Dynamics of the reorganization of an operant food-procuring response during an increase in the delay of reinforcement in monkeys.

Abstract

Operant activity was studied in monkeys in a situation in which they actively initiated a frequency of pressing a lever to obtain subsequent food reinforcement. Studies addressed the dynamics of relearning when the duration of the lever holding time needed to obtain reinforcement was increased from 1 to 2.5 sec. Studies were performed in three series of experiments with two-month intervals between series. The process whereby the animals solved the food-procuring task when the duration of the operant reaction was increased in conditions of constant sensory stimuli occurred in three stages: 1) emotional reactivity in the form of hyperactivation of operant activity, reflecting a conflict state arising as a result of the dissonance between the completed action and the absence of the expected result; 2) intermediate stabilization, when the outcome of the food-procuring behavior with the reinforcement delay of 2.5 sec coincided with that with the delay of 1 sec; 3) establishment of the desired lever holding time by the time the food reinforcement was presented.