title: Stimulus specificity and dishabituation of operant responding in humans.
abstract: Habituation has recently been addressed within the operant conditioning paradigm. While the literature on this topic is growing, the examination of dishabituation, a fundamental characteristic of habituation, remains limited. This study expanded research on habituation of operant responding in non-human animals to research involving humans. Specifically, dishabituation and stimulus specificity were examined under a variety of conditions involving changes in the reinforcer type, reinforcement schedule, reinforcer amount, and selected properties of the antecedent stimuli for a computerized task with 46 undergraduate students. An additional 3 participants were exposed to a control condition. Evaluation of within session patterns of responding indicates that the introduction of stimulus changes into the operant context reliably produced dishabituation of operant responding in humans.
authors: University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA. a.kenzer@centerforautism.com
authors: Amy L
authors: AL
authors: Kenzer
authors: Patrick M
authors: PM
authors: Ghezzi
authors: Timothy
authors: T
authors: Fuller
mesh_terms: D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology
keywords: dishabituation; habituation; humans; operant conditioning; stimulus specificity