
W David PierceUniversity of Alberta | UAlberta · Department of Sociology
W David Pierce
PhD
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Publications (58)
Prior research proposed that temporal control over the pattern of operant wheel running on a fixed interval (FI) schedule of sucrose reinforcement is a function of automatic reinforcement generated by wheel running and the experimentally arranged sucrose reinforcement. Two experiments were conducted to assess this prediction. In the first experimen...
Three experiments assessed whether changes in rates of wheel running and lever pressing on a schedule of wheel-running reinforcement were controlled by local or overall constraint of the contingent response. In Experiment 1 rats responded on a response-initiated variable interval 15-s schedule with wheel running as reinforcement. Overall constraint...
Does the effect of amphetamine on behavior (wheel running) differ depending on the functional role (operant, reinforcement) of that behavior? This study addressed this question using a multiple schedule of reinforcement in which wheel running served as reinforcement for lever pressing in one component and as operant behavior for sucrose reinforceme...
The current study investigated the relationship between wheel-running reinforcement and operant lever pressing when an opportunity to run is defined by the number of wheel revolutions rather than duration of wheel access. Twelve female Long-Evans rats responded on response-initiated variable interval 15-s schedules for the opportunity to run for 1,...
The current study compared the development of response patterns for operant wheel-running and lever-pressing on fixed-interval schedules. Eleven female Long-Evans rats were exposed to fixed-interval (FI) 15-s, 30-s, and 60-s schedules with wheel revolutions as the operant behavior and sucrose solution as reinforcement. Subsequently, a lever was mou...
Ten (pair housed) female Long-Evans rats were exposed to 5 s, 30 s, and 90 s wheel-running reinforcement durations on a response-initiated variable interval 20 s schedule as food deprivation was manipulated. On free feeding, never-deprived rats showed low wheel running and lever-pressing rates with long postreinforcement pauses (PRPs) for the 5-s r...
Ten (pair housed) female Long-Evans rats were exposed to 5 s, 30 s, and 90 s wheel-running reinforcement durations on a response-initiated variable interval 20 s schedule as food deprivation was manipulated. On free feeding, never-deprived rats showed low wheel running and lever-pressing rates with long postreinforcement pauses (PRPs) for the 5-s r...
Wheel running, unlike typical operant behavior, generates its own automatic reinforcement that alters the control exerted by extrinsic reinforcement on wheel running. The current study investigated the implications of the automatic reinforcement of wheel running by arranging different sucrose concentrations as extrinsic reinforcement for operant wh...
Wheel running, unlike typical operant behavior, generates its own automatic reinforcement that alters the control exerted by extrinsic reinforcement on wheel running. The current study investigated the implications of the automatic reinforcement of wheel running by arranging different sucrose concentrations as extrinsic reinforcement for operant wh...
Rats responded on a multiple variable-ratio (VR) 10 VR 10 schedule of reinforcement in which lever pressing was reinforced by the opportunity to run in a wheel for 30 s in both the changed (manipulated) and unchanged components. To generate positive contrast, the schedule of reinforcement in the changed component was shifted to extinction; to gener...
Rats experiencing sessions of 30min free access to wheel running were assigned to ad-lib and food-deprived groups, and given additional sessions of free wheel activity. Subsequently, both ad-lib and deprived rats lever pressed for 60s of wheel running on fixed ratio (FR) 1, variable ratio (VR) 3, VR 5, and VR 10 schedules, and on a response-initiat...
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is an important early predictor of adult obesity and associated comorbidities. Common forms of obesity are underpinned by both environmental and genetic factors. However, the rising prevalence of obesity in genetically stable populations strongly suggests that contemporary lifestyle is a premier factor to the...
BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is an important early predictor of adult obesity and associated comorbidities. Common forms of obesity are underpinned by both environmental and genetic factors. However, the rising prevalence of obesity in genetically stable populations strongly suggests that contemporary lifestyle is a premier factor to the disease....
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine-metabolic disorders in women of reproductive age characterized by ovulatory dysfunction, hyperandrogenism, and cardiometabolic risk. The overweight-obese PCOS phenotype appears to have exacerbated reproductive dysfunction and cardiometabolic risk. In overweight-obese adult women w...
As a follow up to Belke and Pierce's (2014) study, we assessed the effects of repeated presentation and removal of sucrose solution on the behavior of rats responding on a two-component multiple schedule. Rats completed 15 wheel turns (FR 15) for either 15% or 0% sucrose solution in the manipulated component and lever pressed 10 times on average (V...
