Implementation of Discriminative Stimuli in the Evolutionary Theory of Behavior Dynamics Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

McDowell’s evolutionary theory of behavioral dynamics (ETBD) is a complexity theory that treats behaviors within an organism as ‘agents’ that interact with each other according to evolutionary principles. The theory has been used to animate artificial organisms (AOs) that produce behaviors that are considered the predictions of the theory. The theory’s predictions have been found to be congruent with a number of quantitative findings in environments with reinforcers and punishers. However, the theory as it currently exists does not have a paradigm for engaging with discriminative stimuli in the environment. In order to enhance the theory, elements of Estes’ stimulus sampling theory were adapted into a form compatible with the ETBD and added into the ETBD’s functional loop. AOs animated by the modified ETBD were tested in concurrent schedule, and multiple schedule environments. When AOs were found to not appropriately behave in the similar manner to live organisms, additional modifications based on behavioral principles (e.g. reinforcement based attention, background reinforcement) were added in order to improve AO functioning. The results show that the modified ETBD was able to replicate the previous finding on concurrent schedule behavior and predict learning based on discriminative stimuli, but not all features of live organism behavior was able to be reproduced with the modified ETBD described here. The principles that functioned well (e.g. entropy-based observation) and the additional principles deemed necessary (i.e. durability of learning, selectivity for stimuli) to model discriminative stimulus behavior are discussed.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 10

Introduction to Multiple Schedules ........................................................................................... 11

Clinical Relevance of Multiple Schedules............................................................................ 12

Introduction to Stimulus Generalization ................................................................................... 15

Evolutionary Theory of Behavioral Dynamics ......................................................................... 23

The Artificial Organisms ...................................................................................................... 24

The Rules of the ETBD......................................................................................................... 25

The Environmental Components. ......................................................................................... 27

Stimulus control in the ETBD............................................................................................... 27

Stimulus Sampling Theory........................................................................................................ 29

Principles of SST .................................................................................................................. 32

II. Theoretical Design ................................................................................................................... 33

Benefits of Incorporating Elements of SST into the ETBD...................................................... 33

Implementation ..................................................................................................................... 35

The Modified Environment................................................................................................... 35

The Artificial Organism........................................................................................................ 35

Rules of the modified ETBD ................................................................................................ 35

The Present Study...................................................................................................................... 39

III. General Methods..................................................................................................................... 39

Subjects, Apparatus, and Materials ........................................................................................... 39

IV. Experiment Series One ........................................................................................................... 40

Experiment Series One Methods............................................................................................... 40

Modification One .................................................................................................................. 41

Modification Two. ................................................................................................................ 43

Data Analysis for Experiment One ....................................................................................... 44

Experiment Series One Results ................................................................................................. 44

Phase One.............................................................................................................................. 44

Phase Two............................................................................................................................. 45

Experiment Series One Discussion ........................................................................................... 48

V. Experiment Series Two............................................................................................................ 52

Experiment Series Two Methods .............................................................................................. 52

Modification Three ............................................................................................................... 53

Concurrent Schedules Review.............................................................................................. 54

Modification Four ................................................................................................................. 55

Data Analysis for Experiment Two ...................................................................................... 56

Experiment Series Two Results ................................................................................................ 57

Modification Three ............................................................................................................... 57

Concurrent Schedules Review.............................................................................................. 58

Experiment Series Two Discussion........................................................................................... 62

VI. General Discussion ................................................................................................................. 66

Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 70

Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 71

VII. Future Directions................................................................................................................... 71

Durability of learning............................................................................................................ 72

Selectivity for a particular stimulus ...................................................................................... 74

References.......................................................................................................................... 76

Appendix A........................................................................................................................... 146

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Clinical Psychology
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Computer Science Psychology, Behavioral Sciences Engineering, Computer
Keyword	Complexity Theory Stimulus Sampling Theory Evolutionary Theory of Behavior Dynamics
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Jack J McDowell, Emory University
Committee Members	Darryl Neill, Emory University Phil Wolff, Emory University Samuel L. Morris, Louisiana State University Michael Treadway, Emory University

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