Acta Comportamentalia

Observing responses maintained by compound stimuli in pigeons

Com o objetivo de analisar experimentalmente a manutenção de respostas de observação pela apresentação de estímulos compostos, quatro pombos foram expostos a um procedimento de tentativas discretas em que presença ou ausência de alimento ao fim da tentativa independia do responder. Bicar o disco de resposta tinha como única conseqüência a apresentação sucessiva de um de quatro estímulos compostos (cor e orientação de uma linha). Três fases foram realizadas, nas quais as propriedades discriminativas dos estímulos, residentes na orientação da linha, na cor ou em combinações cor/linha, foram manipuladas. O efeito da apresentação dos estímulos compostos sobre a emissão de respostas de observação foi transitório para três dos quatro sujeitos. Ao quarto sujeito, por ser o único pombo a apresentar consistentemente o responder de observação, foram feitas manipulações experimentais adicionais que buscaram avaliar os possíveis efeitos reforçadores de cada componente do estímulo composto isoladamente. Os dados sugerem que respostas de observação podem ser mantidas por estímulos discriminativos compostos estabelecidos pela combinação de dois elementos, no caso, cor e orientação da linha. Entretanto, trata-se de um repertório complexo e frágil que precisa ser analisado em busca de se identificar as condições propícias para se estabelecer os devidos controles de estímulos.

In order to experimentally analyze the maintenance of observing responses by compound stimuli, four fooddeprived pigeons were exposed to 50-s discreet-trial procedure under response-independent food delivery. A trial always started with the white light on the response key and could end with or without food presentation (p = 0.5). Pecks to the key could change the white color to a different stimulus according to the trial outcome: Red plus vertical line and green plus horizontal line signaled a trial that would end with food presentation; red plus horizontal line and green plus vertical line signaled a trial that would end without food presentation. Three phases were carried out, in which the discriminative properties of the stimuli (line orientation, color, or the combinations of color and line) were manipulated and analyzed with respect to their effects on the frequency of observing responses and stimuli production. The results showed that, when the compound stimuli were used, observing responses initially occurred, but decreased along the sessions. Manipulations on the stimulus control across different phases produced conditions in which observing responses were maintained by the compound stimuli, although for one single subject. This subject was exposed to additional manipulations that aimed to assess possible reinforcing effects of each component of the compound stimuli. Data suggest that observing responses may be maintained by discriminative stimuli established by the combination of two different components, that is, disk color and line orientation. However, it clearly is a complex and fragile repertoire that demands further analyses in order to identify the conditions necessary to establish a more efficient stimulus control.

The interference of contextual variables on exclusion probesof novel names and verbs

O responder por exclusão tem sido documentado com relações nome-objeto: diante de um nome indefinido participantes selecionam um item indefinido. Este estudo objetivou investigar determinantes desse responder,procurando identificar condições sob as quais a exclusão deixa de ocorrer e os participantes escolhem uma máscara em vez do estímulo indefinido. Foram comparados modelos constituídos por pseudo-palavras com topografia de gerúndio ou com topografia de substantivo. Quando era estabelecida uma linha de base com figuras de objetos como comparações e os respectivos nomes como modelos, a apresentação de um pseudo-nome em sondas levava à escolha da figura indefinida, mas quando era apresentado um pseudo-gerúndio os participantes frequentemente escolhiam a máscara. Quando era estabelecida uma linha de baseem que os estímulos de comparação eram clipes de vídeo de ações conhecidas e os modelos eram gerúndios,a apresentação de um pseudo-gerúndio levava à escolha do vídeo de ação indefinida, mas os participantes frequentemente escolhiam a máscara diante de um pseudo-nome. Os dados sugerem que a discrepância entre as classes de modelos e comparações interfere com o responder por exclusão e fortalecem a noção de que a formação de uma classe de estímulos envolvendo simultaneamente modelo e comparações é condição necessária para a exclusão.

