物的速率或强度的降低而减少，但与初级强化物相关的行为会影响观察行为，并可能影响条件性强化价值的测量。