We hypothesized the CB1 receptor (CB1R) and leptin receptor (ObR) operate synergistically to modulate metabolic, neuro-endocrine and behavioral responses of animals exposed to a survival challenge (food restriction and wheel running). Obese-prone (OP) JCR:LA-cp rats, lacking functional leptin receptors (ObR), and Lean-prone (LP) JCR:LA-cp rats (int...
The current study investigated the effect of motivational manipulations on operant wheel running for sucrose reinforcement and on wheel running as a behavioral consequence for lever pressing, within the same experimental context. Specifically, rats responded on a two-component multiple schedule of reinforcement in which lever pressing produced the...
We hypothesised that hypothalamic feeding-related neuropeptides are differentially expressed in obese-prone and lean-prone rats and trigger overeating-induced obesity. To test this hypothesis, in the present study, we measured energy balance and hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expressions in male JCR:LA-cp rat...
We hypothesized that polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) background associated with obese-prone genotype, coupled with pre-conditioning by caloric restriction, would confer a survival benefit in genetically pre-pubertal obese/PCOS-prone rats faced with an unpredictable challenge of food shortage. Female juvenile JCR:LA-cp rats, obese/PCOS-prone and le...
Behavior Analysis and Learning, Fifth Edition is an essential textbook covering the basic principles in the field of behavior analysis and learned behaviors, as pioneered by B. F. Skinner. The textbook provides an advanced introduction to operant conditioning from a very consistent Skinnerian perspective. It covers a range of principles from basic...
We replicated the finding of bivalent conditioning of tastes by wheel running by Hughes and Boakes (2008), but without pre-exposure to the wheel. Rats received six days of conditioning with a flavoured solution presented for 10 min before a 40-min placement in a running wheel and another flavoured solution presented for 10 min after. A highly palat...
We hypothesized that obese-prone genotype and history of food restriction confer a survival advantage to genetically obese animals under environmental challenge. Male juvenile JCR:LA-cp rats, obese-prone and lean-prone, were exposed to 1.5 h daily meals and 22.5-h voluntary wheel running, a procedure inducing activity anorexia (AA). One week before...
In Experiment 1, compared to non-reinforced presentation of a food stimulus (A → no US), the association of a food stimulus with wheel running (A → US) blocked subsequent avoidance of a distinctive flavor (X), when both the food and flavor were followed by wheel running (AX → US). Experiment 2 replicated and extended the blocking effect, demonstrat...
The adaptive hypothesis that an obese-prone genotype confers a fitness advantage when challenged with food restriction and food-related locomotion was tested using a rat model. Juvenile (35–40 days) and adolescent (45–50 days) JCR:LA-cp rats, obese prone (cp/cp) and lean prone (+/?), were exposed to 1.5 h daily meals and 22.5 h of voluntary wheel r...
Activity anorexia is a biobehavioral process that occurs in animals. Laboratory rats are fed once per day, they lose weight,
but quickly adjust to the feeding regime. Other animals receive a similar meal schedule and are allowed to run voluntarily
on an activity wheel—these animals die of starvation. Wheel running becomes excessive when food is res...
Childhood obesity is a prominent health problem that may involve early learning about tastes and the energy content of foods. We tested the hypothesis that food tastes predictive of low energy content cause overeating in young animals.
Juvenile and adolescent (4- and 8-week-old) male JCR:LA-cp lean (+/cp or +/+) and obesity-prone (cp/cp) rats were...
Abstract
Rats were given differential exposure to three distinct and novel foods. One of these foods was exposed for 7 days; another for 2 days, and the last was not exposed. Next, half of the rats received six daily sessions in which a compound of the three flavors was followed by opportunities to run in wheels. The other rats received the food co...
Choice between sucrose and wheel-running reinforcement was assessed in two experiments. In the first experiment, ten male Wistar rats were exposed to concurrent VI 30 s VI 30 s schedules of wheel-running and sucrose reinforcement. Sucrose concentration varied across concentrations of 2.5, 7.5, and 12.5%. As concentration increased, more behavior wa...
This study assessed how rewards impacted intrinsic motivation when students were rewarded for achievement while learning an activity, for performing at a specific level on a test, or for both. Undergraduate university students engaged in a problem-solving activity. The design was a 2 × 2 factorial with 2 levels of reward in a learning phase (reward...
