Quantitative analyses of observing and attending
Introduction
Problems in the allocation and persistence of attention are involved in many psychological disorders. For example, attention is too easily disrupted in those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). In addition, persistent misallocation of attention has been identified in people with schizophrenia (Nestor and O’Donnell, 1998), and as been implicated in educational difficulties with the developmentally disabled (i.e., stimulus overselectivity; Dube and McIlvane, 1997, Lovaas et al., 1979). Finally, persistent and problematic attentional biases to drug cues have been noted with drug abusers (e.g., Ehrman et al., 2002, Johnsen et al., 1994, Lubman et al., 2000, Townshend and Duka, 2001).
Attention is widely recognized to be governed in part by both stimulus features and the goals of the organism (see Yantis, 2000, for review). In addition, the deployment of attention is considered to be a skill modifiable by experience (e.g., Gopher, 1992). Thus, an understanding of the impact of reinforcement variables on the allocation and persistence of attention may help to suggest improved behavioral interventions for the psychological disorders noted above. Recently, we have been examining the applicability of quantitative models of operant behavior like the matching law and behavioral momentum theory to the allocation and persistence of attending. In one series of experiments (Section 2 below), we used observing responses of pigeons as an analog of attending. Observing responses bring sensory receptors into contact with stimuli to be discriminated and have long been considered an analog of attending (Wyckoff, 1952). In the typical procedure used to study observing responses, periods in which food is available for a response on some schedule of reinforcement alternate with periods in which the response is not reinforced and food is never available (i.e., extinction). During each session, these alternating periods of food availability versus extinction are not signaled. Observing responses (e.g., pecks on a second key) produce brief discriminative stimuli signaling whether food is available (i.e., S+) or not (i.e., S−). Below we review experiments examining the applicability of the matching law (Section 2.1) and behavioral momentum theory (Section 2.2) to observing behavior. Observing behavior is generally believed to be maintained by the conditioned reinforcing properties of S+ presentations, thus along the way we will examine the implications of these experiments for an understanding of conditioned reinforcement in general.
In a second series of experiments (Section 3 below), we examined the applicability of the generalized matching law to the allocation of attention in a divided-attention task. In this task, pigeons are presented with compound samples comprised of a combination of two elements (i.e., a color and a line orientation) and single-element comparison stimuli (i.e., two colors or two line orientations) in a delayed-matching-to-sample procedure. Accurate performance requires attending to both elements of the compound stimuli. We apply the generalized matching law to changes in performance associated with variations in the relative rates of reinforcement for attending to the elements of the compound samples.
Section snippets
Observing and the matching law
First, we examine the applicability of the matching law to changes in absolute rates of observing produced by changes in the rate of primary reinforcement signaled by an S+. Herrnstein's (1970) single-response version of the matching law states that:where B is the absolute rate of a target response, R is the rate of reinforcement, and the parameters k and Re correspond to asymptotic response rates and extraneous sources of reinforcement, respectively. To examine the applicability of
Divided attention and the matching law
The experiments in Section 2.1 above suggested that the matching law might provide a good account of how reinforcement variables impact the allocation of attention. Although the concurrent observing-response experiment of Shahan et al. (2006) might be considered an analog of divided attention, we sought to examine the applicability of the matching law to performance on a task more typically used to study divided attention of pigeons. We used a modified delayed-matching-to-sample procedure in
Conclusions
The research reviewed here was undertaken in an attempt to examine whether models of the allocation and persistence of operant behavior are applicable to attending. The observing experiments presented in Section 2 suggest that the matching law does well as an account of changes in the rate and allocation of observing. In addition, behavioral momentum theory provided a reasonable account of the persistence of observing, but only when rates of primary reinforcement in the context were considered.
Acknowledgement
Portions of the research reviewed here and preparation of this paper was funded by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH072621. The authors thank Amy Odum, Tony Nevin, and Corina Jimenez-Gomez for their contributions.
References (61)
- et al.
Comparing attentional bias to smoking cues in current smokers, former smokers, and non-smokers using a dot-probe task
Drug Alcohol Depend.
(2002) Measuring behavioral momentum
Behav. Process.
(2002)- et al.
Response-reinforcer relations and resistance to change
Behav. Proc.
(2008) Selective and divided attention in animals
Behav. Process.
(2005)- et al.
Persistence of stereotyped behavior: examining the effects of external reinforcers
J Appl. Behav. Anal.
(2003) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(1994)On two types of deviation from the matching law: bias and undermatching
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
(1974)Matching, undermatching, and overmatching in studies of choice
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
(1979)- et al.
Independence of terminal-link entry rate and immediacy in concurrent chains
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
(2004) Behavioral momentum of typing behavior in college students
J. Behav. Anal. Ther.
(1996)
Bias and sensitivity to reinforcement in a concurrent-chain schedule
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
The relation between the generalized matching law and signal-detection theory
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Stimuli, reinforcers, and behavior: an integration
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Do conditional reinforcers count?
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Observing and conditioned reinforcement
Behav. Brain Sci.
Reinforcer frequency and restricted stimulus control
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Uncertainty reduction and conditioned reinforcement
Psych. Record
Conditioned reinforcement: choice and information
Delay reduction: current status
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
The effect of conditioned reinforcement rate on choice: a review
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Choice and conditioned reinforcement
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
The skill of attention control: acquisition and execution of attention strategies
A contextual model of concurrent-chains choice
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
On the relation between preference and resistance to change
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Response-independent milk delivery enhances persistence of pellet reinforced lever pressing by rats
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Drug-induced changes in responding are dependent on baseline stimulus-reinforcer contingencies
Psychobiology
On the law of effect
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Alcoholic subjects’ attentional bias in the processing of alcohol-related words
Psych. Addict. Behav.
Effects of two procedures for varying information transmission on observing responses
J. Exp. Anal. Behav.
Cited by (11)
Divided stimulus control depends on differential and nondifferential reinforcement: Testing a quantitative model
2023, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of BehaviorAn evaluation of methods for studying the effects of conditioned reinforcement on human choice
2023, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of BehaviorCochran’s Q Test of Stimulus Overselectivity within the Verbal Repertoire of Children with Autism
2022, Perspectives on Behavior ScienceThe Verbal Behavior Stimulus Control Ratio Equation: a Quantification of Language
2019, Perspectives on Behavior ScienceGeneralization of the disruptive effects of alternative stimuli when combined with target stimuli in extinction
2017, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior