While you have
operantly taught her a happy bee-behavior, you also have changed her classical association with the presence of a bee: "Bees make the opportunity for my fun behavior happen!"
It is true that some of the elements of visual and auditory stimuli (e.g., lines, edges, motion, pitch, timbre, and loudness) that we learn to perceive (i.e.,
operantly respond to) may indeed be hardwired in the sense that specific neurons "detect" these features and fire (i.e., the stimulus features are sensed or transduced), in the absence of operant contingencies involving these elements.
Long-term memory of an
operantly conditioned respiratory behaviour in Lymnaea stagnalis.
Duncan, "
Operantly conditioned running: effects on brain catecholamine concentrations and receptor densities in the rat," Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, vol.
Eaton and coworkers [35] showed that in monkeys the firing rates of motor cortical neurons and muscle activity can be
operantly reinforced through the delivery of rate-contingent stimulation of the ventral striatum.
A parsimonious behavioural explanation of the findings is that in the Puff + Blink condition, tic behaviour was
operantly reinforced by the reduced subjective annoyance of the puff, fostering the perseverance of blinking.
Wolpaw, "
Operantly conditioned motoneuron plasticity: possible role of sodium channels, " Journal of Neurophysiology, vol.
Operantly conditioned running:effects on brain catecholamine concentrations and receptor densities in the rat.
Mice and rats can be trained to respond
operantly at a fixed ratio for infusions of ethanol or for access to a drinkable ethanol solution.
