Williams D A, Butler M M, Overmier J B
Psychology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 1990 Jan;16(1):3-13.
Experiment 1 demonstrated that reliably correlating different reinforcer locations (top vs. bottom) with sample stimuli markedly enhanced the performance of White Carneaux pigeons in a spatial conditional discrimination. This differential outcome effect was more evident at longer retention intervals. In Experiment 2, pigeons were given the opportunity to learn about two redundant reinforcer features--location (top vs. bottom) and quality (grain vs. chow). Which reinforcer feature exerted control over choosing depended on task structure. In the congruent task, where pecks to the top key operated the top feeder and pecks to the bottom key operated the bottom feeder, reinforcer location exerted predominant control. In the incongruent task, where pecks to the top key operated the bottom feeder and vice versa, reinforcer quality exerted exclusive control. These results have implications for the nature of reinforcer representations in instrumental learning.
实验1表明，将不同的强化物位置（顶部与底部）与样本刺激可靠地关联起来，显著提高了白卡诺鸽在空间条件辨别任务中的表现。这种差异结果效应在更长的保留间隔时更为明显。在实验2中，鸽子有机会了解两种冗余的强化物特征——位置（顶部与底部）和质量（谷粒与食物）。哪种强化物特征对选择产生控制取决于任务结构。在一致任务中，啄顶部按键操作顶部喂食器，啄底部按键操作底部喂食器，强化物位置发挥主要控制作用。在不一致任务中，啄顶部按键操作底部喂食器，反之亦然，强化物质量发挥唯一控制作用。这些结果对工具性学习中强化物表征的性质具有启示意义。
