EFFECTS OF SIGNALED TIME-OUT FROM AND LOSS OF MONETARY REINFORCEMENT ON HUMAN OPERANT BEHAVIOR

A signal followed by a period of time-out from reinforcement was presented while human Ss were responding to procure monetary reinforcement on a variable-interval schedule. The results replicated previous findings with animals of response facilitation in the presence of the signal. Facilitation also was observed when the signal preceded a brief stimulus indicating that money had been lost. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that response facilitation reflects conditioning of frustration to the signal. But it also was observed that in the majority of cases increased responding resulted in increased rates of reinforcement, thus suggesting that increased reinforcement may have been a factor in producing rate increases. © 1969, Psychonomic Journals, Inc.. All rights reserved.