Exclusion responding has been documented with name-object relations: When an undefined name is presented participants select an undefined object. The present study investigated determinants of this responding,aiming to identify conditions under which the exclusion would not occur and the participants would selecta blank comparison, instead of an undefined stimulus. The study compared the effects of using, as sample stimuli, pseudo-words whose topographies were similar to names or to verbs in the present continuous tense. Under a baseline in which comparison stimuli were pictures of objects and the samples were the corresponding names, the presentation of a pseudo-name on exclusion probes resulted in the selection of anundefined picture; however, when the sample was a pseudo-verb participants often selected the mask. When the baseline presented video clips of defined actions as comparison stimuli and the sample stimulus was a pseudo-verb, the presentation of a pseudo-verb as a probe occasioned the selection of the video clip showingan undefined action, but participants tended to select the mask when the sample was a pseudo-name. These data suggest that the discrepancy between the classes of sample stimuli and comparison stimuli interferes with the exclusion responding and support the notion that the formation of a stimulus class involving simultaneously samples and comparisons is a necessary condition for exclusion.

Effects of the experimental history with different kinds of instructions and the control of contingencies for following instructions

O presente estudo investigou o efeito da história experimental com diferentes tipos de instruções (correspondentes ou discrepantes), em interação ou não com o controle pelas contingências, sobre o seguimento de instruções quando os participantes eram expostos a mudanças não sinalizadas nas contingências de reforço. Vinte e oito universitários foram expostos a uma tarefa de escolha de acordo com o modelo. Na primeira sessão era estabelecia a história experimental: os participantes do Grupo I tiveram o comportamento controlado pelas contingências, mas não os participantes do Grupo II. Além disso, em cada grupo (I e II), metade dos participantes foi exposta a instruções correspondentes às contingências e, a outra metade, a instruções discrepantes. Na segunda sessão foram conduzidos testes nos quais o responder era estabelecido por uma instrução correspondente e, em seguida, as contingências eram alteradas sem aviso prévio. Na Sessão de Testes, 13 de 14 participantes do Grupo I e 5 de 14 participantes do Grupo II apresentaram um comportamento sensível às mudanças não sinalizadas nas contingências programadas. Não foram observadas diferenças na sensibilidade do comportamento quando considerado o tipo de instrução (correspondente ou discrepante) apresentada aos participantes na primeira sessão. Diante dos resultados, questiona-se a insensibilidade às contingências como uma propriedade definidora do comportamento controlado por instruções.

Instructional control - the control of the listener’s behavior by the verbal behavior of others, has a major role in learning process, including those responsible for the maintenance of cultural practices through generations. Despite its importance, many questions about behaviors governed verbally remain open to scientific investigation. For example, some studies have pointed out that instructed behaviors can be insensitive to their consequences while others have suggested that insensitivity could be a product of specific conditions involved in experimental histories. The present study investigated the effects of experimental histories with different kinds of instructions (correspondent to or discrepant from contingencies), preceded or not by a history of contingency shaped behavior, on the behavior of following correspondent instructions and on the maintenance of instructional control when contingencies were changed without any warning. Twenty-eight undergraduate students, designed to two groups, were exposed to a matching-to-sample task, either identity or oddity matching-to-sample, under contextual control, across two experimental sessions. The first session established the experimental history. During this session, participants of Group I were initially exposed to a minimal instruction in order to establish control by contingencies; participants of Group II were not. Additionally, half of the participants in each group (I and II) were exposed to two 20-trial blocks that began with the presentation of a correspondent instruction; the other half was exposed to discrepant instructions. During the second session, tests were carried out. In these tests, the behavior was established by a correspondent instruction and, after that, contingencies were reversed without any further instructions. During the test session all participants were exposed to the following sequence of four 20-trial blocks: 1) novel correspondent instructions; 2) contingencies reversed (without any warning); 3) novel correspondent instructions; 4) contingencies reversed (without any warning). In the experimental history session, all participants of Group I presented control by contingencies; half of the participants in Group II followed the corresponding instructions; participants exposed to instructions discrepant from contingencies split, in the sense that some continued following discrepant instructions, while others abandoned the instruction-following behavior. During tests, in the second session, 13 out of 14 participants from Group I showed behavioral sensitivity to changes in contingencies, that is, their behavior was in accordance with correspondent instructions but they abandoned this pattern of responding under discrepant instructions, in early stages of each testing block. In Group II, 5 out of 14 participants showed similar results. There was no difference in sensitivity considering the kind of instruction to which participants were exposed in the first session. These results give support to previous studies suggesting a conceptual revision in the interpretation of instructed behavior, considering that insensitivity should not be included as a property of instructed behavior, but should be seen as a dimension that varies as a function of a series of variables, including the participants´ previous experience.

