Account of operant conditioning based on coordinating three procedural steps of respondent conditioning processes.

Abstract

A new conceptual account of operant conditioning based on coordinating 3 procedural steps of respondent conditioning processes is introduced. In this account, stimuli, actions and conditioning are only used procedurally and conceptually. Convergence of 2 theories is used to support this account: (1) the model of hierarchical complexity and (2) ordering of evolutionary development and the corresponding changes in neural structure and biochemistry of organisms. Three very different cases of procedural respondent conditioning are used. The only commonality among the 3 respondent conditioning steps is the basic procedure. Those procedural steps are the “what to do” (Step 1), “when to do” (Step 2), and “why to do” (Step 3). In Step 1 of the respondent conditioning the representation of behavior takes on the elective properties of the S making the representation of behavior salient. We leave the representation of behavior undefined. One might use common notions of it instead. In Step 2, the now salient representation of behavior (rb) is paired with an environmental S. This makes the S elicit the representation of a behavior which requires the saliency of the representation of a behavior. In Step 3, the environmental S is paired with the S making the S more salient and valuable. When the environmental stimulus is more salient, the representation of a behavior rate relative to other representation of a behavior’s not associated with reinforcement increases.