CHANGES IN SD AND IN S* RATES DURING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN
OPERANT DISCRIMINATION
ROBERT M. HERRICK, JEROME L. MYERS,1 AND ARTHUR L. KOROTKIN2
Z7. 5. jVatw/ /!«• Development Center, Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory, Jo/nisville, Pennsylvania
The first stage of an experiment (Herrick,
Myers, & Burke, 1958) which was designed to
study the effects of acceleration on behavior
was the development of an operant discrimina-
tion. The principal purpose of the present
report, which describes the formation and
maintenance of the discrimination, is to present
an operant discrimination technique. A second-
ary purpose of the report is to provide data
which allow an appraisal of a recently formu-
lated hypothesis which describes changes in
operant response rate during the formation of
a discrimination.
The discrimination procedure was designed
(a) to provide response-rate measures both
for SD periods and for S* periods and, inci-
dentally, to encourage high respons'e rates in
SD; (b) to insure that the SD and 5^ provided
by E were the. relevant cues for S, To achieve
this latter goal, several precautions were
taken to eliminate extraneous cues either for
responding or for not responding in either SD
periods and/or SA periods.
The hypothesis to be evaluated on the basis
of the discrimination data was presented by
Smith and Hoy (1954). They found that
during the development of a discrimination
the total daily number of responses remained
about the same; i.e., the total number of
responses emitte'd during the first daily dis-
crimination session was approximately equal
to the total number of responses emitted in
each of the subsequent daily discrimination
sessions. This constancy obtained because the
decrease in the number of responses emitted
in the presence of the negative stimulus (5A)
was compensated for by a corresponding in-
crease in the number of responses emitted in
the presence of the positive stimulus (S").
In discussing their data, Smith and Hoy sug-
gested that this finding of constancy in the
total number of responses emitted each day
during the development of a discrimination
1
Now at the University of Massachusetts.
2
Now at Mayview State Hospital, Mayview, Pa.
359
was perhaps typical of the operant discrimina-
tion process. The data of the present experi-
ment permit a test of this hypothesis of
constancy.
METHOD
Discrimination Technique
A short discussion is necessary at this point in order
to make explicit some of the reasoning behind the design
of the discrimination procedure.
The discrimination technique used consisted of
variable-interval (VI) reinforcement for responses
made in the presence of SD and of no reinforcement for
responses made in the presence of SA, Several durations
of the SD and S4 periods were used. Since some of the
S" periods were as short as 5 sec., a premium was placed
on responding immediately after the onset of SD. On
the other hand, the minimum duration of an S* period
was 30 sec. Shorter S* periods were not included on the
assumption that they would increase the chances for
a response made in the presence of S* to be followed by
SD, and therefore, perhaps, appear to cause (.he onset
of SD, Another consideration affecting the selection of
the durations was the assumption that, within limits, a
fixed period of discrimination training time could be
used more efficiently by providing a greater, rather
than a smaller, number of SD and S* periods.
The VI reinforcement schedule used in SD was
selected because it seemed to have fewer objectionable
characteristics than the other common reinforcement
schedules, with the possible exception of a variable-
ratio schedule. For example, a regular reinforcement
schedule would be undesirable for several reasons. Not
only would much of the lime in SD be given over to
eating behavior, but difficulty in interpretation of the
data would arise because of satiation effects. Of perhaps
more importance, however, is the possibility that the
discrimination could develop to some extent simply as
a result of repeated conditionings (in SD periods) and
extinctions (in 5 d periods) in which the cue for not
responding would be a response not followed by the
delivery of a reinforcement (Bullock & Smith, 1953).
At predetermined times during each SD period, the
reinforcement circuit was automatically set so that the
next appropriate response (i.e., lever press) would result
in the delivery of a reinforcement. In order to achieve
a VI reinforcement schedule, these times were varied,
not only within each SD period, but also from one SD
period to another. In addition, in order to decrease the
chances that 5 would stop responding during an SD
period after obtaining a fixed number of reinforcements,
the number of reinforcements which could be obtained
during different SD periods was varied.
360 ROBERT M. HERRICK, JEROME L. MYERS, AND ARTHUR L. KOROTKIN
Subjects'
The 5's were eight male albino rats of Wistar strain,
between 90 and 100 days of age al the time of arrival
from the Wistar Institute.
Apparatus
The apparatus consisted of a Skinner box, a pro-
graming system, a recording system, and relay cir-
cuitry.
A living cage for a rat was converted into a Skinner
box. On the wall at one end of the box a Gerbrands rat
lever was mounted with its bottom edge 1| in. above
the floor of the cage. Seventeen grams acting over a
distance of about j in. was required to depress the
lever sufficiently lo actuate a microswitch to which the
lever was connected. An indicator lamp was mounted
on the wall above the ral lever. The food tray, which
received ,045-gm. food pellets delivered by a Gerbrands
food dispenser, was mounted to the left of the lever. A
water dispenser was mounted on a wall of the box.
Soundproofing was achieved by enclosing the Skinner
box, in a nest-of-boxes arrangement, within two f-in.
plywood boxes lined with soundproofing material.
