Researchers, teachers, practitioners, and parents are often concerned with how to program for and achieve the maintenance of appropriate behavior. The unintended maintenance of problem behavior is less often evaluated. This article describes a behavioral phenomenon, resurgence, that may result in the unintended maintenance of problem behavior.…

The game of Matching Pennies (MP), a simplified version of the more popular Rock, Papers, Scissors, schematically represents competitions between organisms with incentives to predict each other's behavior. Optimal performance in iterated MP competitions involves the production of random choice patterns and the detection of nonrandomness in the…

Using verbal material, this study explored the effect of the temporal interval of feedback as it interacted with two other variables: (1) method of presenting learning material (inductive or deductive), and (2) activity of the learner during the delay interval (activity relevant or irrelevant to the material). The major objective was to compare…

The internal development of the child and the way in which he learns as well as the outside influnces on his learning capacity are the subjects of discussion. The role of the psychologist in this development is analyzed. (CK)

Understanding the function of the distinct amygdaloid nuclei in learning comprises a major challenge. In the two studies described herein, we used c-Fos immunolabeling to compare the engagement of various nuclei of the amygdala in appetitive and aversive instrumental training procedures. In the first experiment, rats that had already acquired a…

This study undertook to reconcile the views of cognitive and behavioral learning theorists on the issue whether learning without awareness (LWA) is possible, and if so, the circumstances under which it occurs. In Study One, two reinforcement procedures were compared in a structured verbal conditioning task. Study Two was a replication of Study…

Learning and memory are central topics in behavioral neuroscience, and inbred mice strains are widely investigated. However, operant conditioning techniques are not as extensively used in this field as they should be, given the effectiveness of the methodology of the experimental analysis of behavior. In the present study, male C57Bl/6 mice,…

The omission of the learning concept has resulted from a methodological approach which emphasizes what people have learned and not how they learned. A specific research strategy based upon operant learning theory principles as applied to the acquisition of verbal behavior is suggested. (Author)