Noncontingent Condition Research Articles

The detection of intentional contingencies in simple animations in patients with delusions of persecution.

It has been proposed that delusions of persecution are caused by the tendency to over-attribute malevolent intentions to other people's actions. One aspect of intention attribution is detecting contingencies between an agent's actions and intentions. Here, we used simplified stimuli to test the hypothesis that patients with persecutory delusions over-attribute contingency to agents' movements. Short animations were presented to three groups of subjects: (1) schizophrenic patients; (2) patients with affective disorders; and (3) normal control subjects. Patients were divided on the basis of the presence or absence of delusions of persecution. Participants watched four types of film featuring two shapes. In half the films one shape's movement was contingent on the other shape. Contingency was either 'intentional': one shape moved when it 'saw' another shape; or 'mechanical': one shape was launched by the other shape. Subjects were asked to rate the strength of the relationship between the movement of the shapes. Normal control subjects and patients without delusions of persecution rated the relationship between the movement of the shapes as stronger in both mechanical and intentional contingent conditions than in non-contingent conditions. In contrast, there was no significant difference between the ratings of patients with delusions of persecution for the conditions in which movement was animate. Patients with delusions of persecution perceived contingency when there was none in the animate non-contingent condition. The results suggest that delusions of persecution may be associated with the over-attribution of contingency to the actions of agents.

Avoidance of 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air with humans.

Four college students were exposed to a Sidman avoidance procedure to determine if an avoidance contingency involving 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air (CO2) would produce and maintain responding. In Phase 1, two conditions (contingent and noncontingent) were conducted each day. These conditions were distinguished by the presence or absence of a blue or green box on a computer screen. In the contingent condition, CO2 presentation were delivered every 3 s unless a subject pulled a plunger. Each plunger pull postponed CO2 presentations for 10 s. In the noncontingent condition, CO2 presentations occurred on the average of every 5 min independent of responding. Following stable responding in Phase 1, condition-correlated stimuli were reversed. In both conditions, plunger response rate was high during the contingent condition and low or zero during the noncontingent condition. Furthermore, subjects avoided most CO2 presentations. However, CO2 presentations did not increase verbal reports of fear. Overall, the results from the present study suggest that CO2 can be used effectively in basic studies of aversive control and in laboratory analogues of response patterns commonly referred to as anxiety.

Tolerance-like attenuation to contingent and noncontingent cocaine-induced elevation of extracellular dopamine in the ventral striatum following 7 days of withdrawal from chronic treatment.

Time-dependent changes in mesolimbic dopamine (DA) function are believed to play a role in behavioral sensitization and drug craving experienced during withdrawal from chronic cocaine administration. The present study utilized intravenous (IV) cocaine self-administration coupled with intracranial microdialysis in rats to investigate time dependent changes during withdrawal from chronic cocaine exposure. Following 2 weeks of IV cocaine self-administration, rats were allowed contingent access to cocaine at 1 and 7 days of withdrawal while extracellular levels of DA were measured from the ventral striatum. A second group of animals received yoked, noncontingent cocaine for 2 weeks and were then administered noncontingent cocaine on days 1 and 7 of withdrawal. In addition, a third group of animals received 2 weeks of yoked saline followed by noncontingent cocaine 1 day after withdrawal. There were no significant differences between groups for the overall cocaine dosage or temporal pattern of infusions on days 1 and 7 of withdrawal. Basal extracellular DA concentrations did not differ between any treatment groups at either withdrawal time. Extracellular DA levels were increased throughout the session on both days; however, the increases at day 7 were significantly less than day 1 for both contingent and noncontingent conditions. DA overflow on day 1 did not differ between animals receiving chronic yoked cocaine or saline. These results suggest that tolerance-like attenuation to the DA-elevating effects of cocaine is not apparent early in withdrawal, but does develop by later time points.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Visual slow brain potentials in children with attention deficit disorder.

Using a two-stimulus reaction time paradigm, with two separate reward conditions (contingent and noncontingent), we compared slow wave brain potentials (ERPs) in 144 children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and 30 normal control children. This article reviews the findings during the 900 msec visual warning stimulus. As we had expected, based on ERP work of Forth and Hare (1989) and Raine, Venables and Williams (1990), and on previous work from our own laboratory, the group differences were found in the negative slow wave portions of the ERP complex during the contingent reward condition but not during the noncontingent condition. Aggressive hyperactive subjects with attention deficit disorder (ADDHA) were discriminated from nonaggressive subjects (including control subjects) during the contingent reward condition in the following ways: (1) greater fronto-central negativity (640-900 msec slow wave) and (2) greater right parietal than left parietal negativity (430-750 msec slow wave). All ADD subgroups, when compared to control (CONTR) subjects, showed greater slow wave negativity (700-900 msec) at the midline occipital electrode site during the contingent reward condition. This could be explained in part as an IQ effect on ERPs reflecting the IQ difference between the ADD subgroups and the controls. These slow wave findings seem to relate to attentional problems of these children. They are discussed in terms of a psychobiological model of inhibition/disinhibition and appetitive activation.

