In three experiments, human participants pressed the space bar on a computer keyboard to earn points on random-ratio (RR) and random-interval (RI) schedules of reinforcement. Verbalized contingency awareness (CA) for each schedule was measured after the entire task (Experiments 1 and 2), or after each RR-RI trial (Experiment 3). In all three…

The present study assessed the effects of systematically separating the cue from the response in temporally defined schedules of delayed signaled reinforcement. Identical schedules were used to study the effects of the independent variable on response acquisition and response maintenance. In the first experiment, 8 groups of 3 naive rats were…

Using a deck of 60 Say All Fast a Minute Every Day Shuffled (SAFMEDS) cards, a learner established a fluent verbal repertoire related to the key terms of Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. This learner was required to see the phrase printed on the front of the card and to say the term printed on the back. Regular timings were recorded…

When humans predict criterion events based on probabilistic predictors, they often lend excessive weight to the predictor and insufficient weight to the base rate of the criterion event. In an operant analysis, using a matching-to-sample paradigm, Goodie and Fantino (1996) showed that humans exhibit base-rate neglect when predictors are associated…

Background: Response-contingent time-out has been shown to be an effective technique for enhancing fluency in people who stutter. However, the factors that determine individual responsiveness to time-out are not well understood. Aims: The study investigated the effectiveness of using response-contingent time-out to reduce stuttering frequency in…

Few studies have made use of B. F. Skinner's (1957) behavioral analysis of language and precise taxonomy of verbal behavior when describing the controlling variables for the mand relation. Consequently, the motivating operation (MO) has not typically been identified as an independent variable and the nature of a spontaneous mand has been…

Using an objective measure of attention obtained during a baseline period, assesses in two studies the effects of attention on operant learning among 240 infants 14 weeks of age who were rewarded for kicking with a pattern of lights and tones. (RH)

To find predictive relations between measures taken in infancy and later scores on intelligence tests, a study was made that measured in the infant those cognitive processes examined later in life. Operant conditioning tasks were employed which required 3-, 7-, and 11-month-old infants to execute some response to produce an environmental…

This paper puts forward "The Conceptual Referent Theory of Happiness" (CRT), which states that a person's conceptual referent for a happy life plays a role in the judgment of her life and in the appraisal of her happiness. A typology of eight conceptual referents for happiness is made on the basis of a review of philosophical essays on…