Analysis of writing as a linguistic modality

La habilitación se define como el conjunto de condiciones que permiten la emisión de una respuesta bajo una modalidad activa cuando el contacto con los eventos de estímulo se ha presentado bajo modalidades reactivas. Participaron 30 estudiantes de licenciatura en psicología. El Experimento 1 evaluó el efecto de habilitación de la respuesta verbal escrita al utilizar un procedimiento de igualación de la muestra de primer orden en el cual los estímulos eran presentados en una de las tres modalidades lingüísticas reactivas (Grupo 1 modalidad observar, Grupo 2 modalidad leer, Grupo 3 modalidad escuchar). En los tres casos la respuesta de igualación fue escrita. Los resultados indicaron que todas las modalidades reactivas habilitaron la respuesta de escribir como respuesta de igualación, sin embargo, se presentó un mayor nivel de habilitación del modo observar al escribir en comparación con las demás modalidades, mientras que leer y escuchar mostraron un nivel de habilitación semejante. El Experimento 2 siguió la misma lógica del Experimento 1 pero en este caso el modo reactivo fue presentado junto con el modo activo hablar. Los resultados mostraron la misma tendencia del Experimento 1, sin embargo, se observó que la habilitación fue menor en todos los casos. Los resultados se discuten en términos del concepto de habilitación y los modos lingüísticos.

Enabling is defined as the set of conditions that permits an active response form when the contact with the stimulus events occurred under reactive modalities. Thirty undergraduate students of psychology participated. Experiment 1 evaluated the enabling effect of the verbal written response in a first-order matching-tosample procedure in which stimuli were presented in three reactive modalities (Group 1 observing mode, Group 2 reading mode, Group 3 listening mode). In all three cases, the matching response was written. The results showed that all reactive modalities enabled the matching-to-sample writing response. However, a higher level of enabling was noted from observing mode to writing mode, while reading and listening modes showed a similar level of enabling. The rationale of Experiment 2 was the same as Experiment 1 but in this case the reactive mode was introduced with the talking active mode. The results followed the same trend in Experiment 1, but the enabling was lower in all cases. The results are discussed in terms of the concept of enabling and the linguistics modes.

Characteristics of the components of the general class denominated creative behaviour identified upon the Behaviour Analysis literature

Investigar o fenômeno “criatividade” a partir da noção de comportamento traz como exigência identificar as características dos componentes da classe geral comportamento criativo. Foram examinadas 20 fontes de informação sobre comportamento criativo na literatura da Análise do Comportamento. O procedimento consistiu em destacar trechos das obras que definiam ou caracterizavam esse comportamento. Os destaques foram organizados segundo categorias referentes a características da classe de estímulos antecedentes, características da classe de respostas e características da classe de estímulos conseqüentes. Como característica da classe de estímulos antecedentes, é possível afirmar que esta se constitui por estímulos “novos”, cuja relação de controle é “sutil”. A classe de respostas do comportamento criativo é caracterizada por respostas infreqüentes, não emitidas anteriormente. As respostas são denominadas por verbos como “variar”, “manipular”, “associar”, “combinar” e “criar elos”. A classe de estímulos conseqüentes é caracterizada pela utilidade da resposta. Termos como “novo” e “sutil”, são vagos, portanto, insuficientes para se referir ao comportamento criativo de modo mais preciso. Estudos sobre variabilidade comportamental se mostram relevantes para compreender o comportamento criativo sendo que os verbos encontrados para se referir à classe de resposta denotam variação da resposta. A utilidade da resposta é provavelmente uma característica definidora do comportamento criativo.

