THE STUDY OF PUNISHMENT WITH HOT BLAST AIR: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT REINFORCEMENT HISTORIES

Abstract

One of the variables that has influence on the effects of punishing contingencies is reinforcement history. Studies with electric shock demonstrated that continuous reinforcement schedules produce less resistance to punishment than intermittent reinforcement schedules. The aim of this study was to verify the effect of an alternative punisher - hot blast air (HBA) - presented continuously and contingent to responses with different reinforcement histories. Six rats were exposed to different histories of reinforcement during eight sessions (continuous reinforcement, variable ratio and variable interval). Then, the animals went through six sessions in which each bar pressing produced an HBA and a drop of water. In the last phase, the animal went through six reconditioning sessions, with the same schedules used in conditioning phase. During punishment, all subjects, regardless of reinforcement history show completely suppression of responding. When punishment was discontinued all subjects returned to the previous response levels compatible with their reinforcement history, the subjects which passed by continuous reinforcement, however, took more time to recover the responses rates. Methodological limitations that compromised the study conclusions are discussed for improvement. Key words: punishment; reinforcement history; hot blast air; aversive control.