The differential outcomes effect is a phenomenon where use of a choice-unique outcome for each type of correct choice in a conditional discrimination task increases rate of learning and overall accuracy, as compared to the traditional use of a single, common outcome for all types of correct choices. This phenomenon was successfully demonstrated…

The effect of stimulus novelty, an attentional variable, on learning set acquisition was investigated. Learning set (LS) acquisition refers to an improvement in performance across a series of problems which have a common basis of solution. The design of this study involved two groups, one in which the positive stimulus on Trial 2 involved the…

The study was designed to examine and clarify systematically the reinforcement parameters that underlie 96 adolescent male delinquents' responses to verbal and token reward and/or punishment. (Author)

The orbitofrontal cortex (OBFc) has been suggested to code the motivational value of environmental stimuli and to use this information for the flexible guidance of goal-directed behavior. To examine whether information regarding reward prediction is quantitatively represented in the rat OBFc, neural activity was recorded during an olfactory…

To test the theory that retardates are particularly slow in forming some visual habits, especially attention, a series of experiments were performed using a laboratory device which forced subjects to discriminate between color and form in exchange for an incentive reward. Stochastic models were applied to tests of lower level retardates which…

We have previously reported that sound sequence discrimination learning requires cholinergic inputs to the auditory cortex (AC) in rats. In that study, reward was used for motivating discrimination behavior in rats. Therefore, dopaminergic inputs mediating reward signals may have an important role in the learning. We tested the possibility in the…

Results of numerous human imaging studies and nonhuman neurophysiological studies on "reward" highlight a role for frontal, striatal, and thalamic regions in operant learning. By integrating operant and functional neuroimaging methodologies, the present investigation examined brain activation to two types of discriminative stimuli correlated with…