reaction/delayed = (emp, bt) one of several experiments whose results have led to the concept of symbolic behavior (2.).
redirection activity = (th, eth) any response elicited by a stimulus and, ordinarily, topographically directed toward that stimulus, which, in the presence of a drive-conflict, is topographically directed at a part of the environment that otherwise would show no control over it. Cf. "displacement" in Freudian theory. E.g., under the combined action of attack, escape, and sex drives, the male black-headed gull will threaten his mate when she arrives in the territory and then attack other (previously ignored) birds in the vicinity. See Bastock et al. (1); also Miller (17).
reflex = 1. (emp, bt obsolete) any S-R correlation, whatever its history or probability of occurrence. By no means limited to the "reflexes" of physiology, although it includes them as it does acquired correlations. Syn. S-R correlation. =2. (emp, bt) an S-R correlation which is observable in all members of a species under a given set of conditions in which there have been experimental manipulations calculated to prevent learning. The term is not limited to the reflexes of physiology, although, again, it includes them. This is often confused with the reflex-arc, which is a physiological theory accounting very elegantly for certain simple reflexes. =3. (th, eth) same as reflex (2.), with the further qualifications that (a) changes in strength are negligible with respect to drive-inducing operations and (b) a specific physiological theory of their occurrence is well-established. It is this kind of reflex that ethologists insist is not important in unlearned behavior.
reflex reserve = (th, bt) an obsolete construct, found inadequate experimentally in the early 40's by Skinner, who introduced it (22). A reservoir notion designed to handle the relationship between input of reinforced responses and output of unreinforced responses. This relationship was later found to be highly dependent upon a number of experimental variables and therefore not suitable for a relationship to a postulated reserve. This concept is remarkably equivalent to Lorenz' hydraulic model for innate behavior (26), although it was designed primarily to account for acquired behavior as well as unlearned behavior.
reflex sensitization = (emp, bt) if, after repeated elicitation by its stimulus, a reflex response is then given in response to a previously neutral or much less effective stimulus with which the reflex stimulus has not been paired, reflex sensitization is said to have occurred.
regression = 1. (emp, bt) a term applied to the observation that, during experimental extinction, the subject frequently makes responses which had been conditioned and extinguished prior to the conditioning of the response being extinguished. =2. (emp, bt) a term applied to the observation that, after punishment, the subject frequently makes responses which had been conditioned prior to the conditioning of the response that was punished.
reinforcement = 1. (emp, bt) the operation of presenting to the animal in operant conditioning, after it has made a response (and therefore contingent on its occurrence), a reinforcing stimulus or of withdrawing a negative reinforcing stimulus. =2. (emp, bt) in classical conditioning, the operation of presenting, contiguously in time, a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. Reinforcement (1.) and (2.) are parallel and might be considered the specification of equivalent operations. They are not parallel to (3.) and (4.). Reinforcement (1) can only be applied to occasions when reinforcing stimuli are presented to the animal, and stimuli can only be classified as reinforcing after it has been demonstrated that their use produces modifications in behavior under the stated conditions. Food, for example, is not a reinforcing stimulus for a satiated animal. When a stimulus has been found to be reinforcing in one situation to several individuals, it is usually assumed that it will be reinforcing in other situations and to other animals. As a result, the term is used without rigorous experimental justification. In the same way, the use of the term reinforcement is commonly extended to cases when food is given but a change in behavior has not been observed. "After 30 reinforcements, the relative frequency of turning to the right had not changed, nor was any other change in behavior apparent," may be a careless (but common) way of saying: "Although through 30 trials I gave food to the animal each time it turned to the right (and food is usually a reinforcing stimulus), no change in behavior appeared. Hence, food is not a reinforcing stimulus under these conditions to this animal." =3. (th, bt) the reduction of a specific drive which, in Hull's theory, is a condition necessary for learning. Thus, if learning occurs, reinforcement has occurred and a drive has been reduced. In much drive-reduction theory, this holds even in the absence of drive-defining operations or other symptomatic behavior changes. =4. (th. bt) a term applied to any unspecified hypothetical change in the state of an animal inferred from change in the animal's behavior. "The animal started nodding his head when the click came. Therefore, reinforcement must have occurred." Reinforcement should not be used in this sense, although, unfortunately, it often is. By this usage, any condition that is known to increase response-strength is a reinforcing stimulus.
