Antecedent reinforcement contingencies in the stimulus control of an auditory discrimination.

In order to assess possible confounding of discriminative stimulus effects with those produced by the reinforcing stimulus, three groups of four rats each were trained for 45 hr on a variable-interval 1-min reinforcement program. Two groups were run on a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule in which the reinforcement stimulus (S(D)) and the nonreinforcement stimulus (S(Delta)) were two intensities of a 4-kHz (cps) tone separated by 40 or 10 db. The third group was run on a mixed schedule with a single intensity constantly present. The mixed-schedule animals showed no discrimination of the reinforcement program. Under the multiple schedule, the highest S(Delta) rates were obtained after S(D) intervals, regardless of the reinforcement availability in the S(D) interval. These local rate variations in S(Delta) were small in proportion to those produced by the S(D)versus S(Delta) intensities.