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McGraw, Justin James. "Reward processing alterations for natural reward in alcohol-preferring (P) rats: Incentive contrast, reward discrimination, and alcohol consumption." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1526310548842931.
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Oliver, Jason A. "Effects of Nicotine Withdrawal on Motivation, Reward Sensitivity and Reward-Learning." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5754.
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Research on addictive behavior has traditionally emphasized the role that primary reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse plays in the development and maintenance of dependence. However, contemporary behavioral economic theory and animal models of nicotine dependence suggest the need for greater attention to the impact that response to alternative rewards may have on smoking behavior. The present study sought to investigate the impact of nicotine withdrawal on self-report, behavioral and neural indices of motivation, immediate response to rewards and the capacity to learn and modify behavior in response to positive and negative feedback. Heavy smokers (n = 48) completed two laboratory sessions following overnight deprivation, during which they smoked either nicotinized or denicotinized cigarettes. At each session, they completed a reward prediction and feedback learning task while electro-encephalographic recordings were obtained, as well as resting state recordings which were used to extract global indices of motivational state. Results confirmed that nicotine withdrawal produced an avoidant motivational state. This effect was strongly related to numerous indices of smoking motivation. Exploratory analyses also revealed numerous moderators of these effects. Behavioral data from tasks provided some support for the impact of nicotine withdrawal on reward and feedback processing, though minimal impact was observed for neural indices. Together, results confirm the manifestation of a broad-spanning impact of nicotine withdrawal on motivational state, but effects on specific reward systems remains unknown. Future research should examine the impact of nicotine withdrawal on other reward-related constructs to better delineate these effects.
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Samson, Rachel D., Adam W. Lester, Leroy Duarte, Anu Venkatesh та Carol A. Barnes. "Emergence of β-Band Oscillations in the Aged Rat Amygdala during Discrimination Learning and Decision Making Tasks". SOC NEUROSCIENCE, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626610.
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Older adults tend to use strategies that differ from those used by young adults to solve decision-making tasks. MRI experiments suggest that altered strategy use during aging can be accompanied by a change in extent of activation of a given brain region, inter-hemispheric bilateralization or added brain structures. It has been suggested that these changes reflect compensation for less effective networks to enable optimal performance. One way that communication can be influenced within and between brain networks is through oscillatory events that help structure and synchronize incoming and outgoing information. It is unknown how aging impacts local oscillatory activity within the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA). The present study recorded local field potentials (LFPs) and single units in old and young rats during the performance of tasks that involve discrimination learning and probabilistic decision making. Wefound task-and age-specific increases in power selectively within the beta range (15-30 Hz). The increased beta power occurred after lever presses, as old animals reached the goal location. Periods of high-power beta developed over training days in the aged rats, and was greatest in early trials of a session. beta Power was also greater after pressing for the large reward option. These data suggest that aging of BLA networks results in strengthened synchrony of beta oscillations when older animals are learning or deciding between rewards of different size. Whether this increased synchrony reflects the neural basis of a compensatory strategy change of old animals in reward-based decision-making tasks, remains to be verified.
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Ritter, Samuel. "Meta-reinforcement Learning with Episodic Recall| An Integrative Theory of Reward-Driven Learning." Thesis, Princeton University, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13420812.
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<p> Research on reward-driven learning has produced and substantiated theories of model-free and model-based reinforcement learning (RL), which respectively explain how humans and animals learn reflexive habits and build prospective plans. A highly developed line of work has unearthed the role of striatal dopamine in model-free learning, while the prefrontal cortex (PFC) appears to critically subserve model-based learning. The recent theory of meta-reinforcement learning (meta-RL) explained a wide array of findings by positing that the model-free dopaminergic reward prediction error trains the recurrent prefrontal network to execute arbitrary RL algorithms—including model-based RL—in its activations. </p><p> In parallel, a nascent understanding of a third reinforcement learning system is emerging: a non-parametric system that stores memory traces of individual experiences rather than aggregate statistics. Research on such <i>episodic learning</i> has revealed its unmistakeable traces in human behavior, developed theory to articulate algorithms underlying that behavior, and pursued the contention that the hippocampus is centrally involved. These developments lead to a set of open questions about (1) how the neural mechanisms of episodic learning relate to those underlying incremental model-free and model-based learning and (2) how the brain arbitrates among the contributions of this abundance of valuation strategies. </p><p> This thesis extends meta-RL to provide an account for episodic learning, incremental learning, and the coordination between them. In this theory of episodic meta-RL (EMRL), episodic memory reinstates activations in the prefrontal network based on contextual similarity, after passing them through a learned gating mechanism (Chapters 1 and 2). In simulation, EMRL can solve episodic contextual water maze navigation problems and episodic contextual bandit problems, including those with Omniglot class contexts and others with compositional structure (Chapter 3). Further, EMRL reproduces episodic model-based RL and its coordination with incremental model-based RL on the episodic two-step task (Vikbladh et al., 2017; Chapter 4). Chapter 5 discusses more biologically detailed extensions to EMRL, and Chapter 6 analyzes EMRL with respect to a set of recent empirical findings. Chapter 7 discusses EMRL in the context of various topics in neuroscience.</p><p>
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Chan, Chi-wan Tracey, and 陳緻韻. "Reward learning impairments in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/209481.
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Reward learning refers to outcome-based learning that involves selecting optimal response choices from feedback which facilitate adaptive behavior. It is believed that reward learning paradigm represents a promising translational target in schizophrenia research. Previous studies generated relatively consistent evidence of rapid learning deficits but mixed findings on gradual learning deficits. Reward learning impairments were also associated with symptoms as well as antipsychotics treatment. The current study aimed to investigate the reward learning impairments and its longitudinal change in patients with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder.
A total of 34 patients and 36 healthy control participants were recruited. Patients and controls were matched in terms of age, sex, and education level. All participants were assessed twice: at baseline and after one year. For each assessment time point, data were collected on demographics, clinical and treatment characteristics. Participants were asked to complete a battery of cognitive assessments and two reward learning tasks: the Gain vs. loss-avoidance task and the Go-NoGo task. Patients and controls were compared in terms of cross-sectional reward learning performance at baseline and follow-up. Correlates of reward deficits were examined, and longitudinal analyses were conducted to investigate change of reward learning performance over time.