The Effects of Direct and Implicit Non-contingent Rewards on Children's Performance of a Fine Motor Skills Task

The effects of non-contingent rewards administered both directly and implicitly for a fine motor skills task were investigated under a time-series design. Data were collected from all members of a typical class, with the teacher acting as experimenter to enhance generalizability. Results indicated that non-contingent rewards possessed neutral consequential effects, thus challenging data from some previous studies which have methodological limitations. The ineffectiveness of non-contingent rewards as reinforcers is discussed, with several suggestions made for future research to investigate the issue of previous reward history and its effect upon the non-contingent reward condition.

Noncontingent reward-induced learned helplessness in humans.

Noncontingent verbal and concrete rewards were incorporated into a learned-helplessness paradigm in an attempt to provide increased generalizability of the reward-induced helplessness phenomenon. The treatment phase required subjects to reproduce a series of block-designs, for which they received either verbal or concrete reward according to one of three schedules: response contingent, 100% noncontingent, or 50% random noncontingent. A control group was not exposed to the task. The performance phase involved a letter/number-substitution coding task during which all subjects received response-contingent reward. Analysis showed a helplessness effect, with the noncontingent reward conditions producing significantly more errors and omissions than contingent reward and/or control conditions. Differences in effects of verbal and concrete rewards were nonsignificant.

The attributional response of males and females to noncontingent feedback

The attributions of male and female college student subjects following exposure to noncontingent, contingent, and no-feedback conditions were analyzed in a 2×3 multivariate analysis of variance. The experimental hypothesis was that exposure to noncontingent feedback would result in more depressive attributions than exposure to contingent feedback or to no feedback, and that this effect would be moderated by gender. The hypothesis was partially supported in that females receiving noncontingent feedback on a concept discrimination problem subsequently made more internal attributions for negative events than male subjects receiving noncontingent feedback and female subjects receiving contingent feedback or no feedback.

Effects of chronic electrode implantation on dopaminergic neurons in vivo

The present study evaluated the effects of chronic electrode implantation on stimulus-dependent increases of the dopamine (DA) metabolite dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in relationship to a well characterized in vivo model which used electrical stimulation from acute electrode placements in the nigro-striatal pathway. Five days after bipolar electrodes were implanted into the nigro-striatal pathway, non-contingent electrical stimulation (100 μA, 25 Hz, 1.5 msec duration, 20 min session) did not change DA or DOPAC concentrations in the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, or olfactory tubercles, whereas the same stimulation from acute electrode placements causes significant ipsilateral increases in caudate DOPAC. Although DOPAC concentrations did not change when these chronically implanted electrodes were stimulated, similar chronic electrode placement supported intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS). In order to examine the effects of self-stimulation on DOPAC concentrations, five ICSS test groups were established for comparison: implanted only, trained only, minimum response rate, 50% maximum response rate and maximum response rrate. Following a 50 min test session, a comparison of either DA, or DOPAC concentrations across the different ICSS conditions revealed no change for the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens or olfactory tubercles. Likewise, there was no change between the stimulated and unstimulated sides within each ICSS group. When a comparison was made between implanted only and maximal ICSS response rate groups for changes in DA or DOPAC concentrations in the frontal cortex, no differences were found. Apparently, chronic electrode implantation abolished the ability to electrically stimulate nigro-striatal dopaminergic neurons under non-contingent conditions, and the relationship between dopaminergic neurons and ICSS appears to be indirect in nature.

Contingency Effects with Maintained Instrumental Reinforcement

In three experiments we investigated the effect on the performance of thirsty rats of varying the instrumental contingency between lever pressing and the delivery of a saccharin reinforcer. In Experiment 1, the subjects performed more slowly in a non-contingent condition, in which the momentary probability of reinforcement was unaffected by whether or not the animals pressed, than in a contingent condition in which the reinforcer was never presented except following a lever press. This was true of performance under both random ratio and interval schedules in which the function determining the probability of reinforcement following a lever press remained the same across the contingent and non-contingent conditions. Experiment 2 demonstrated that instrumental performance was less affected when the contingency was degraded by the introduction of free reinforcers if these reinforcers were signalled. In Experiment 3, lever pressing was reinstated to some degree after non-contingent training by giving non-reinforced exposure to the operant chamber in the absence of the lever. These results suggest that free reinforcers depress instrumental behaviour through a performance mechanism engaged by their ability to support conditioning of the contextual cues.

Response-contingent awakening in the modification of chronic snoring.

