Abstract
study established a simple simultaneous discrimination between a pair of two-element compound visual stimuli in children (Experiment 1) and bees (Melipona quadrifasciata, Experiment 2). The contingencies required discriminative control by the compound and the question was whether the accurate stimulus control reached at this level would hold for each individual element of the compound. After baseline reached stability, probe trials assessed stimulus control by each single element of both S+ and S-. Average data showed that children (Exp. 1) tended to show stimulus control by a single element of the S+ compound. In Experiment 2 three of four bees showed stimulus control by both elements of S+ and did not respond or responded only infrequently to the elements of the S-. The children's decline in discrimination accuracy in probe trials, along with its maintenance during the baseline, replicated previous findings showing the development of restricted stimulus control (RSC). The precise stimulus control shown by the bees indicated that all elements correlated with reinforcement acquired stimulus control over their behavior; this confirms the extensive literature on visual discriminative learning in bees, but due to the small number of subjects it is premature to say that bees do not develop RSC.
Highlights
Restricted stimulus control (RSC) refers to discrimination learning with limitations in the range of controlling stimuli or stimulus features among those correlated with reinforcement (Dube et al, 2010)
The permutation test demonstrated that, as a group, the children responded under restricted stimulus control on probe trials testing for elemental stimulus control
The learning criterion defined for this experiment is comparable to the criteria used in previous studies
Summary
Restricted stimulus control (RSC) refers to discrimination learning with limitations in the range of controlling stimuli or stimulus features among those correlated with reinforcement (Dube et al, 2010). Response rates became high and stable during the S+ element of the multiple schedules (triangle plus red). In the test phase that was conducted during extinction, the members of each compound stimulus (i.e., triangle+, circle-, red+, and green-) were displayed separately in intervals of 30 s each across the experimental session. One pigeon showed high response rates under the control of the triangle (+) and low response rates in the presence of the elements of the S- (circle-, green-), and in the presence of the red element of the S+. The pigeons emitted responses under the control of a specific feature or property of the compound “white triangle on a red background” stimulus that correlated with reinforcement
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