At baseline, it was found that patients had significant rapid learning deficit in win-stay (learning from positive feedback) and gradual learning deficits in learning from both positive and negative feedback. Reward-driven learning impairments were more robust. At one-year follow-up, patients continued to have significant rapid learning deficit in win-stay and gradual learning deficits in learning from negative feedback. Longitudinal analyses demonstrated that patients had significant decrease in win-stay rate in training phase and significantly lower accuracy for punishment-driven stimuli across assessment time points. No deficits in representing expected reward value of stimuli or Go response bias were demonstrated. Correlations were found between different symptom domains (negative symptoms, positive symptoms) and reward learning impairments.
Current findings regarding rapid and gradual learning deficits in patients with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder were partially in keeping with that of previous studies. Discrepant findings across studies may be attributable to different sample characteristics in terms of illness chronicity and symptoms severity. The current study provided valuable information regarding the longitudinal change of reward learning deficits in early psychosis patients.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Psychiatry<br>Master<br>Master of Philosophy
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Cushman, Kristen L. "Age Differences in Reward Anticipation and Memory." TopSCHOLAR®, 2012. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1220.
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Aging research on item- and associative-recognition memory has demonstrated that older adults are deficient in forming associations between two unrelated stimuli. Although older adult performance on tests of item-recognition is similar to younger adult performance, older adults perform worse than younger adults on tests of associative memory (Naveh-Benjamin, Hussain, Guez, & Bar-On, 2003). In addition to the idea that younger adult performance on associative-recognition tests is superior to that of older adults, research has shown that reward cues can enhance motivated learning and item memory performance of younger adults. In an fMRI study that examined the influence of reward anticipation on episodic memory formation, Adcock and colleagues (2006) examined memory performance in response to reward cues that preceded single stimuli and found that young adult participants remembered more stimuli associated with high value reward cues than those associated with low value reward cues. The aim of the current study was to examine whether reward cues that precede a stimulus pair might enhance an association between two stimuli and influence younger and older adult performance on tests of item- and associative-recognition. Our study confirms the idea that while older adult memory for individual items is intact, older adult memory for associations is impaired (Naveh-Benjamin et al., 2003). The results supported the idea that younger and older adult item-recognition is better for high versus low reward cues, but the reward cues had no influence on the associative-recognition of either age group. Therefore, the age-related associative deficit was not improved by reward cues that preceded each stimulus pair.
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Brackney, Ryan Vaidya Manish. "Interactions of equivalence and other behavioral relations simple successive discrimination training /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12087.
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Ortz, Courtney. "Aging and Associative and Inductive Reasoning Processes in Discrimination Learning." TopSCHOLAR®, 2006. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/266.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate how associative and inductive reasoning processes develop over trials in feature positive (FP) and feature negative (FN) discrimination learning. Younger and older adults completed initial and transfer tasks with either consistent or inconsistent transfer. Participants articulated a rule on every trial. The measure of discrimination learning was the number of trials it took participants to articulate the exact rule. In the initial task, older adults articulated the rule more slowly than younger adults in FP discrimination and took marginally more trials to articulate the rule in FN discrimination than younger adults. Age differences were greater in FP discrimination than in FN discrimination learning because younger adults performed well in FP discrimination learning. In the transfer task, older adults articulated the FP rule more slowly than younger adults and both groups articulated the rule more quickly with consistent than inconsistent transfer. Older adults articulated the FN rule slower than older adults. The differences in trials to articulate the FN rule for the two groups were somewhat larger for inconsistent transfer than consistent transfer. Discrimination learning was explained in terms of associative and inductive reasoning processes reasonably well. The measure of associative processes was forgotten responses, whereas the measures of inductive reasoning processes were irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. In FP discrimination learning in the initial task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and marginally more perseverations than younger adults. Therefore, older adults had more difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes than younger adults in FP discrimination. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults. Older and younger adults had a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. Therefore, in FN discrimination older adults had more difficulty with associative processes than younger adults. Both groups had difficulty with inductive reasoning processes. In FP discrimination in the transfer task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and perseverations than younger adults, and these proportions were similar in consistent and inconsistent transfer. Therefore, in FP discrimination older adults had more difficulty than younger adults with both associative and inductive reasoning processes. Both processes were similar with regards to consistent and inconsistent transfer. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults, and the proportion of forgotten responses was greater in inconsistent than in consistent transfer. Both groups made a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts, and there was a marginal difference in consistent and inconsistent transfer for this measure with a greater number in inconsistent transfer. Older adults had a greater proportion of perseverations than younger adults. However, there were no differences in the number of perseverations for consistent and inconsistent transfer. Thus, older adults had difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes. Younger adults' inductive reasoning skills improved. The associative and inductive reasoning processes in FN discrimination were not as efficient in inconsistent transfer as in consistent transfer.
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Brown, Morgan E. "Effects of Age, Task Type, and Information Load on Discrimination Learning." TopSCHOLAR®, 2016. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1648.
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The feature positive effect (FPE) is a phenomenon in discrimination learning by which learning occurs more quickly when the presence (Feature positive; FP), rather than absence (Feature negative; FN) of a stimulus indicates a response should be made. Although the FPE has been extensively corroborated, a reversal, or feature negative effect (FNE), has been found when a target stimulus comes from a smaller set of stimuli (Fiedler, Eckert, & Poysiak, 1988). Age differences in FP and FN learning indicate that older adults perform more poorly than young adults on both FP and FN tasks, and are likely related to decline in working memory (WM) throughout adulthood (Mutter, Haggbloom, Plumlee, & Schrimer, 2006). This study used a successive discrimination task to compare young and older adults’ performance across FP and FN conditions under low (three of a set of four stimuli were presented) and high (three of a set of six stimuli were presented) information load (IL). Results from rule articulation, final incorrect and 12 consecutive trials correct did not support the hypotheses, but trend analyses provided partial support. Under low IL, YA demonstrated a FN response bias whereas OA showed no bias. Under high IL, YA and OA demonstrated equivalent performance whether the target stimulus was present or absent in the FP condition. In the FN condition OA performed better when the target stimulus was absent while YA showed no bias. These findings indicate FN task performance varies by age and this variation changes based on IL condition.
