Behavioral History: Effects of a Reinforcement History under Fr Over an Ulterior Performance Under Drl in Wistar Rats

Abstract

tudies to Behaviorism, as well as the definitions necessary to its understanding. Secondly, it presents some of the most relevant researches in the area and some of the gaps they have left. In order to discuss such gaps, an experiment is conducted with the objective of verifying: (i) the existence or not of changes in the performance of a subject under a DRL reinforcement schedule, having him passed through a previous history under FR reinforcement schedule; (ii) the transience of such effects; and (iii) possible relations which let these effects to occur. In this sense, the experiment was developed using rats, which were subjected to different reinforcement histories – four subjects were divided into two groups and subjected either to DRL, FR or no reinforcement schedules. The results demonstrated that the responserated under DRL schedule, after a reinforcement history under FR, were superior to those rates of the same subjects before their subjection to the FR schedule; these effects seemed not to be transient, at least on the analyzed sample. Based on the results, it is argued that the effects of history might reappear in ulterior situations, even after a period in which they seem to have been erased. The possibility that these effects occur due to the weakness of the current schedule, as well as the possible applications and implications of the research to the general area of Behavior Analysis are also discussed.

Keywords

• learning behavioral history
• animal behavior
• fixed ratio schedule
• differential reinforcement of low rates