reinforcement/differential = 1. (emp, bt) with reference to a stimulus, the operation of reinforcing a response when it has occurred in the presence of one stimulus or set of stimuli, and of withholding reinforcement when it has occurred in the presence of another. The procedure followed in discrimination training. =2. (emp, bt) of a response, the operation of making reinforcement contingent on the occurrence of a response of predetermined topography. The experimental procedure that produces highly stereotyped responses. =3. (emp, bt) of a rate of response, the operation of making reinforcement contingent on the occurrence of a response at a predetermined rate.
reinforcement/heterogenous = (emp, bt) if the reinforcing stimulus evokes a response different from the response that is being reinforced, the operation of presenting it is termed heterogenous reinforcement. This is the case in operant conditioning.
reinforcement/homogenous = (emp, bt) if the reinforcing stimulus evokes a response identical with or similar to the response that is reinforced, the operation of presenting it is termed homogenous reinforcement. This is the case in classical conditioning.
reinforcement/irrelevant = (emp, bt) if a reinforcing stimulus is not directly related to or involved in the drive-reducing operations antecedent to reinforcement, the operation of presenting it is termed irrelevant reinforcement. E.g., if food is taken away from the animal and the response being conditioned is followed by the presentation of water, irrelevant reinforcement is being employed. Irrelevant reinforcement is generally not so effective as relevant reinforcement.
reinforcement/primaryThe complement of the empirically defined secondary reinforcement. If the history of the animal with respect to a reinforcing stimulus is unknown, this irrelevant and theoretically "1oaded" term is applied both to the stimulus and to the operation. =2. (th, bt) reinforcement by reduction of a primary drive.
reinforcement/relevant = (emp, bt) if a reinforcing stimulus is directly related to or involved in the drive-reducing operations antecedent to conditioning, the operation of presenting it is termed relevant reinforcement. If food is presented to a hungry animal after the occurrence of the response being conditioned, the procedure is termed relevant reinforcement.
reinforcement/schedules of = (emp, bt) plans or procedures whereby the experimenter determines which ones of a series of responses will be reinforced. There are many possible schedules, which may yield quite different results (24). The most common ones are: continuous (or regular) reinforcement = the experimental procedure of reinforcing a response each time it occurs. Regular reinforcement should have almost no analogue in the behavior of animals in a free environment. intermittent (or partial) reinforcement = any one of several procedures in accordance with which a response is reinforced only on some of its occurrences. fixed-interval (periodic) reinforcement (Fl) = a schedule of intermittent reinforcement in which reinforcements are delivered according to a fixed and regular time schedule. E.g., the first response occurring in each 30-sec. interval may be reinforced. In some forms of fixed-interval reinforcement, the first response occurring at the end of a predetermined interval of invariant size after the last reinforced response may be reinforced. When this kind of schedule is maintained over a long period, animals of many species form temporal discriminations: they will emit groups of responses at the appropriate intervals and fail to respond at other times. variable-interval (aperiodic or random) reinforcement (VI) = a schedule of intermittent reinforcement in which reinforcements are delivered according to a predetermined but irregular time schedule. Under this schedule, on the average, reinforcement occurs at predetermined temporal intervals: the interval between each successive pair of reinforcements is randomly selected from a population of intervals of varying sizes whose mean value is predetermined. This schedule produces a low, but very stable, rate of response and very slow extinction. fixed-ratio reinforcement (FR) = a schedule of intermittent reinforcement in which every nth instance of the operant response is reinforced. Produces very high rates of response provided the ratio is not too large. In the case of respondents, and of operants whose discriminative stimuli are experimentally controlled (i.e., instrumental -conditioned responses), these schedules are equivalent to fixed-interval schedules.) variable-ratio reinforcement (VR) = a schedule of intermittent reinforcement in which, on the average, every nth instance of an operant response is reinforced. This schedule yields a very high and stable rate of response if the ratio is not too large. For respondents and discriminated operants, it is equivalent to the variable-interval schedule. multiple schedule = a schedule of intermittent reinforcement in which reinforcements by the same reinforcing stimulus are programmed according to two or more schedules in alternation. In multiple schedules, one of the component schedules is followed through an interval during which a discriminative stimulus is presented to the animal. At the end of this interval, the first schedule is followed directly by a different schedule, presented in association with a different discriminative stimulus; this second stimulus is then used for a period of time; and so on. In experiments where discriminative stimuli are omitted, this schedule is termed mixed. tandem schedule = a schedule of intermittent reinforcement in which single reinforcements are delivered according to two schedules acting in succession. E.g., a single reinforcement may be delivered when five responses have been given (FR-5:l) beginning at the end of a l0-min. interval after the last reinforced response (FI-10 min.).