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Jones, Aaron A. Glenn Sigrid S. "Conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence effects of suppressing derived symmetrical responses on the emergence of transitivity /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2007. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-3658.
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Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica Glenn Sigrid S. "Transfer of "good" and "bad" functions within stimulus equivalence classes." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2008. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-6080.
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Bisen-Hersh, Emily Beth. "Effects of Early Chemotherapeutic Treatment on Learning, Novelty, and Drug Reward in Adolescent Mice." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2012. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/190153.
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Psychology<br>Ph.D.<br>Among children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and given chemotherapy-only treatment, 40-70% of survivors experience neurocognitive impairment. Psychostimulants such as methylphenidate are becoming popular medications for treating these deficits in childhood cancer survivors. However, little is known about the outcome of prescribing stimulants to this population. In the research reported here, a novel preclinical mouse model of ALL treatment was developed and used to investigate the effects of early exposure to methotrexate (MTX) and cytarabine (Ara-C) on learning and memory, and the outcome of treating these deficits using a number of different stimulants. Mouse pups were treated on postnatal day (PND) 14, 15, and 16 with saline, MTX, Ara-C, or two combinations of MTX and Ara-C. At PND 35, significant impairments on learning and memory as measured by autoshaping and novel object recognition were found. Mild deficits were observed in a novel conditional discrimination task, which suggests that extensive training may ameliorate learning impairments. MTX and Ara-C treated mice also exhibited sensitivity to the rewarding and stimulatory properties of amphetamine and methylphenidate, suggesting that typical psychostimulants may become more potent following early chemotherapeutic treatment. In contrast, no increase in drug reward following early exposure to MTX and Ara-C was found for an alternative treatment with possible neuroprotective effects, atomoxetine. These findings were further supported by converging evidence that chemotherapy-treated mice displayed increased novelty-seeking. In addition, a greater percentage of MTX and Ara-C treated mice acquired cocaine self-administration, and maintained a higher number of infusions per session. Overall, these findings highlight the usefulness of preclinical models to examine the developmental effects of early exposure to chemotherapeutic agents on future learning, possible models of cognitive remediation, and the consequences of treating impairments using typical psychostimulant medications.<br>Temple University--Theses
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Corns, David Allan. "The effects of graduated stimulus change on learning efficiency in a visual discrimination task." Virtual Press, 1990. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/720342.
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The investigation examined differences in learning efficiency produced by two different methods of discrimination training among regular placement fifth-grade pupils. It was designed to explore possible between-group differences in rate of learning, length of training, mastery rate, recall of learning, and task persistence following training. The experiment consisted of training, an interference task, and a concluding posttest. Two independent groups were formed by random assignment of subjects. The experimental group began training with graduated stimulus change trials--that is, subjects were presented with a succession of three visual discrimination tasks consisting of six trials per task designed to teach correct responding before incorrect alternatives were gradually introduced. Control subjects did not receive graduated stimulus change trials. Instead, they began each task in the training phase with more complex discriminations at trial seven. Pennies were used for reinforcement of correct choices in each group; incorrect selection resulted in no reinforcer delivery. Both groups were then administered a brief exercise designed to inhibit the recall of acquired discriminations. All subjects concluded with a 54-item posttest consisting of intermingled trials from the three-task training phase. The first 21 items were considered mandatory, but the final 33 were optional (i.e., subjects were instructed to complete as many items as they wished and informed that each correct selection earned a penny). Results indicated that graduated stimulus change (GSC) learners committed significantly fewer errors learning the discriminations and mastered significantly more of the training tasks presented than did trial-and-error learners. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the length of training nor in the degree of persistence during posttest voluntary responding. GSC subjects also committed significantly fewer errors on recall than controls although the degree of absolute forgetting in each group was not significantly different. The findings suggest that regular placement, "easy-to-teach" pupils can profit from GSC programming in several important ways. Without lengthening the training process, stimulus control methodologies can render instruction more efficient than trial-and-error procedures for nonimpaired learners. The need is apparent for further experimental research on the application of errorless discrimination procedures to other areas and levels of education.<br>Department of Educational Psychology
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Guerrero, Luis Fernando. "Disruption of conditional discrimination and its effects on equivalence /." abstract and full text PDF (free order & download UNR users only), 2005. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/dissertations/fullcit/3198197.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005.<br>"May 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-72). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2005]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.
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Martin, Tiffani L. Vaidya Manish. "Does stimulus complexity affect acquisition of conditional discriminations and the emergence of derived relations?" [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12160.
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Brackney, Ryan. "Interactions of equivalence and other behavioral relations: Simple successive discrimination training." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12087/.
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The experimenter asked if documented equivalence class membership would influence the development of shared discriminative stimulus function established through simple successive discrimination training. In Experiment 1, equivalence classes were established with two sets of 9 stimuli. Common stimulus functions were then trained within or across the equivalence classes. Greater acquisition rates of the simple discriminations with stimuli drawn from within the equivalence classes were observed. In Experiment 2, a third stimulus set was added with which no equivalence relations were explicitly trained. The findings of Experiment 1 were replicated, but the Set 3 results were inconsistent across subjects. The outcomes of the two experiments demonstrate that equivalence classes have an effect on other behavioral relations which requires further investigation.
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MacKendrick, Alex. "Interleaved Effects in Inductive Category Learning: The Role of Memory Retention." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5846.
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Interleaved effects are widely documented. Research demonstrates that interleaved presentation orders, as opposed to blocked orders typically benefit inductive category learning. What drives interleaved effects is less straightforward. Interleaved presentations provide both the opportunity to compare and contrast between different types of category exemplars, which are temporally juxtaposed, and the opportunity to space study of the same type of category exemplars, which are temporally separated within the presentation span. Accordingly, interleaved effects might be driven by enhanced discrimination, enhanced memory retention, or both in some measure. Though recent studies have largely endorsed enhanced discrimination as the critical mechanism driving interleaved effects, there is no strong evidence to controvert the contribution of enhanced memory retention for interleaved effects. I further examined the role of memory retention by manipulating both presentation order and category structure. Across two experiments I found that memory retention may drive interleaved effects in categorization tasks.