A programmer controlled (a) the times when the
reinforcement circuit was set so that the next lever
press would result in the delivery of a pellet and (b)
the time when the indicator lamp was on (SD) or off
Certain procedural refinements were obtained by
means of appropriate relay circuitry: (a) It' the pro-
grammer called for the delivery of a food pellet on the
next lever press, no more than one pellet was delivered
even though a rat was pressing a lever at a very rapid
rale, (b) If a rat was leaning on the lever at the time
the programmer set the reinforcement circuit, a food
pellet was not delivered until the ral released and then
depressed the lever, (c) \Vhen the programmer initiated
an SA period, the reinforcement circuit was broken if
it had been set up for the delivery of a pellet on the
next lever press, (d) If the rat did not depress the lever
until after the programmer had set the reinforcement
circuit two or more times, the rat received only one
food pellet when it finally did depress the lever, i.e.,
the programmer and relay circuitry did not permit the
"accumulation" of pellets,
One Gerbrands cumulative recorder operated only
during the SD periods; another operated only during
the S A periods. Three counters were used to record,
respectively, the total number of responses made during
the S1J periods, the total number made during the 5 A
periods, and the total number of food pellets delivered
to the rat.
Procedure
Upon arrival from the Wistar Institute, each rat
was weighed and put on a food-deprivation schedule.
Throughout the course of the experiment each rat was
given free access to food (powdered Purina dog chow)
in its individual living cage at the same time each day
for a 45-min. period. Water was always available, both
in the living cage and in the Skinner box.
After a 14-day period of acclimation to the feeding
schedule, the rats were given two daily sessions of
preliminary training in the Skinner box. During the
earl)' part of this period, a schedule of regular rein-
forcement was used; during the later part, a VI schedule
of reinforcement was used.
On the day following preliminary training, discrim-
ination training began. Discrimination training con-
sisted of VI reinforcement for lever presses during
periods when the indicator light was on (Sa periods)
and of no reinforcement for presses during, periods
when the light was off (S-1 periods).
The programing system automatically controlled
the durations of S'J and of S-1 periods and the number
of food pellets which could be obtained during each
SD period. Each rat spent 45 min. a day in the Skinner
box. Each day each rat was deprived of food for 22^
hr. before entering the Skinner box and was given
access to food in its living cage for 45 min. after leaving
the Skinner box. Discrimination training was carried
out for 40 successive days.
Under the programing system half of each 45-min.
session in the Skinner box was devoted lo 23 S-1 periods
and the other half to 22 SD periods. The 23 S^ periods
consisted of eight 30-scc. periods, eight 60-sec. periods,
and seven 90-sec. periods. The 22 S" periods consisted
of four 5-sec. periods, four 10-sec. periods, three 30-
sec. periods, five 60-sec. periods, three 120-sec. periods,
and three 180-sec. periods. Starting with ihe selection
of an SD period, the S" and 54 periods were alternately
selected at random until all 45 periods were exhausted.
The order of selection determined the order of appear-
ance of Ihe SD and SA periods in an experimental ses-
sion. A total of 45 reinforcements was attainable by a
rat during each experimental session; t to 4 reinforce-
ments were attainable during an SD period of an experi-
mental session.
RESULTS
The measures of food intake and body
weight, which were taken daily during the
experiment, yielded two general findings: (a)
food intake during the daily 45-min. feeding
period increased for about 12 days and then
remained constant; (6) body weight first de-
creased to about 85% of initial body weight,
and then, during discrimination training, it
gradually increased to its initial value. During
each daily experimental session, after the first
few days of discrimination training, every rat
ordinarily obtained all but a few of the 45 food
pellets which were attainable. Complete data
on body weight and on food intake are pre-
sented elsewhere (Herrick, Myers, Korotkin,
& Burke, 1957).
The SD (or 5A) lever-pressing rates referred
to in the following presentation were computed
by dividing the total number of lever presses
 OPERANT RESPONSE RATE CHANGES
400 60 RESP,V M I N
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(/I
UJ
O .200
Q_
if)
UJ
cc 0 25
TIME (WIN)
LjJ
DAY #1
TIME
FIG. 1. Sample daily records of one rat during 40 days of discrimination training. The small marks on the
SD curves indicate when food pellets were delivered. The records for the higher SD rates underestimate the number
of responses by a variable amount up to about 8%.
made by one rat during all the SD (or SA)
time of the session. Thus, the rates are mean
rates which do not take into account any
changes in rate during the SD (or 5A) periods
of a daily session. No correction was made
in the SD rates for the time taken to eat the
food pellets. Such a correction would, of
course, raise the SD rates.
Figure 1 presents cumulative response
curves for one of the rats on selected days of
discrimination training. Each SD (or 5A)
curve of Figure 1 is a composite of the several
S!> (or 5A) periods of a daily experimental
session. For the higher rates shown in Figure 1
the cumulative response curves underesti-
mated the number of responses by a variable
amount, averaging about 6 to 8%.