reinforcement/secondary (or conditioned) =1. (emp, bt) when a stimulus, initially ineffective, becomes a reinforcing stimulus after being presented to an animal contiguously in time with a reinforcing stimulus, it is termed a secondary or conditioned reinforcing stimulus, and the operation of presenting it is termed secondary reinforcement. =2. (th, bt) according to some versions of Hullian behavior theory, the reduction of anxiety that reinforces behavior.
reinforcer = (lab slang, bt) a reinforcing stimulus.
releaser = 1. (emp, eth) a synonym for sign stimulus. According to many, this usage is incorrect, and only (2.) should be used. =2. (emp, eth) a sign stimulus produced by the physical structure or behavior of an animal that releases some particular species-specific response or responses of another animal. Releaser might be used by a behavior theorist for a stimulus presented by one animal that controls a response or responses of another. Often used with the qualifying adjective "social." This concept is important for evolutionary theories of behavior.
releasing mechanism/innate (IRM) = (th, eth) a hypothetical physiological "neurosensory" mechanism invoked to explain the action of sign stimuli. "The strict dependence of an innate reaction on a certain set of sign stimuli leads to the conclusion that there must (italics added) be a special neurosensory mechanism that releases the reaction and is responsible for its selective susceptibility" (29). Activation of an IRM removes a block preventing passage of impulses from a center at one level of an instinctive hierarchy to a center at the next lower level.
respondent = 1. (emp, bt) an adjective specifying parts of behavior for which eliciting stimuli are identified. A respondent response may be elicited readily by presenting the appropriate stimuli. The responses of the physiologist's "reflexes" are all respondents, as are the responses often classified as "autonomic" and the responses occurring in consummatory acts. =2. (emp, bt) a respondent response.
response = 1. (emp) a class of parts or changes in parts of behavior such that its members can be observed to vary together systematically as a function of time or of other environmental variables. Before a particular movement or other part of behavior can be placed in a particular class (that is, identified as an instance of a given response), procedures for the objective identification of instances of the response must be established. In some cases, objective identification is ensured by recording devices (bt), and in others by demonstrating that appropriately trained observers can recognize them without disagreement when they occur (eth). Similarly, some responses are specifiable in terms of specific movements (often termed respondent), and others in terms of their effect on the environment (operant). There is no logical restriction on the duration or complexity of the parts of behavior termed responses; this is determined by the animal's behavior. Similarly, alternative analyses may be made, and one response may be part of another, or two response-instances may be members of the same response-class in some contexts but not in others. E.g., writing a particular word may be equivalent to speaking it in some experimental procedures. It is the animal's whole behavior that enables the experimenter to identify responses. It is this concept of response, shared by ethologists and behavior theorists (but seldom stated), that makes this glossary possible. Basic to both, the concept establishes the subject matters of the two fields of investigation as one and sharply distinguishes both from other approaches to the investigation of behavior at both the observational and theoretical levels. =2. (emp) loosely, but very commonly, a response-instance. =3. (emp, th) the muscular contraction, glandular secretion, or any other activity of an organism that results from stimulation (34). "Any other activity" makes it difficult to determine how to use the word and whether it is an empirical or theoretical term. Some such definition as this leads to the difficulties that some theories of learning encounter in using the concept (5).
response/amplitude of = 1. (emp, bt) a quantitative measure of one dimension of a response. This measure may be made of a single response-instance or averaged over a number of them. The dimension selected is, of course, determined by the topography of the response and is usually the dimension most closely related to the name of the response. For salivary response, the number of drops of saliva defines the amplitude; and, for the eye-blink, it is millimeters excursion of the eyelid. Several measures of amplitude are possible for any response. Which is employed will depend upon experimental convenience. Some tentatively employed measures prove to be less sensitive to experimental variables than others. = 2. (emp, bt) response magnitude. A confusing usage.