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Delgado, Diana. "Subsitution of stimulus functions as a means to distinguish among different types of functional classes /." abstract and full text PDF (free order & download UNR users only), 2005. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/dissertations/fullcit/1430443.
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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005.<br>"May, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-49). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2005]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.
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Smith, Aaron Paul. "NEUROBEHAVIORAL MEASUREMENTS OF NATURAL AND OPIOID REWARD VALUE." UKnowledge, 2019. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/164.
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In the last decade, (non)prescription opioid abuse, opioid use disorder (OUD) diagnoses, and opioid-related overdoses have risen and represent a significant public health concern. One method of understanding OUD is as a disorder of choice that requires choosing opioid rewards at the expense of other nondrug rewards. The characterization of OUD as a disorder of choice is important as it implicates decision- making processes as therapeutic targets, such as the valuation of opioid rewards. However, reward-value measurement and interpretation are traditionally different in substance abuse research compared to related fields such as economics, animal behavior, and neuroeconomics and may be less effective for understanding how opioid rewards are valued. The present research therefore used choice procedures in line with behavioral/neuroeconomic studies to determine if drug-associated decision making could be predicted from economic choice theories. In Experiment 1, rats completed an isomorphic food-food probabilistic choice task with dynamic, unpredictable changes in reward probability that required constant updating of reward values. After initial training, the reward magnitude of one choice subsequently increased from one to two to three pellets. Additionally, rats were split between the Signaled and Unsignaled groups to understand how cues modulate reward value. After each choice, the Unsignaled group received distinct choice-dependent cues that were uninformative of the choice outcome. The Signaled group also received uninformative cues on one option, but the alternative choice produced reward-predictive cues that informed the trial outcome as a win or loss. Choice data were analyzed at a molar level using matching equations and molecular level using reinforcement learning (RL) models to determine how probability, reward magnitude, and reward-associated cues affected choice. Experiment 2 used an allomorphic drug versus food procedure where the food reward for one option was replaced by a self-administered remifentanil (REMI) infusion at doses of 1, 3 and 10 μg/kg. Finally, Experiment 3 assessed the potential for both REMI and food reward value to be commonly scaled within the brain by examining changes in nucleus accumbens (NAc) Oxygen (O2) dynamics. Results showed that increasing reward probability, magnitude, and the presence of reward-associated cues all independently increased the propensity of choosing the associated choice alternative, including REMI drug choices. Additionally, both molar matching and molecular RL models successfully parameterized rats’ decision dynamics. O2 dynamics were generally commensurate with the idea of a common value signal for REMI and food with changes in O2 signaling scaling with the reward magnitude of REMI rewards. Finally, RL model-derived reward prediction errors significantly correlated with peak O2 activity for reward delivery, suggesting a possible neurological mechanism of value updating. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for current conceptualizations of substance use disorders including a potential need to change the discourse surrounding how substance use disorders are modeled experimentally. Overall, the present research provides evidence that a choice model of substance use disorders may be a viable alternative to the disease model and could facilitate future treatment options centered around economic principles.
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Rayburn-Reeves, Rebecca Marie. "AN ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY AND CUE PREFERENCE IN PIGEONS UNDER VARIABLE REVERSAL LEARNING CONDITIONS." UKnowledge, 2011. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/1.
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Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior in accordance with the changing environment, was studied in pigeons using a series of reversal learning paradigms. All experiments involved a series of 5-trial sequences and I was interested in whether pigeons are sensitive to the reversal by switching to the other alternative after a single error. In Experiments 1 and 2, the overall probability of the two stimuli was equated over sequences, but the probability correct of the two stimuli changed across trials. In both experiments, subjects showed no sensitivity to the differences in sequence type. Instead they used the overall average of the probability of reinforcement on each trial as the basis of choice.
In the final two experiments, the likelihood that a reversal would occur on a given trial was equated such that there was an equal overall probability that the two stimuli would be correct on a given trial, but the overall probability of each stimulus being correct across sequences favored the second correct stimulus (S2). In Experiment 3, the overall probability of S2 correct was 80%, and results showed that subjects consistently chose S2 regardless of sequence type or trial number. In Experiment 4, the overall likelihood of S2 correct was 65%, and results showed that subjects began all sequences at chance, and as the sequence progressed, began choosing S2 more often.
In all experiments, subjects showed remarkably similar behavior regardless of where (or whether) the reversal occurred in a given sequence. Therefore, subjects appeared to be insensitive to the consequences of responses within a sequence (local information) and instead, seemed to be averaging over the sequences based on the overall probability of reinforcement for S1 or S2 being correct on each trial (aggregate information), thus not maximizing overall reinforcement. Together, the results of this series of experiments suggest that pigeons have a basic disposition for using the overall probability instead of using local feedback cues provided by the outcome of individual trials. The fact that pigeons do not use the more optimal information afforded by recent reinforcement contingencies to maximize reinforcement has implications for their use of flexible response strategies under reversal learning conditions.
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Michniewicz, Leslie (Leslie A. ). "The Role of a Point Loss Contingency on the Emergence of Derived Relations in the Absence of Original Relations." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1997. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279016/.
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The role of point loss for symmetrical relations introduced simultaneously with probe trials in the absence of original relations on all probe trial performances was evaluated. Training was completed after six conditional discriminations were established in two contexts. Point loss was introduced simultaneously with probe trials in the absence of original relations in the first context. Probe trials with no point loss in the absence of original relations were introduced in the second context. The simultaneous introduction of probe trials and the point loss contingency may in some cases prevent the emergence of an equivalence class in the context that contained the point loss as well as in the context where no point loss occurred.
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Kowalski, Leo. "In Search of Pleasure : Decision-Making in Uncertainty." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-166540.