Figure 2 summarizes the data of the experi-
ment. On the first day of discrimination
training the median rates for the rats were
almost exactly the same for SD and for 5A,
viz., 18.1 and 18.9 responses/minute, re-
spectively. The rate curves soon drew apart,
however, so that after 10 days of discrimina-
tion training, for example, the median SD
rate had increased to 45.2, while the median
361
SA rate had decreased to 12.9 responses/minute.
With further training, the SD rate continued
to increase, but at a slower rate. The 5A rate
dropped until about Day 16, after which there
was little change. The rank-order coefficient
of correlation, relating the median SD rate
and the median 5A rate for the first 15 days of
discrimination training, was found to be
—0.81. The rate over the last 5 days of the
experiment was about 65 responses/minute
for SD and about 5.5 responses/minute for 5A.
A comparison of these rates with those of the
initial day of discrimination training indicates
that the SD rate increased to about three and
one-half times its initial value, while the
SA rate decreased to about three-tenths of
its initial value.
The uppermost curve of Figure 2 summarizes
the discrimination data in terms of an index
computed by dividing the rate in SD by the
SD rate plus the S* rate, and multiplying
by 100. The median rates plotted in Figure 2
were used to compute the index values. With
equal response rates in SD and 5A, a situation
which was closely approximated on the first -
day of discrimination training, the index
362 ROBERT M. HERRICK, JEROME L. MYERS, AND ARTHUR L. KOROTKIN
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DAILY SESSIONS OF DISCRIMINATION TRAINING
FIG. 2. Formation and maintenance of a light-dark
discrimination \vith variable-interval reinforcement in
the light (S!>) periods and no reinforcement in the
dark (S*) periods. Median data of 8 rats.
value is 50. Figure 2 indicates that the index
value rose for about 16 days and thereafter
remained about 93. This index value of 93
means that 93% of the total number of re-
sponses made during an experimental session
were made during SD periods.
A measure of the relative variability of the
S" and 5A rates may be obtained by dividing
Q, the serni-interquartile range of response
rates for one day, by the median rate for that
day and multiplying the result by 100. Such
a variability measure indicates that the 5A
rate is relatively more variable than the SD
rate. Samples of such variability measures,
taken on every fifth day starting with Day 5,
yield the following values for responding in
S": 15.5, 14.8, 25.0, 22.3, 15.8, 20.0, 17.5,
and 9.9. The comparable values for responding
in 5A are: 18.5, 32.8, 40.6, 25.0, 56.4, 200.0,
50.0, and 36.0.
DISCUSSION
The results presented indicate that the
total number of responses in an experimental
session almost doubled during the 40 days of
discrimination training. The results are there-
fore in disagreement with Smith and Hoy's
(1954) expectation of constancy in the total
number of responses. Although a fair number
of procedural differences existed between the
present experiment and Smith and Hoy's
experiment, such procedural differences do not
alter the conclusion that the hypothesis of
constancy in the total number of responses
emitted is untenable.
The schedule of reinforcement employed
in an experiment (e.g., variable interval, fixed
ratio) and the details of the schedule (e.g.,
number of reinforcements, durations of SD
X and 5A periods) are probably important de-
terminants of the SD response rate. It is ques-
tionable, therefore, whether any generalization
concerning SD and S* rate changes can be
made without such qualifications.
The level of discrimination reached at differ-
ent stages in the present experiment differed
considerably from that found by Smith and
Hoy. In their experiment, the mean rate of
responding in SD was about three to four times
higher than the mean rate in SA after 27 days
of discrimination training. In the present ex-
periment that level of discrimination was
achieved after about 10 days; by Day 27,
the SD rate was about thirteen times the
5A rate.
SUMMARY
An operant discrimination technique, de-
signed to yield rate measures and to eliminate
extraneous cues, is described. This procedure,
which provides a wide range of durations of
both the positive-stimulus (SD) periods and
the negative-stimulus (S ) periods, with
variable-interval reinforcements during SD
periods, was used in the establishment of a
light-dark discrimination. Eight rats were
used as Ss. During the course of the dis-
crimination the SD rate increased to about 3.5
times its initial value, while the 5A rate de-
creased to about 0.3 of its initial value. The
coefficient of correlation relating SD and 5A
rates for the first 15 days of discrimination
training was —0.81. Contrary to an hypothesis
of Smith and Hoy, there was an increase in
the total daily number of responses emitted
during the development of the discrimination.
REFERENCES
BULLOCK, D. H., & SMITH, W. C. An effect of repeated
conditioning-extinction upon operant strength.
J. exp. Psycho!., 1953, 46, 349-352.
HERRICK, R. M., MYERS, J. L., & BURKE, R. E.
 OPERANT RESPONSE RATE CHANGES 363

Measures of behavior following repeated exposure Aiiiat. Med. Acceleration Lab. (Jolmsmlle) Rep.,
to negative acceleration. /. aviat. Med., 1958, 29, 1957, No. NADC-MA-S711.
343-349. SMITH, M. H., JR., & HOY, W. J. Rate of response
HEBEICK, R. M., MYERS, J. L., KOROTKIN, A. L., & during operant discrimination. /. exp. Psychol.,
1954 48
BURKE, R. E. Body weight and food intake > ' 259-264.
changes during instrumental learning. USN ADC, Received June 27, 1958.