Partial reinforcement effects in Pavlovian (CER) conditioning: between and within subjects

• Main Author: Domato, Gary Charles
• Other Authors: Psychology
• Format: Others
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: conditioning responses; LD5655.V855 1977.D64
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/43236; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06122010-020216/

Kimble (1961) has argued that the distinction between Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning is purely operational. The basic distinction is the degree to which the subject's response affects the incidence of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). In the Pavlovian conditioning situation, responses on the part of the subject do not affect the presentation of the UCS, reinforcement. In the instrumental case the occurrence of reinforcement is determined by the behavior of the subject. A question that has arisen from this analysis concerns the degree to which these operationally distinct paradigms lead to different empirical and theoretical generalizations. A test of this question rests in a comparison of the effects of specific variables upon the behavior of subjects in both the instrumental and Pavlovian conditioning situations... === Master of Science