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Everyday people seek pleasant experiences, acting in ways they believe will lead to emotional gratification. By engaging with the world people learn about which actions lead to certain outcomes and use this information to navigate their environment. Ultimately, this knowledge helps people to improve their decision-making in order to increase positive emotions.This paper seeks to investigate this process of learning about and seeking out pleasant experiences. To understand the choices people make, I propose a theoretical framework of decision-making based on two components: learning and emotions. Reinforcement learning provides a computational model for how agents receive information from the environment about the outcome of different actions. This form of learning is coupled with psychological theories of emotion, explaining how affect plays an important role in shaping decisions.The paper describes research conducted to empirically test the validity of this approach. In the experiment, participant affect was measured during a gambling task in which participants made decisions under uncertainty. Results from the study suggest that people do in fact have affective responses to choice outcomes, and that they are able to utilize this information to improve decision-making.
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Wagner, Lori Anne. "Cognitive modeling analysis of decision-making processes in young adults at-risk and not at-risk for alcohol dependence." Diss., Online access via UMI:, 2009.
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Koelker, Rachel Lee Ellis Janet. "Comparing a discriminative stimulus procedure to a pairing procedure conditioning neutral social stimuli to function as conditioned reinforcers /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12143.
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O'Brien, Karen M. Murrell Amy Rebekah Epstein. "An exploration of the relationship between worry and other verbal phenomena." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2008. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-6069.
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Mawer, David. "Investigating the effects of dopamine and 3’, 5’-cyclic adenosine monophosphate-regulated neuronal phosphoprotein, 32 kDa (DARPP-32) deletion on adaptive reward-based learning and performance." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2016. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/61352/.
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Dopamine and 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate-regulated neuronal phosphoprotein (DARPP-32) is a critical mediator of neuroplasticity in striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs). The work presented in this thesis used a global gene knockout (KO) construct to investigate the role of DARPP-32 in reward-based learning and performance. Global deletion of the DARPP-32 gene disturbed performance during the intertemporal (delay) discounting procedure. DARPP-32 KO mice were less sensitive than their wildtype (WT) littermates during long delays to reinforcement. In comparison to WT mice, DARPP-32 KO mice also developed a risk-sensitive pattern of choices during a probability discounting task. Unlike the effects of DARPP-32 deletion on reinforcement along dimensions of time and risk, DARPP-32 knockout did not affect the degree of effort that subjects were willing to invest during food-reinforced progressive ratio testing. DARPP-32 KO mice also failed to exhibit Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer and this impairment could not be rescued by administering methylphenidate prior to test. Finally, DARPP-32 KO mice were indistinguishable from WT mice during an amphetamine psychomotor sensitisation study. Overall, the data in this thesis suggest DARPP-32 is involved in adaptive reward-based learning and performance.
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Wittmann, Marco. "From actions to agents : value representation in frontal cortex." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:37387351-cd95-4f24-ad16-1cc67d181a7b.
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In this thesis, I investigated computational and neural mechanisms underlying foraging-related behavior in humans. A consideration of the ecological constraints under which mammalian behavior first evolved guided my investigation of learning and decision-making in frontal cortex. When engaged in foraging, animals have to figure out how profitable their actions are and whether it is better to continue foraging in their current environment or to switch to an alternative. They have to track the reward income of their actions over time and also take into account that the actions of other foraging animals have a direct influence on their reward income (Chapter 1). Based on these observations, I looked at similar types of behavior in humans using computational modeling and functional magnetic resonance imaging. I studied how people evaluate the profitability of their actions over time (Chapter 2). Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex carried a detailed representation of the value of the current foraging action, which was influenced by reward memories with different time constants (Chapter 3). Tracking the reward income of one's actions is not only important in order to learn about the profitability of the environment, it can also inform estimates of one's own and other people's abilities. Ability estimates can be used in a direct way to predict the reward outcome that the actions of one's own self and others will have. I found that people learn about their own and others' abilities in a rational manner but also that ability estimates of self and other were partly confused with each other, depending on whether subjects cooperated or competed with each other (Chapter 4). The confusion effect is reflected in Brodmann area 9 activity indicating that area 9 integrates self and other related information. Perigenual anterior cingulate tracked the ability estimates for oneself, suggesting that it might compute the success expectation of an action independent of particular features of the environment (Chapter 5). In sum, different subregions of medial frontal cortex carried different types of action-related value representations that can guide decision-making.
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Jones, Aaron A. "Conditional Discrimination and Stimulus Equivalence: Effects of Suppressing Derived Symmetrical Responses on the Emergence of Transitivity." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2007. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3658/.
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Symmetry suppression was conducted for five subjects who demonstrated a tendency to derive equivalence relations based on conditional discrimination training in a match-to-sample procedure. Symmetry suppression was applied in three consecutive sessions in which symmetrical responses were suppressed for one stimulus class in the first condition, two stimulus classes in the second condition, and all three stimulus classes in the final condition. Symmetry suppression slowed the emergence of transitivity for two subjects and prevented it for the other three. Results indicated that unplanned features of stimulus configurations emerged as discriminative variables that controlled selection responses and altered the function of consequent stimuli. Disruption of cognitive development by conflicting contingencies in natural learning environments is discussed.
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Stancato, Stefanie S. "On the Further Exploration of Interactions between Equivalence Classes and Analytic Units." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2016. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849665/.
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Sidman's (2000) theory of stimulus equivalence predicts an interaction between the development of analytic units and the development of equivalence relations. Previous research has documented these interactions (stewart, Barnes-Holmes, Roche, & Smeets, 2002; Vaidya & Brackney, 2014), therefore the current study attempted to replicate the effects seen in Vaidya & Brackney, 2014 (Experiment 2). Baseline conditional discriminations were trained for two sets of three, three-member classes, while participants simply observed stimuli in the third set which was arranged identical to those of Sets 1 and 2. Following equivalence tests where performance met the accuracy criterion of 85% for Sets 1 and 2, participants then entered a simple successive discrimination training phase where common responses were then trained with an equivalence class (pressing the Q key in the presence of A1, B1, or C1), cross equivalence classes (pressing the R key in the presence of A4, A5, or A6), or for stimuli where the participants had experience with them, but the contingencies were never arranged to facilitate equivalence class formation. Results showed a facilitative effect for common responses drawn from within equivalence classes (Set 1), and a retardation effect for common responses drawn from across equivalence classes (Set 2), for three of the five participants. Results for Set 3 showed an acquisition that fell intermediate to that of Sets 1 and 2, respectively, suggesting an interaction occurring between existing equivalence relations and the development of analytic units.