Loud snoring is a common sleep habit that has been shown to have adverse effects on both physical health and interpersonal relationships. Medical treatment for various organic causes is sometimes possible, but there are also many instances in which snoring appears unrelated to any specific organic etiology. The present report describes the successful use of a behavior modification program for the experimental control and suppression of snoring. Six chronic loud snorers participated in a 2-week treatment outcome study, in which a contingent-awakening procedure was systematically compared with a noncontingent control condition. Polysomnographic assessments before and after each phase of the experiment indicated the specific effects of the contingent awakening procedure on the suppression of snoring. The study also examined the relationship between snoring and other sleep parameters, and particularly the occurrence of respiratory obstruction before and after treatment. The implications of these findings for the treatment of chronic snoring are discussed.

Learned Helplessness in Learning Disabled Adolescents as a Function of Noncontingent Rewards

The study was designed to examine the effect of noncontingent rewards on learned helplessness in learning disabled children. Noncontingent rewards are of particular importance for students receiving services in a variety of educational environments. Subjects were exposed to two series of tasks, the first involved replication of a series of block design patterns. Children were randomly assigned to three reward schedules: response-contingent reward, 100% noncontingent reward, and 50% random noncontingent reward. A fourth control group was not exposed to the first series of tasks. The second task series involved the solution of coding problems. On these tasks, all children received response-contingent rewards for performance. Response latency and errors on each coding task served as dependent measures. Analysis of variance yielded significantly greater response latencies for subjects assigned to the noncontingent reward conditions than for those who received contingent rewards and for controls. No differences in number of errors were found. The results suggest that learning disabled children may become “learned helpless” as a result of instructional interventions involving use of noncontingent rewards.

The Effects of Task Content and Reward Contingency Upon Task Performance and Satisfaction1

A laboratory study examined the effects of task design and reward contingency upon task performance and satisfaction and upon behavioral and attributional measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were defined by the task content‐task consequence distinction. Both the task design and reward contingency factors were found to yield significant multivariate F ratios, but their interaction was not significant. Subjects in the contingent pay condition had higher performance quantity than those in the noncontingent condition. Subjects in the enriched task condition produced higher quality units than those in the nonenriched condition. Both contingent pay and enriched task conditons yielded higher task satisfaction and increased attributions of performance to intrinsic factors. Results were discussed in terms of cognitive evaluation theory and the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Self-regulated eating behaviors in a diabetic mental patient

A diabetic mental patient was taught to self-regulate eating behaviors to reduce her urine sugar level as a criterion for external reinforcement. In a design which incorporated Baseline (B), Treatment 1 (T1), Treatment 2 (T2), and Reversal (R) conditions, a grounds privilege card was issued either contingent upon achieving a criterion urine sugar level (T1 and T2) or noncontingently (B and R). A one-way analysis of variance showed that the full privilege card (T2) produced significantly lower average urine sugar levels than did the partial privilege card (T1) or either of the noncontingent conditions. Some ramifications of patient manipulativeness and extremes in self-regulating eating behaviors are discussed.

Effects of causal belief for prior success or failure on preferences to delay gratification in task contingent versus task noncontingent conditions1

This study investigated how causal belief for prior success or failure affected preferences to delay gratifications in task contingent versus task noncontingent conditions. Success or failure on the Treatment Task and belief about the outcome were experimentally induced to lead fourth-and fifth-grade pupils to perceive task performance as resulting from one of four factors (Ability, Task Difficulty, Effort, or Luck). Thereafter, each subject chose between smaller, noncontingent rewards and delayed, larger rewards that were contingent on waiting only or on successful performance on tasks which varied in similarity to the initial task. As predicted, preferences to delay were not differentially affected by success or failure when subjects believed unstable factors of effort or luck caused the outcome. However, delay was affected by prior success or failure when the belief was that the outcome resulted from stable factors of ability or task difficulty, with subjects delaying more after success than following failure. Furthermore, the outcome predicted delay on tasks identical or similar to the Treatment Task whereas belief about causality predicted delay on the Different Task. Delay was greater by subjects with ability or effort inductions than by subjects with a luck induction.

Infant Speech Sound Discrimination: The Effects of Contingent versus Noncontingent Stimulus Presentation

WILLIAMS, LEE, and GOLENSKI, JOHN. Infant Speech Sound Discrimination: The Effects of Contingent versus Noncontingent Stimulus Presentation. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 213-217. Speech sound discrimination in 72 infants aged 6-12 weeks was studied using contingent and noncontingent methods of sound presentation. In the contigent condition a highamplitude suck was reinforced with the presentation of a speech sound. In the 2 noncontingent conditions speech sounds were presented at either random or periodic intervals independent of infant sucking. Under all 3 conditions, following a period of sucking decrement, there was either a change in the sound presented (sound-change group) or the same sound continued to be presented (no-change group). A significant difference in postdecrement sucking rate between sound-change and no-change groups was found only under the contingent condition. Significant differences in the elimination of subjects from the experimental population for reasons of state change were also found across conditions of sound presentation.

