McSweeney Frances K, Murphy Eric S
Department of Psychology, Washington State University, PO Box 644820, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, USA.
Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2009 Sep;92(2):189-98. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2008.07.002. Epub 2008 Aug 19.
We argue that sensitization and habituation occur to the sensory properties of reinforcers when those reinforcers are presented repeatedly or for a prolonged time. Sensitization increases, and habituation decreases, the ability of a reinforcer to control behavior. Supporting this argument, the rate of operant responding changes systematically within experimental sessions even when the programmed rate of reinforcement is held constant across the session. These within-session changes in operant responding are produced by repeated delivery of the reinforcer, and their empirical characteristics correspond to the characteristics of behavior undergoing sensitization and habituation. Two characteristics of habituation (dishabituation, stimulus specificity) are particularly useful in separating habituation from alternative explanations. Arguing that habituation occurs to reinforcers expands the domain of habituation. The argument implies that habituation occurs to biologically important, not just to neutral, stimuli. The argument also implies that habituation may be observed in "voluntary" (operant), not just in reflexive, behavior. Expanding the domain of habituation has important implications for understanding operant and classical conditioning. Habituation may also contribute to the regulation of motivated behaviors. Habituation provides a more accurate and a less cumbersome explanation for motivated behaviors than homeostasis. Habituation also has some surprising, and easily testable, implications for the control of motivated behaviors.
我们认为，当强化物被反复呈现或长时间呈现时，对强化物的感觉属性会出现敏感化和习惯化。敏感化会增强，而习惯化会减弱强化物控制行为的能力。支持这一观点的是，即使在整个实验过程中设定的强化速率保持不变，操作性反应的速率在实验过程中也会系统性地变化。这些实验过程中操作性反应的变化是由强化物的反复给予所产生的，并且它们的实证特征与经历敏感化和习惯化的行为特征相对应。习惯化的两个特征（去习惯化、刺激特异性）在将习惯化与其他解释区分开来时特别有用。认为对强化物会产生习惯化这一观点扩展了习惯化的范畴。这一观点意味着习惯化不仅发生在对中性刺激上，也发生在对具有生物学重要性的刺激上。该观点还意味着习惯化不仅可以在反射行为中观察到，也可能在“自愿”（操作性）行为中观察到。扩展习惯化的范畴对于理解操作性条件作用和经典条件作用具有重要意义。习惯化也可能有助于对动机性行为的调节。与内稳态相比，习惯化为动机性行为提供了更准确且更简洁的解释。习惯化对于动机性行为的控制也有一些令人惊讶且易于验证的意义。