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Gong, Mingliang. "Orientation discrimination in periphery: Surround suppression or crowding?" Miami University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1430433449.
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Silguero, Russell V. "Do contingency-conflicting elements drop out of equivalence classes? Re-testing Sidman's (2000) theory." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc848078/.
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Sidman's (2000) theory of stimulus equivalence states that all positive elements in a reinforcement contingency enter an equivalence class. The theory also states that if an element from an equivalence class conflicts with a programmed reinforcement contingency, the conflicting element will drop out of the equivalence class. Minster et al. (2006) found evidence suggesting that a conflicting element does not drop out of an equivalence class. In an effort to explain maintained accuracy on programmed reinforcement contingencies, the authors seem to suggest that participants will behave in accordance with a particular partitioning of the equivalence class which continues to include the conflicting element. This hypothesis seems to explain their data well, but their particular procedures are not a good test of the notion of "dropping out" due to the pre-establishment of equivalence classes before the conflicting member entered the class. The current experiment first developed unpartitioned equivalence classes and only later exposed participants to reinforcement contingencies that conflicted with pre-established equivalence classes. The results are consistent with the notion that a partition developed such that the conflicting element had dropped out of certain subclasses of the original equivalence class. The notion of a partitioning of an equivalence class seems to provide a fuller description of the phenomenon Sidman (1994, 2000) described as "dropping out" of an equivalence class.
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Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica. "Transfer of "good" and "bad" functions within stimulus equivalence classes." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2008. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6080/.
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This study compared results of two experiments that tested transfer of function in stimulus equivalence classes in a task dissimilar to (in Experiment I) and similar to (in Experiment II) the task that trained functional responding. Eleven students from UNT participated in return for monetary compensation. Phase 1 and 2 were identical in the two experiments, in which they established stimulus equivalence classes and functional responding, respectively. Each experiment then used different tasks in the third phase to test differential responding. Only participants in Experiment II demonstrated consistent transfer of function. Results are discussed in terms of how task similarity may function as a type of contextual control when there is limited experience with the task.
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Holder, Jared M. "Learned Attention in Younger and Older Adults." TopSCHOLAR®, 2010. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/223.
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A relatively new phenomenon in learning research called highlighting occurs when participants show a seemingly irrational preference to attribute a stronger cue-outcome association to a later presented perfect predictor when it is paired with an imperfect predictor than that of an earlier presented perfect predictor paired with the same imperfect predictor (Kruschke, 1996). Current research suggests that the highlighting effect depends on the ability to learn to shift attention away from an irrelevant cue toward a more relevant cue in order to reduce errors in causal judgment and preserve an earlier formed association (Kruschke, 2003). Much research has suggested that older adults have difficulty disengaging attention from irrelevant information, which could be problematic in the highlighting procedure (Cohn, Dustman, & Bradford, 1984; Tipper, 1991; Mutter, Naylor, & Patterson, 2005). However, the results of the current experiment suggest that older adults can learn attentional shifts in order to guide associative learning and reduce errors in causal judgments. These data prove to be a problem for many models of associative learning (e.g., Mackintosh, 1975; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Van Hamme & Wasserman, 1994), but support a model proposed by Kruschke (2006).
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Martin, Tiffani L. "Does Stimulus Complexity Affect Acquisition of Conditional Discriminations and the Emergence of Derived Relations?" Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12160/.
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Despite the central importance of conditional discriminations to the derivation of equivalence relations, there is little research relating the dynamics of conditional discrimination learning to the derivation of equivalence relations. Prior research has shown that conditional discriminations with simple sample and comparison stimuli are acquired faster than conditional discriminations with complex sample and comparison stimuli. This study attempted to replicate these earlier results and extend them by attempting to relate conditional discrimination learning to equivalence relations. Each of four adult humans learned four, four-choice conditional discriminations (simple-simple,
simple-complex, complex-simple, and complex-complex) and were tested to see if equivalence relations had developed. The results confirm earlier findings showing acquisition to be facilitated with simple stimuli and retarded with complex stimuli. There was no difference in outcomes on equivalence tests, however. The results are in implicit agreement with Sidman's theory of stimulus equivalence.
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Sansing, Elizabeth M. "Teaching Observational Learning to Children with Autism: An In-vivo and Video-Model Assessment." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2017. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1062891/.
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Observational learning (OL) occurs when an individual contacts reinforcement as a direct result of discriminating the observed consequences of other individuals' responses. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have deficits in observational learning and previous research has demonstrated that teaching a series of prerequisite skills (i.e., attending, imitation, delayed imitation, and consequence discrimination) can result in observational learning. We sequentially taught these prerequisite skills for three young children with ASD across three play-based tasks. We assessed the direct and indirect effects of training by assessing OL before and after instruction across tasks and task variations (for two participants) during both in-vivo and video-model probes using a concurrent multiple-probe design. All participants acquired the prerequisite skills and demonstrated observational learning during probes of directly-trained tasks. Generalization results varied across participants. Observational learning generalized to one untrained task for one participant. For the other two participants, observational learning generalized to variations of the trained tasks but not to untrained tasks. Generalization additionally occurred during the in-vivo probes for both participants for whom we assessed this response. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.
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Korn, Clio. "Contributions of COMT and DAT to regulation of phasic dopamine release and reward-guided behaviour." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8772a01d-665d-454e-9e3c-bf734331a1c2.