Effect of feedback contingencies on the control of occipital alpha.

Ten color transparencies were presented 30 times each to ten normal adults in response to changes in their occipital-parietal EEG's. By means of a feedback paradigm, detected alphas caused each slide to flash and stay on as long as alpha persisted, and then to turn off when alpha attenuated, according to four different contingency conditions. For half of the feedback trials, stimulus presentation depended on alpha detection in only one hemisphere and was not influenced by changes in the simultaneously recorded contralateral EEG. For the other feedback trials, stimulus presentation was bilaterally contingent. These contingency configurations were compared with sham feedback, a noncontingent condition during which slide presentation was controlled by a prerecorded tape. For both alpha and no-alpha, the ratio of mean duration over standard error\(({{\bar X} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\bar X} {SE}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {SE}})\) was used as a quantification of the EEG response to visual stimulation. It was assumed that larger ratios indicated increased control of the EEG. Compared with the sham condition, all feedback contingencies produced greater\({{\bar X} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\bar X} {SE}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {SE}}\) ratios, and hence, improved control of the EEG. The highest ratios were obtained during unilateral feedback from the EEG in which the occurrence of alpha elicited the visual stimulus. The results show that contingency between a visual stimulus and the EEG is an important parameter with regard to experimental control of the EEG.

Effects of Contingencies on Cooperative Responding in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game with Anticipated Shock Outcomes

Based on an outcome maximization hypothesis, subjects were predicted to respond optimally in a prisoner's dilemma game with anticipated shock outcomes. As expected, cooperation was significantly higher for 100% lag-one contingent matching feedback conditions than for noncontingent yoked-control conditions; also, cooperation increased over trials for contingent subjects, and decreased over trials for noncontingent subjects. Man versus machine characterization of the player did not affect cooperative responding, lending more support in this situation to outcome maximization as opposed to competitive motivation and perceived reactivity of the other player interpretations.

PARTIAL AVOIDANCE CONTINGENCIES1

Rats were trained in a discrete-trial paradigm with no intertrial interval. The first response changed an auditory stimulus for the remainder of the trial. Shocks were delivered only at the end of the trial cycle. Avoidance contingencies were defined by the conditional probability of shock, given no response (P(0)), and the conditional probability of shock given a response (P(1)). The maximal avoidance contingency was P(0)=1.0, P(1)=0, and noncontingent conditions were those for which P(0)=P(1). In Experiment I, after training on the maximal contingency, three groups of subjects experienced either P(0)=P(1)=0, P(0)=P(1)=0.5, or P(0)=P(1)=1.0. Eight of 10 subjects stopped responding under the noncontingent conditions. Experiment II studied partial contingencies by varying P(0) and P(1). For one group, P(0) was reduced holding P(1)=0. Responding decreased to zero as P(0) approached zero. A second group was studied under P(1)>0, holding P(0)=1.0. For three of the six rats in this group, responding decreased to zero with increasing P(1). The other three maintained responding as P(1) was increased up to the noncontingent, P(1)=P(0)=1.0 value. The P(0) group was also studied with P(0)=P(1)>0, and half of these subjects responded. The results demonstrated two modes of response to weakening or eliminating the avoidance contingency. Some subjects were sensitive to contingency only, and insensitive to changes in shock density. Approximately one half of the subjects were sensitive to both contingency and shock density. This shared control was observed only when P(1)> 0.

Arousal and Learning, and Noncontingency Detection in One-Year-Old Infants

The relationship between arousal and learning was studied with 6 infants 1 yr. of age on a two-choice discrimination learning task. The behavioral indices of arousal (activity level) and learning (response rate and reinforcements) correlated significantly (r, .44). Affective state correlated positively with activity level (r, .47) during the learning phase of the experiment. Two control conditions were presented following the learning phase of the experiment. Noncontingent (response independent) reinforcement produced significantly faster response deceleration than nonreinforcement. Affective response did not differ between nonreinforcement and noncontingent reinforcement conditions.

Suppressive and enhancing effects of footshock on food-reinforced operant responding following septal lesions in rats.

Effect of septal lesions on suppression of an intermittently food-reinforced lever press by contingent and noncontingent footshock was measured. Rats with septal damage maintained higher response rates than did intact animals under both contingent and noncontingent shock. Furthermore, the difference in suppression produced by the contingent and noncontingent conditions was approximately the same for the experimental and control groups. In a second experiment, performance was measured during counter-conditioning in which the correlation between contingent shock and positive reinforcement was varied. Rats with septal lesions responded at higher rates than did controls. When only reinforced responses were punished, this lesion-induced elevation represented an increase above baseline performance without punishment. This finding suggests that the effect of septal damage on appetitive instrumental performance cannot be due solely to a deficit in response inhibition.