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Punishment improves discrimination learning, and programmed instruction is an elaborate form of discrimination training, so the present experiment assessed whether punishment also improves performance on programmed instruction. The cost of such improvement in terms of increased training time and dissatisfaction of subjects also was assessed. Three college students completed a computerized version of Holland and Skinner’s (1961) programmed text. One subject received a two-component multiple schedule within a reversal design, and two subjects received the same two-component multiple-schedule without a return-to-baseline phase. During baseline, subjects received 5¢ for each frame completed, regardless of whether responses were correct or incorrect. Multiple-schedule conditions were either baseline conditions or a loss of 5¢ for each incorrect response (punishment). Punishment improved performance by 10%, increased training time by 15%, and did not affect reported satisfaction. The most likely mechanisms for this improved performance are that punishment increased study time or the salience of stimuli. This experiment showed that punishment can improve performance by one letter grade without subject dissatisfaction or significantly increasing training time.

A recent study (Crosbie & Kelly, 1994) showed that brief externally imposed postfeedback delays improved performance in computerized programmed instruction. The present experiment extended that analysis by using shorter sessions, a more powerful single-subject design, and better timing measures, and by assessing maintenance of training effects. College students completed 40 sets of Holland and Skinner’s (1961) programmed text on behavior analysis in a computerized format in a two-component multiple schedule. In the components there was either no postfeedback delay or a 10-s postfeedback delay for each question. On average, delay improved performance by 7% during training, and this advantage was maintained and increased at both posttest (13%) and follow-up (17%). Subjects were satisfied with delay, and session time increased only slightly. Present results show that subjects work faster and more accurately, and have better maintenance when their pace is externally imposed rather than self-selected.

Imposed postfeedback delays promote discrimination training; the present experiments determined whether they also improve performance in programmed instruction. In two experiments, college students completed 45 sets of Holland and Skinner's (1961) programmed text on behavior analysis in a computerized format in a three-component multiple schedule. In Experiment 1, the conditions were (a) no delay between questions, (b) a 10-s delay after each question (noncontingent delay), and (c) a 10-s delay after each question answered incorrectly (contingent delay). Noncontingent delay produced better performance than no delay and contingent delay. To determine whether performance increased in the noncontingent delay condition because subjects studied the material during delay periods, Experiment 2 tested three conditions: (a) no delay between questions, (b) a 10-s delay after each question (noncontingent delay), and (c) a 10-s delay after each question with the screen blank during the delay period. Noncontingent delay produced better performance than no delay, but there was no difference in performance between no delay and noncontingent delay with blank screen. Hence, noncontingent delay improved performance because students used delay periods to study. Furthermore, subjects preferred noncontingent delay to the other conditions, and session time increased only slightly.

In two experiments a multiple-response repertoire of four free-operant responses was developed with university students as subjects using monetary gain as reinforcement. Following baseline, one of the responses was reduced either by making monetary loss contingent upon it (response cost) or by removing it from the repertoire (response restriction). In Experiment 1 a multielement baseline design was employed in which baseline and restriction or response-cost contingencies alternated semirandomly every 3 minutes. In Experiment 2 a reversal design was employed (i.e., baseline, restriction or response cost, then baseline), and each response required a different amount of effort. Both experiments had the following results: (a) The target response decreased substantially; (b) most nontarget responses increased, and the rest remained near their baseline levels; and (c) no support was found for Dunham's hierarchical, most frequent follower, or greatest temporal similarity rules. For several subjects, the least probable responses during baseline increased most, and the most probable responses increased least. Furthermore, in Experiment 2, responses with the lowest frequency of reinforcement increased most (for all 7 subjects), and those with the greatest frequency of reinforcement increased least (for 5 subjects).

Two experiments with human subjects were performed to investigate the effects of response cost on several unpunished free-operant responses. Using monetary gain on variable-interval schedules as reinforcement, a multiple-response repertoire of button-press responses was developed, then response cost was made contingent on one of these responses. A multielement baseline design was employed in both experiments: During the baseline phase both multielement components were correlated with baseline conditions, then one component was correlated with response cost while baseline conditions continued in the other component. In Experiment 1, a five-response repertoire was developed with no changeover delay (COD), and response cost decreased the target response, increased most nontarget responses, and, for two subjects, one nontarget response decreased. In Experiment 2, a four-response repertoire was developed with a 5-s COD, and similar results were obtained except that no nontarget responses decreased. The present results support my previous findings that punishment affects the whole set of unpunished responses (Crosbie, 1988, 1989, 1990), No support was found, however, for Dunham’s hierarchical rule and most frequent follower propositions (Dunham, 1978; Dunham & Grantmyre, 1982).

The principal aim of the present experiments was to assess whether punishment increased or decreased the rate of unpunished behavior (contrast and induction, respectively) for which reinforcement rate was held constant, with physical and nonphysical punishers (electric shock and response cost), pigeon and human subjects, signaled and unsignaled components (multiple and mixed schedules), and the presence or absence of a blackout period between components. Across the three experiments there were 20 punishment conditions. Induction was found in nine of those, less consistent response-rate reduction was found in three, contrast was found in four, and in four there was no change in responding from conditions without punishment. Contrast occurred consistently only with multiple schedules during the first exposure to electric-shock punishment. Induction and no change, however, were found with every combination of the independent variables studied. Four conclusions regarding the interactions between punished and unpunished responding emerged from the present results: (a) Both contrast and induction occurred with the reinforcement rate held constant and a blackout between components, (b) induction was more common than contrast, (c) contrast occurred only in the presence of a stimulus different from that correlated with the punisher, and (d) contrast diminished with prolonged exposure to punishment. None of the current theoretical accounts of punishment contrast can explain the present results.

Recent studies of caffeine use amongst psychiatric patients have suggested that heavy users experience more anxiety and depression than non-users. The present study aimed to extend the findings of previous research by examining somatic as well as psychological symptomatology associated with habitual caffeine use. In addition, an attempt was made to control for certain potentially confounding variables not adequately controlled in previous research, including possible response bias due to subject knowledge of investigator expectations, subjects' use of substances other than caffeine, and a number of biographic variables. The participants were 173 inpatients drawn from two large psychiatric institutions. Each subject participated in a structured interview during which information was obtained on somatic and psychological health, substance use, and demographic variables. Results failed to confirm previous reports of an association between moderate levels of caffeine consumption and psychological well-being. However, caffeine consumption was significantly correlated with self-reported Frequency of somatic symptoms.

accuracy of response were obtained. Respiratory data PET 0 2 and PET COz and heart rate were monitored throughout the ascent. The 'survival time' of the subjects to clinico-physiological end point, while breathing air, was shown to be different for the three different rates of ascent, as was the exposure time at 25,000 feet. The last 192 seconds (four blocks of 4 8 seconds), of the Research: PhD, University of Strathclyde, 1988