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Fine temporal regulation of dopamine transmission is critical to its effects on behaviour. Dopamine can be cleared from the synapse either by recycling via the dopamine transporter (DAT) or by enzymatic degradation involving catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). DAT recycling predominates in striatum and contributes to dopaminergic regulation of reward-guided behaviour, while COMT degradation predominates in cortex and modulates executive functions. However, human functional imaging studies demonstrate interactive effects of DAT and COMT genotype, suggesting that the traditional division between DAT and COMT is not so clear-cut. Given the interdependence of mesolimbic and mesocortical circuitry and the presence of COMT in the striatum, it is possible that DAT and COMT interact to a greater extent than previously thought. We investigated the contributions of DAT and COMT to regulation of dopamine transmission and reward-guided behaviour by combining in vivo electrochemical recording, pharmacology, and behavioural testing in mice. Using fast scan cyclic voltammetry to record evoked dopamine release in anaesthetised animals, we found that systemic DAT blockade increased the size of dopamine transients in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) but not in the medial frontal cortex (MFC), demonstrating that DAT regulates phasic striatal dopamine release and confirming that DAT makes little contribution to regulation of cortical dopamine transmission. Unexpectedly, COMT inhibition did not affect evoked dopamine transients in either the NAc or the MFC. In agreement with these findings, systemic administration of a DAT blocker, but not of a COMT inhibitor, increased motivation to work for reward in a progressive ratio paradigm. COMT inhibition also had little effect on reinforcement learning (RL) strategies during reward-guided decision making. Intriguingly, however, we found that DAT blockade both decreased the influence of model-free RL and increased the influence of model-based RL on behaviour. Our study confirms that DAT regulates dopamine transmission in striatum but not in cortex and indicates that sub-second changes in dopamine transmission in both regions are largely insensitive to COMT. However, our behavioural data reveal the importance of striatal dopamine in multiple components of reward-guided behaviour, including both motivational aspects traditionally associated with striatum as well as cognitive aspects heretofore mainly associated with cortical function. Together, these findings emphasise that reward processing occurs across corticostriatal circuits and contribute to our understanding of how striatal dopamine transmission regulates reward-guided behaviours.
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Doyle, Karen Elizabeth. "The Nature of Cognitive Chunking Processes in Rat Serial Pattern Learning." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1384991792.
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Kitto, Michael Ryan. "Biconditional discrimination learning in rats with 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2006. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3002.
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The experiment tested the hypothesis that 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) in rats would impair performance in a biconditional visual discrimination task, which requires configural association learning. Experiment used 22 male Long-Evan rats (Harlan Sprague-Dawley). Behavioral testing was conducted in two identical T-mazes. Rats were randomly assigned to either a bilateral 192 IgG-saporin lesion group (n = 10) or to a control group (n = 12). Results support the hypothesis that NBM is critically involved in configural but not simple association learning and suggest that NBM may be involved more generally in cognitive flexibility.
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Gaalema, Diann Ellen. "Food Choice, Reinforcer Preference, and Visual Discrimination in Monitor Lizards (Varanus Spp.)." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/19799.
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Learning in reptiles has been studied with a variety of methods and included numerous species. However, research on learning in lizards has generally focused on spatial memory and has used only a few species. No research has specifically investigated and documented the use of visual discrimination in monitor lizards. The ability of monitor lizards (Varanus spp.) to discriminate between visual stimuli was investigated. Subjects were tested on acquisition and two reversals of a discrimination task between black and white stimuli. A food-choice procedure was used to determine if consistent rankings of food items could be determined using a multiple-stimulus choice procedure. The functional value of the rankings was assessed using a progressive ratio technique. The subjects formed stable food preferences, which were reflected in increased response requirement completed for preferred items and subjects did successfully learn the initial discrimination task and the following reversals.
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Howell, Ashley N. "The Roles of Concept Learning and Discrimination in Interpretation Biases and Fear Generalization: Transdiagnostic and Neuropsychological Perspectives for Anxiety Disorders." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1465830078.
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Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica A. "The Effect of a Brief Acceptance-Based Protocol on Health Related Relational Framing." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2010. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30488/.
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Behavior analysts who study verbal behavior theorize that people derive relationships between stimuli - forming stimulus classes such that psychological functions transfer among stimuli and therefore affect behavior. Verbal processes are thought to play a role in cancer patients' behavioral flexibility. The current study examined if an analogue intervention produced changes in relations between health-relevant stimuli from pre- to post-test in patient and student samples. A matching-to-sample (MTS) task required participants to form three 4-member classes that included health, treatment, or neutral terms. Participants next listened to either an acceptance-based or a control-based rationale and therapy exercise, or a distracter task. Then, they were re-exposed to the MTS task. Latencies and accuracies for learning each class as well as between condition differences were examined. Finally, changes in ratings of stimuli from pre to post analogues were measured. Differences in stimuli ratings were seen in the student sample, reflecting transfer of function and some reduction in responsiveness to stimuli following intervention, but overall no learning performances are found. Discussion explores the consistency of the findings with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) theory in light of the seemingly lack of findings.
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Wiist, Catherine E. C. "The Effects of Differential Outcomes on Audio-Visual Conditional Discriminations in Children with ASD." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1157625/.
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The differential outcomes effect (DOE) refers to an observed increase in rates of acquisition of simple or conditional relations when the contingencies of reinforcement arrange for reinforcers to be uniquely correlated with a particular stimulus or response relative to conditions where the reinforcers are not uniquely correlated with either stimulus or response. This effect has been robustly documented in the literature with nonhuman subjects. This study asked whether the DOE would be observed with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learning audio-visual conditional relations. Two participants learned two sets of 3 audio-visual conditional relations. For one set, the training conditions arranged for each of the three conditional relations to be uniquely correlated with a particular reinforcing stimulus (the DO condition). For the second set, the training conditions arranged for the same reinforcer to be used for all three audio-visual conditional relations (the NDO condition). Early results show that audio-visual conditional relations were acquired faster under the DO condition relative to the NDO outcomes condition (accuracy in DO condition was 30.8% higher on average than in NDO condition). These data suggest that differential outcomes should be more thoroughly investigated with children with diagnoses of ASD.
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Swisher, Melissa J. "Determining the Relation Between the Moments of Acquisition of Baseline Conditional Discriminations and the Emergence of Equivalence Relations." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2010. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30515/.
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The experiment was an attempt to gain a more precise understanding of the temporal relation between the development of analytic units and equivalence relations. Two prompting procedures were used during training to pinpoint when eight subjects learned the conditional discriminations. Near simultaneous presentation of probe and training trials allowed for examination of the temporal relation between conditional discrimination acquisition and derived performances on stimulus equivalence probes. The data show that, for seven of eight subjects, a decreased reliance on prompts was coincident with the development of equivalence-consistent choices on either all or some probe trials, which suggests that the development of analytic units is sufficient to give rise to equivalence relations among stimuli.