response/conditioned (CR) = (emp, bt) a response which appears or is modified as a consequence of conditioning. Subclasses of the Pavlovian CR include: backward conditioned response = (emp, bt) the conditioned response that is set up by classical conditioning when the unconditioned stimulus (US) precedes the conditioned stimulus (CS). There is some controversy over the experimental referent for this term. delayed conditioned response = (emp, bt) the conditioned response that is set up by classical conditioning when the interval between the onset of a continuing CS and the onset of the US is greater than several seconds. simultaneous conditioned response = (emp, bt) the conditioned response that is set up by classical conditioning when the interval between the onset (or termination) of the CS and the onset of the US ranges from zero to several seconds, and when CS and US overlap in time. trace conditioned response = (emp, bt) the conditioned response that is set up by classical conditioning when an interval of several seconds intervenes between the termination of CS and the onset of US.
response equivalence, response generalization =1. (emp, bt) a term applied to the observation that two or more instances of the same response may not be alike topographically. Following the reinforcement of a response-instance of one topography, other response-instances of different topography, often with equivalent effects on the environment, may be given. By the definition of response, it follows that these parts of behavior are instances of the same response and also that a response cannot be identified on a purely a priori basis. It is the kind of data one collects that determines whether pressing the bar with the nose and pressing the bar with the feet are both subclasses of the response bar-pressing. Where two such parts of behavior do not prove to be equivalent (i.e., subclasses of the same response), they may often be made equivalent by the experimenter. See definition (2.). =2. (emp,bt) a term applied to the observation that when instances of two or more responses have been reinforced in the same situation, and after the same drive operations, they will then appear interchangeably. This phenomenon suggests that instances of either one may be considered as instances of a broader class of responses whose members are not easily identifiable a priori or that is formed by the operation of reinforcement. Thus, in a problem box, a cat may unlatch the door by pushing with his rump or with his front paw. So far as the quantitative properties of door unlatching are concerned, it does not matter much which he does; both will be reinforced, and both will occur. Similarly, a rat may run or swim through a maze. After extensive reinforcement, response equivalence tends to disappear, and the response becomes more stereotyped. It should be emphasized that the experimenter will find that he is not able to make any response equivalent to any other. He is limited not only by physical law but also by the animal's behavior capacity. Response equivalence offers a variety of challenges both to experimenters and theorists.
response/fractional anticipatory (antedating) goal (rg) = (th, bt) a hypothetical response, inferred from the laws of classical conditioning, that carries the burden of explaining the findings of experiments such as those on latent learning. The rg occurs progressively earlier in a response chain during acquisition and provides hypothetical stimuli that become conditioned to ensuing responses in the chain. Their definition is such that they might be directly observed See Spence (25). F.a.g.r. is another abbreviation that also appears; in speech, one hears "little rg" as well.
response/goal (RG) = (emp, bt) the response given to a reinforcing stimulus in Pavlovian as well as in operant or instrumental conditioning.
response incompatibility = (emp, bt) when the occurrence of one response makes impossible or highly improbable the simultaneous or nearly simultaneous occurrence of a second response, then the two responses are termed mutually incompatible. Responses may be topographically incompatible (an animal cannot turn its head to the right and to the left at the same time) or they may simply never occur together; thus a rat is not observed to exhibit emotional behavior and to eat at the same time. In general, the responses to aversive and negative reinforcing stimuli are incompatible with the responses to such reinforcing stimuli as food and water. The phenomenon of response incompatibility plays an important role in some contiguity theories of reinforcement.
response-instance = (emp, bt) a single occurrence of a part of behavior that is a member of a response. Thus, if a hammer strikes the patellar tendon five times, and each time the lower leg kicks forward, then each kick is an instance of the response "knee-jerk"; or, if a relay operated by the downward movement of a bar operates five times when a rat is in the vicinity of the bar, each one of the five operations is an instance of the response bar-press---even though on one occasion the animal pushed the bar with the right paw, on another with the left, and on another with his nose. Any part of behavior that is observed once and that 'can be specified may prove to be a response-instance, but it does not follow that the observer can state what response or responses it is a member of. In fact, he cannot do so by the definition of either response or response-instance until many observations are made.