A lot of knowledge has already been produced concerning to what is called “creativity”. On the perspective of the Behavior Analysis, “creativity “ has been considered as a behavior, being this understood as a system of relationships that establishes among on what the organism does and its environment. To investigate the phenomenon “creativity” starting from a notion of behavior, it thus requires identifying the characteristics of each component of the general class denominated creative behavior. On such terms, 20 sources of information referring to the creative behavior in general have been selected, the creative behavior related to the behavior of solving problems or verbal behavior. The procedure utilized was consisted upon: (1) reading the information sources, (2) extraction of passages that referred to the definition of creative behavior, creativity, new behavior, or characteristics as originality, ineditism and infrequency, (3) organization of the detached extracts according to the characteristics of each component of the behavior: characteristics of the antecedent stimuli class, characteristics of the responses class and characteristics of the consequent stimuli class, and (4) extract groupings in a same category according to the similarity of the behavioral process in which the extract have been referring to. With such proceedings it was possible to explicit characteristics of the general class denominated creative behavior. As characteristic of the antecedent stimuli class, it is possible to affirm that this category is constituted by “new stimuli”, whose relationship of control is subtle. The responses class of the creative behavior is characterized by infrequent responses, not emitted by others until then. The detected responses are denominated through verbs as “to vary”, “to manipulate”, “to associate”, “to combine” and “to create links of connection not so common”. The consequent stimuli class is characterized by the need in which the response or its products are to be useful, according to some criteria, to the individual or to the society. Such terms as “new” and “subtle” are used to refer to the creative behavior, however, they are vague terms and they do not specify any peculiar property of the stimulus that establishes a relationship with a responses class directly, and thus, insufficient to refer to the creative behavior with more precision and clarity. From the examined works, categories were elaborated in which verbs as “to vary”, “to manipulate”, “to associate”, “to combine” and “to create links of connection not so common”; these verbs denote variation in the response and, consequently, indicate the relevance of the study of the behavioral variability for the understanding of the creative behavior. The usefulness of the response was the utmost consistent aspect in the exam of the selected works, the usefulness of the response or of its products is most probably a defining characteristic of the general creative behavior class. Starting from the characterization of the general creative behavior class, it is possible to plan with more precision the teachings of such behaviors class and thus to increase the creative dimension of the behaviors.

Jealousy: Analytic behavioral interpretation

Análises e considerações sobre ciúme respaldadas na Análise do Comportamento já foram feitas por alguns autores, inclusive por Skinner. Entretanto, observa-se que a produção neste referencial teórico é escassa. Considerando que o ciúme permeia importantes questões ligadas à atividade do psicólogo e que ainda existem lacunas importantes na literatura, este artigo pretende apresentar uma possibilidade de interpretação do ciúme a partir do referencial analítico-comportamental. Esta interpretação foi elaborada tanto com base em análises feitas por autores que possuem referenciais diversos quanto considerando uma literatura específica de analistas do comportamento.

Analysis and considerations on jealousy supported by Behavior Analysis have been made by some authors, including Skinner. However, it is noticed that the scientific production on this topic under the behavioranalytic framework is limited. Considering that jealousy permeates important issues related to activity of the psychologist and there are still important gaps in the literature, this article intends to present a possible interpretation of jealousy under a perspective of behavior analysis. This interpretation was based on analysis by authors who have diverse theoretical orientation as well as on specific behavior analytic literature. Jealousy is characterized as a complex set of interconnected behaviors, some of them elicited e other operant. Elicited and operant components, although inseparable, do not have causal relation to each other, but instead are both functional relations between environmental events and responses of the organism. It is also stated that the antecedent event implied in the jealous emotional behavior is the competition for reinforcers. The operant component of jealousy tends to be reinforced negatively by the removal of the rival or by the attenuation of the competition, although it also can be reinforced positively by social attention. Considering the complexity of the phenomenon, there is much to improve and question about any approach of Jealousy. Nevertheless, the present study contributes to the comprehension of the jealous emotional behavior, since it presents an interpretation of it based on a theoretical background that allows empirical tests of what is being proposed.