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Rawls, Medea. "A within-subject comparison of stimulus equivalence training." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2005. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4841/.
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Training structures have been defined as the order and arrangement of baseline conditional discriminations within stimulus equivalence training. The three training structures most often used are, linear (trains A:B and B:C discrimination), many-to-one (trains B:A and C:A discriminations) , and one-to-many (trains A:B and A:C discriminations). Each training structure trains a different set of simultaneous and successive discriminations that are then needed in the test for derived relations (symmetry, reflexivity, transitivity, and symmetrical transitivity). The present experiment seeks to extend the research on stimulus equivalence training structures by using a within-subject design and adult human subjects. Three sets of 9 arbitrary stimuli were trained concurrently each with a different training structure. From the beginning, training and testing trials were intermixed. The likelihood of producing stimulus equivalence formation was equal across structures.
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Buzzelli, Christopher. "Cue processing and spatial navigation in the terrestrial isopod." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1492166083535544.
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Kazemi, Baharan. "Evolution of Mimicry and Aposematism Explained: Salient Traits and Predator Psychology." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Zoologiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-148488.
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Aposematic species have evolved conspicuous warning signals, such as bright colors and striking patterns, to deter predators. Some edible and harmless species take advantage of this deterrent effect by mimicking their appearance. Mimicry is a great example of how natural selection produces remarkable adaptations. However, while some species evolve a very close similarity to their models to effectively avoid attacks, others are successful in doing so despite an incomplete similarity, i.e. imperfect mimicry. In some cases, it is surprising how such a crude disguise can fool predators. Why and how imperfect mimicry can persist has been much discussed and considered as a problem for the theory of natural selection. It is therefore of great interest to understand what makes it possible. Predator psychology is an important factor in the evolution of aposematism and mimicry. In the past decades it has been suggested that certain components of prey appearance are more important to predators than others during prey assessment. We developed this idea by incorporating concepts from associative learning, and presented a new approach to explain imperfect mimicry. Our general hypothesis is that prey traits have different salience to predators. Certain traits are perceived as highly salient and are thus used primarily in the discrimination and generalization of prey, while traits with low salience are overshadowed and not used in the assessment. The salience of a trait can depend on how conspicuous or discriminable it is in the particular context, and can vary due to for example previous predator experience. We tested our ideas with wild blue tits and domestic chickens as predators, and artificial and semi-natural prey stimuli. In paper I we found that the trait that was perceived as most salient (color) was the one used to discriminate and generalize between prey. Mimics of that specific trait were highly avoided, despite differences in the other traits. We also found that salience is relative and context dependent (paper II). In a context where two traits were perceived as similarly salient, mimicry of a single trait offered intermediate protection, while mimicry of both offered high protection. In another context, the traits were perceived differently salient, and mimicry of one trait was enough for high protection. In paper III we tested a proposed scenario for the initiation of mimicry evolution in the edible butterfly mimic Papilio polyxenes asterius to its noxious model Battus philenor. The results showed that a partial similarity with the model in the salient black wing color offered intermediate protection from attacks, despite a general dissimilarity. This thesis investigates the major questions of imperfect mimicry: the initial step of mimicry evolution, the persistence of imperfect mimicry, and variation in mimic-model similarity. We conclude that mimicry evolution can begin in a non-mimetic species that acquires similarity to a model species in a high-salience trait. When multiple traits have similar salience, multi-trait mimicry is needed for higher protection. Mimicry can remain imperfect if the differences are in traits with low salience, and therefore under low or no selection pressure to change. To complete the picture, we showed that predators can have a biased generalization toward a more pronounced version of a salient trait (paper IV). The evolution of aposematism could therefore be explained by gradual enhancement of salient traits.<br><p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Accepted. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>
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Penã, Tracy M. "Generalized identity matching-to-sample in rats using olfactory stimuli /." Electronic version (PDF), 2003. http://dl.uncw.edu/etd/2003/penat/tracypena.html.
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Lee, Jennifer E. "Work Ethic in Rats." Connect to full text in OhioLINK ETD Center, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=toledo1264716770.
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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toledo, 2009.<br>Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Master of Arts in Psychology." "A thesis entitled"--at head of title. Bibliography: leaves 19-20.
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Koelker, Rachel Lee. "Comparing a discriminative stimulus procedure to a pairing procedure: Conditioning neutral social stimuli to function as conditioned reinforcers." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12143/.
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Social stimuli that function as reinforcers for most children generally do not function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. These important social stimuli include smiles, head nods, thumb-ups, and okay signs. It should be an important goal of therapy for children with autism to condition these neutral social stimuli to function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. There is empirical evidence to support both a pairing procedure (classical conditioning) and a discriminative stimulus procedure to condition neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers. However, there is no clear evidence as to the superiority of effectiveness for either procedure. Despite this most textbooks and curriculum guides for children with autism state only the pairing procedure to condition neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers. Recent studies suggest that the discriminative stimulus procedure may in fact be more effective in conditioning neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. The present research is a further comparison of these two procedures. Results from one participant support recent findings that suggest the discriminative stimulus procedure is more effective in conditioning neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers. But the results from the other participant show no effects from either procedure, suggesting future research into conditions necessary to condition neutral social stimuli to function as reinforcers for children with autism.
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O'Brien, Karen M. "An Exploration of the Relationship between Worry and Other Verbal Phenomena." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2008. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6069/.
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This study hypothesized a direct relationship among three verbal phenomena: derived relational responding, verbal intelligence, and worry. It also hypothesized that experiential avoidance would mediate the relationship between derived relational responding and worry. Overall, results from this study failed to support a relationship between worry and the other two verbal phenomena, however, results did support a relationship between derived relational responding and verbal intelligence. Additionally, results indicated a significant relationship between experiential avoidance and worry. Future research should clarify the relationship among the three primary variables of interest, improve measurement of these variables, be more sensitive to external validity, and promote the study of acceptance-based treatments that target experiential avoidance.