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Explain this (what does this mean) The Response-Reinforcer…
Explain this (what does this mean)
The Response-Reinforcer Relation (3)?
– The hallmark of instrumental behavior is that it produces and is controlled by its consequences. To be efficient, you have to know when you have to do something to obtain a reinforcer and when the reinforcer is likely to be delivered independent of your actions.?
– Efficient instrumental behavior requires sensitivity to the response-reinforcer relation.?
– There are TWO types or relationships between a response and a reinforcer:
1. Temporal relation:?
– Refers to the time between the response and the reinforcer.?
– A special case of the temporal relation is TEMPORAL CONTIGUITY. This refers to the delivery of the reinforcer immediately after the response.?
– Instrumental conditioning requires providing the reinforcer immediately after the occurrence of the instrumental response (even delays of .5 seconds can disrupt it).?
– With delayed reinforcement, it is difficult to figure out which response deserves the credit for delivery of the reinforcer. This is called the CREDIT-ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM. The participant doesn’t know if it is behavior 1 or 6 that gave it the reinforcer.?
– How to overcome this problem??
a. Provide a secondary or conditioned reinforcer immediately after the instrumental response, even if the primary reinforcer cannot occur until sometime later. A SECONDARY/CONDITIONEDREINFORCER is a conditioned stimulus that was previously associated with the reinforcer (i.e.: verbal feedback).?
b. MARK the target instrumental response of the organism. Marking can be accomplished by introducing a brief light or noise after the target response.
2. Causal relation or response-reinforcer contingency:?
– Refers to the extent to which the instrumental response is necessary and sufficient to produce the reinforcer.
– In studies of delayed reinforcement, there is a perfect causal relation between the response and the reinforcer, but learning is disrupted. So, it is not sufficient to produce a vigorous instrumental responding.?
– Even with a perfect causal relation, conditioning does not occur if reinforcement is delayed too long.?
– Early investigators concluded that response-reinforcer contiguity, rather than contingency, was the critical factor producing instrumental learning. However, this view has turned out to be incorrect. The response-reinforcer contingency is also important.?
– Temporal and causal factors are independent of each other. A strong temporal relation does not require a strong causal relation, and vice versa.?
– Class notes. Understanding the relationship between a response and its consequence is critical for efficient instrumental behavior:
a. Temporal relation: the time between the response and the appearance of the reinforcement.?
– Temporal contiguity (the best time): refers to the situation where the reinforcer appears immediately after the response.
b. Response-reinforcer contingency: the extent to which the response is necessary and sufficient for occurrence of the reinforcer (causal)
