Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) may decrease the frequency of behavior by either inducing satiation or terminating the response-reinforcer contingency (extinction). Another possibility is that the target behavior is replaced by other behaviors maintained by preexisting contingencies. We conducted 2 experiments in which we allowed access to a target response and several alternatives. In Experi...

This paper considers a class of discrete-time reinforcement-learning dynamics and provides a stochasticstability analysis in repeatedly played positive-utility (strategicform) games. For this class of dynamics, convergence to pure Nash equilibria has been demonstrated only for the fine class of potential games. Prior work primarily provides convergence properties through stochastic approximatio...

There is a story about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, which, although charming, has not been verified as historical fact (Strachey, 1921). Whether true or not, the story illustrates the use of differential reinforcement. As the story goes, shortly after their marriage, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria had a quarrel. Albert walked (or stomped, depending on the telling) out of the room and loc...

Three experiments with rats examined the effects of thinning the rate of reinforcement for the alternative behavior in the resurgence paradigm. In all experiments, pressing one lever (L1) was first reinforced and then extinguished while pressing a second alternative lever (L2) was then reinforced. When L2 responding was then extinguished, L1 responses "resurged." Resurgence was always observed ...

Problem behavior maintained by social-negative reinforcement often is evoked by a specific type of social interaction--the presentation of task demands. This study involved assessment and treatment of a more general form of social avoidance in which the establishing operation (EO) for problem behavior consisted of social interaction per se. Four subjects exhibited high rates of problem behavior...