Adapting without reinforcement

Abstract

Our data rule out a broad class of behavioral models in which behavioral change is guided by differential reinforcement. To demonstrate this, we showed that the number of reinforcers missed before the subject shifted its behavior was notsufficient to drive behavioral change. What's more, many subjects shifted their behavior to a more optimal strategy evenwhen they had not yet missed a single reinforcer. Naturally, differential reinforcement cannot be said to drive a processthat shifts to accommodate to new conditions so adeptly that it doesn't miss a single reinforcer: it would have no inputon which to base this shift. © 2012 Landes Bioscience.