response/intensity of = (emp, eth) with a constant stimulus but under increasing values of variables involved in drive-establishing operations, or vice versa, a response may not only increase in magnitude but may alter in topography as well. Positions along such a graded continuum are referred to as different intensities of response. For example, the individual may blink for a short time when a moderately intense light is flashed into his eyes; but when a very intense light is flashed, he will give a more intense response: he will blink, squint, secrete tears, show accommodatory spasm, and avert his head. With intermediate stimuli, intermediately intense responses will appear. Other analyses of such graded behavior (in terms of the successive passing of the thresholds of several responses, and of the magnitude of these responses) may be made in cases where the term intensity of response has been applied, although the latter win prove more convenient. Thus, "low intensity response" may be used one might also speak of "incomplete" response or of a response that is a subclass of a more broadly specified response.
response/latency of = (emp, bt) the measure of time elapsing between the onset of a stimulus and the beginning of the response to it.
response/magnitude of = (emp, bt) a term applied to any one of several descriptive measures of a response-instance (amplitude or duration, reciprocal latency or velocity), or of a temporally restricted set of response-instances (such as frequency, relative frequency, percentage of occurrence), or rate of response, which state quantitatively the likelihood that a response-instance will occur under stated conditions during that brief span of time. This term may be compared with response-strength. The latter, a synonym, is used preferentially when one is referring to response magnitude as a function of repeated elicitation or occurrence, with or without reinforcement.
response/measurement of = (emp, bt) the assignment of numbers to responses or to response-instances according to the rules of measurement. Measures employed include: extinction/resistance to, response/amplitude of, response/intensity of, response/latency of, response/magnitude of, response/probability of, response/rate of. See also response-strength and conditioning/ strength of.
response/probability of = 1. (emp, bt) relative frequency of response, determined over a number of trials, in situations where any one of several alternative responses may be given. The alternative response may be R, i.e., simply not giving the response. =2. (th, bt) a synonym for strength of conditioning, preferentially employed by those who use rates of response as an experimental dependent variable (24).= 3. (th, bt) the dependent variable in modern probability theories of behavior. It is rigorously related via mathematical theory and coordinating definitions to such experimental response measures as latency, rate, and probability of response (2.) (4).
response/rate of = (emp, bt) the number of response-instances of a response occurring in unit time.
response/reflex = (emp, bt) the response of a reflex (3.). A respondent. Often termed an unconditioned response when referred to in the context of conditioning.
response/ritualized = 1. (emp, eth) a response that appears in most members of a species, that is relatively invariant in topography,and that is typically a social releaser. = 2. (th; eth) a response that appears in the repertoire of the members of several different but related species and that usually varies in stereotypy from species to species. Ritualized responses occur in sharply restricted situations. Most ritualized responses are topographically very like some less stereotyped response that occurs in rather different situations and following other drive operations. The herring gull pulls grass with its bill in the course of nest building. Ritualized grass pulling occurs as a component of threat behavior. Theoretically, a ritualized response is one that has become specialized in the course of the evolution of the species as, most often, a social releaser. These responses are often associated with a special marking of the fur or feathers. E.g., ritualized preening occurs in the courtship of some species of the Anatidae; when it takes place, it reveals a light-colored spot not visible otherwise.
response/species-specific = (emp) a response that is a part of species-specific behavior.
response-strength = (emp, bt) measures of response when taken with reference to the measure of response at other times or under other conditions.
response (or reaction) threshold = (th, bt) in theories that conceptualize as a state variable all the independent variables governing response (as Hull's conceptualization 8Er), the minimal value of the state variable that will evoke a response.
response/unconditioned (UR) = (emp, bt) a regular and measurable response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus in the classical conditioning experiment Usually a reflex response, except in higher order conditioning.
reward = (Con) a colloquial term for a reinforcing stimulus.
reward/token = (emp, bt) experimentally, it is possible to reinforce the behavior of manipulating some object (as, for example, dropping a poker chip or coin in a slot, or rolling a marble into a hole). If it can then be demonstrated that conditioning occurs when this object is used as a reinforcing stimulus, the object is termed a token reward.
ritualization = (th, eth) a concept appearing in evolutionary theories of ritualized responses.
runway = a straight pathway, usually without interruption, either along an elevated rail (Graham-Gagne' apparatus) or through an enclosure, leading from a starting box to a goal box in which food or water is placed. The animal is restrained in the starting box. At the beginning of a trial, the door of the starting box is opened, and the animal is free to move down the pathway into the goal box.