title: Temporal contingency.
abstract: Contingency, and more particularly temporal contingency, has often figured in thinking about the nature of learning. However, it has never been formally defined in such a way as to make it a measure that can be applied to most animal learning protocols. We use elementary information theory to define contingency in such a way as to make it a measurable property of almost any conditioning protocol. We discuss how making it a measurable construct enables the exploration of the role of different contingencies in the acquisition and performance of classically and operantly conditioned behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science, 152 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States. Electronic address: galliste@ruccs.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Gallistel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Utah State University, 2810 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States. Electronic address: andrew.craig@aggiusu.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Utah State University, 2810 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States. Electronic address: tim.shahan@usu.edu.
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Shahan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Classical conditioning; Information theory; Operant conditioning; Temporal pairing; Timing