Effects of reinforcement history for following rules on sensitivity to contingencies of reinforcement

The present experiment manipulated subjects\u27 experimental history of reinforcement for following rules in order to assess sensitivity to contingency changes. Ten undergraduate students were presented with four training tasks. Half the subjects were presented with instructions that corresponded with the reinforcement contingencies for these tasks (Accurate Instructions group), while the other half was presented with instructions that did not correspond with the reinforcement contingencies (Inaccurate Instructions group). After meeting stability criteria, unsignaled changes in the contingencies of one of the tasks were made to test for sensitivity. Although the behavior of all the subjects eventually changed after contacting the changed contingencies, results suggest that the behavior of the inaccurately instructed subjects was more likely to contact the differential availability of points during testing. These data lend support to the notion that subjects\u27 history of reinforcement with rules affects sensitivity. Nonetheless, it is not clear whether sensitivity to the differential availability of points required subjects\u27 initial history of responding to correspond with the responding that led to reinforcement during testing. Directions for future research are suggested