Rogelio Escobar

OBSERVING RESPONSES AND SERIAL STIMULI: SEARCHING FOR THE REINFORCING PROPERTIES OF THE S−

The control exerted by a stimulus associated with an extinction component (S-) on observing responses was determined as a function of its temporal relation with the onset of the reinforcement component. Lever pressing by rats was reinforced on a mixed random-interval extinction schedule. Each press on a second lever produced stimuli associated with the component of the schedule in effect. In Experiment 1 a response-dependent clock procedure that incorporated different stimuli associated with an extinction component of a variable duration was used. When a single S- was presented throughout the extinction component, the rate of observing remained relatively constant across this component. In the response-dependent clock procedure, observing responses increased from the beginning to the end of the extinction component. This result was replicated in Experiment 2, using a similar clock procedure but keeping the number of stimuli per extinction component constant. We conclude that the S- can function as a conditioned reinforcer, a neutral stimulus or as an aversive stimulus, depending on its temporal location within the extinction component.

Low‐cost USB interface for operant research using Arduino and Visual Basic

This note describes the design of a low-cost interface using Arduino microcontroller boards and Visual Basic programming for operant conditioning research. The board executes one program in Arduino programming language that polls the state of the inputs and generates outputs in an operant chamber. This program communicates through a USB port with another program written in Visual Basic 2010 Express Edition running on a laptop, desktop, netbook computer, or even a tablet equipped with Windows operating system. The Visual Basic program controls schedules of reinforcement and records real-time data. A single Arduino board can be used to control a total of 52 inputs/output lines, and multiple Arduino boards can be used to control multiple operant chambers. An external power supply and a series of micro relays are required to control 28-V DC devices commonly used in operant chambers. Instructions for downloading and using the programs to generate simple and concurrent schedules of reinforcement are provided. Testing suggests that the interface is reliable, accurate, and could serve as an inexpensive alternative to commercial equipment.

A Mobile Interface using Android® Devices for Operant Laboratory Courses

Microcontroller input/output boards communicating with computers have been used for controlling operant conditioning chambers. Although these interfaces can be used in laboratory courses that accompany lectures on behavior analysis, in many universities classrooms equipped with computers are limited. Use of smartphones and tablets has increased in recent years and, because of the processing capacities of such devices, they could replace computers where resources are limited. This paper describes the use of an Arduino® Uno microcontroller board in combination with Android® devices, as a wireless, portable, and inexpensive interface for laboratory courses on operant conditioning. The interface consists of a free Android® application that communicates with an operant chamber using Bluetooth to generate basic schedules of reinforcement and store real-time data for subsequent analysis.

New Technologies Applied to Operant Research: Inexpensive Photocells for the Arduino-Visual Basic Interface

In recent years, technological advances in electronics have been applied for designing flexible and inexpensive interfaces for recording and controlling events in operant research. One example, tested for accuracy and reliability, uses the popular Arduino microcontroller boards in combination with Visual Basic Express Edition programming. This paper describes one of the applications of the Arduino-Visual Basic interface to record movement using photocells. Each photocell uses a phototransistor, and an infrared LED, and allows recording the interruption of the light emitted by the infrared LED. Such interruptions are detected as responses, and are used to schedule experimental events in Visual Basic programs. These photocells can be used in diverse experimental settings under varied conditions of illumination and distances without changing the hardware setup. Programs for calibrating and using the photocells can be freely downloaded and modified by the users. This setup can also be used for recording responses using other sensors like force and flexion sensors.

Resurgence of response duration in human participants

Previously reinforced responses can reappear when reinforcement is withdrawn from current responding. This is known as resurgence. Although resurgence of response topography, spacing, and patterns over time has been demonstrated, there is no evidence of resurgence of response duration. This experiment explored resurgence of response duration in humans. In Phase 1 a multiple schedule of reinforcement with two components was used. In each component a chained variable-interval 30s, variable-ratio 3 schedule was implemented. In the terminal link of the chained schedule, response durations between 0.1 and 0.5s were reinforced during one component, and between 2 and 8s in the other component. In Phase 2, response requirement during the terminal link of the chained schedule was inverted between components relative to Phase 1. In Phase 3 the chained schedule was changed to a variable-interval 30-s, extinction 30s. Resurgence of the durations trained during Phase 1 was observed. It was concluded that duration is a response dimension that reappears during extinction.

El primer laboratorio de psicología experimental en México

Presentacion del numero monografico en celebracion de los 100 anos de la fundacion del primer laboratorio de psicologia experimetal en Mexico.

REVISTA MEXICANA DE ANÁLISIS DE LA CONDUCTA: Y, SIN EMBARGO, SOBREVIVE

En 2015 la Revista Mexicana de Analisis de la Conducta (RMAC) celebro 40 anos como la revista emblematica del analisis de la conducta en Mexico. Los editores anteriores enfrentaron desafios que pusieron en riesgo la supervivencia de la revista en numerosas ocasiones. Adicionalmente a estos desafios, la investigacion de la conducta en Mexico ha sido relegada de un rol principal en la investigacion psicologica en Mexico a ser considera como parte antigua de la historia. Nuevos temas de investigacion, la expansion de los enfoques en el estudio de la conducta y el contacto con otras disciplinas estan moldeando las practicas de los investigadores de la conducta y podrian ayudarnos a aumentar el impacto que tiene nuestro campo en la psicologia general. Aceptar y promover esta variacion tanto conceptual como de los temas de estudio, alrededor de los principios del analisis de la conducta, podria ser importante para regresar la investigacion del comportamiento a una posicion dominante en la psicologia cientifica en Mexico.

Nu-Way Snaps and Snap Leads: an Important Connection in the History of Behavior Analysis.

Beginning in the early 1950s, the snap lead became an integral and ubiquitous component of the programming of electromechanical modules used in behavioral experiments. It was composed of a Nu-Way snap connector on either end of a colored electrical wire. Snap leads were used to connect the modules to one another, thereby creating the programs that controlled contingencies, arranged reinforcers, and recorded behavior in laboratory experiments. These snap leads populated operant conditioning laboratories from their inception until the turn of the twenty-first century. They allowed quick and flexible programming because of the ease with which they could be connected, stacked, and removed. Thus, the snap lead was integral to the research activity that constituted the experimental analysis of behavior for more than five decades. This review traces the history of the snap lead from the origins of the snap connector in Birmingham, England, in the late eighteenth century, through the use of snaps connected to wires during the Second World War, to its adoption in operant laboratories, and finally to its demise in the digital age.

Travel Distance and Stimulus Duration on Observing Responses by Rats

Observing procedures have differed qualitatively regarding the spatial arrangement of the food and the observing operanda within the experimental chamber. The effects of varying the distance between the operanda, however, remain unknown. The present study explored the effects of increasing the distance between the food and the observing lever using two stimulus durations in rats as subjects. A chamber containing two levers was used and presses on one lever were reinforced on a mixed random-interval 30 s extinction schedule with 60 s components alternating randomly. Each press on the second lever produced the component-correlated stimuli. Using a factorial design, combinations of 3, 9, or 18 cm distance between the levers with stimuli durations of 0.5 and 5 s were explored. Observing rate decreased as a function of both, increasing travel distance and shortening stimulus duration. As with concurrent schedules of food reinforcement, as travel distance increased changeover rate decreased and the duration of stays on each lever increased. Even when a travel distance was imposed, the rats moved to the observing lever but only when stimulus duration was 5 s.