Rats repeatedly exposed to a distinctive novel solution (conditioned stimulus, CS) followed by the opportunity to run in a wheel subsequently drink less of this solution. Investigations on this phenomenon indicate that wheel running is an effective unconditioned stimulus (US) for establishing conditioned taste aversion (CTA) when using a forward co...
A biobehavioural analysis of activity anorexia suggests that the motivation for physical activity is regulated by food supply and body weight. In the present experiment, food allocation was varied within subjects by prefeeding food-deprived rats 0, 5, 10 and 15 g of food before sessions of lever pressing for wheel-running reinforcement. The experim...
Rats given access to a running wheel after drinking a flavored solution subsequently drink less of that liquid. It has been suggested that suppression of intake is the result of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). This study explored whether the magnitude of CTA is related to time in the wheel (i.e., amount of wheel running). During 4 days of conditi...
Previous investigations of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) induced by wheel running have used flavored liquids such as conditioned stimuli (CSs). Assuming that classical conditioning mediates activity anorexia, it is expected that CTA induced by physical activity should extend to food stimuli. The main purpose of the present experiment was to inve...
When rats are given access to a running wheel after drinking a flavored solution, they subsequently drink less of that flavor solution. It has been suggested that running produces a conditioned taste aversion (CTA). This study explored whether CTA is eliminated by prior exposure to wheel running [i.e., unconditioned stimulus (UCS) pre-exposure effe...
In recent years, the view that rewards disrupt performance and motivation has gained popularity. This claim is primarily based on experiments from social psychological research. To evaluate validity of this contention, a statistical analysis of more than 140 experiments concerning the effects of rewards on performance and interest was conducted (Ca...
Over the past 30 years, many social psychologists have been critical of the practice of using incentive systems in business, education, and other applied settings. The concern is that money, high grades, prizes, and even praise may be effective in getting people to perform an activity but performance and interest are maintained only so long as the...
A major concern in psychology and education is that rewards decrease intrinsic motivation to perform activities. Over the past 30 years, more than 100 experimental studies have been conducted on this topic. In 1994, Cameron and Pierce conducted a meta-analysis of this literature and concluded that negative effects of reward were limited and could b...
A prevailing view in education and social psychology is that rewards decrease a person’s intrinsic motivation. However, our meta-analysis (Cameron & Pierce, 1994) of approximately 100 studies does not support this position. The only negative effect of reward occurs under a highly restricted set of conditions, circumstances that are easily avoided....
In this essay, we evaluate the applied implications of two articles related to the matching law and published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, May 1994. Building on Mace's (1994) criteria for increasing the applied relevance of basic research, we evaluate the applied implications of basic research studies. Research by Elsmor...
This article reviews research on the effects of reinforcement/reward on intrinsic motivation. The main meta-analysis included 96 experimental studies that used between-groups designs to compare rewarded subjects to nonrewarded controls on four measures of intrinsic motivation. Results indicate that, overall, reward does not decrease intrinsic motiv...
The relationship between basic research with nonhumans and applied behavior analysis is illustrated by our work on activity anorexia. When rats are fed one meal a day and allowed to run on an activity wheel, they run excessively, stop eating, and die of starvation. Convergent evidence, from several different research areas, indicates that the behav...
To test for involvement of endogenous opioids in the maintenance of high-rate running we have administered naloxone, a specific opioid antagonist, to rats. The animals were stabilized voluntarily running 6000 to 8000 m/day through a standard protocol and maintained in this state on approximately 18 g of food per day. Naloxone (50 mg/kg in saline) o...
The generalized matching law was initially stated as a nonlinear relation between reinforcement-rate ratios and response-rate ratios. Often, the variables of the law are transformed logarithmically to remove the nonlinearity; empirical results are then fit to the model through least-squares regression. However, the logarithmic expression of the mat...
Two experiments were designed to assess whether depriving rats of food would increase the reinforcement effectiveness of wheel running (Experiment 1) and whether satiation for wheel running would decrease the reinforcement effectiveness of food (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, a progressive-ratio schedule was used to measure the reinforcement effec...
We argue that applied behavior analysis is relevant to basic research. Modification studies, and a broad range of investigations that focus on the precipitating and maintaining conditions of socially significant human behavior, have basic importance. Applied behavior analysis may aid basic researchers in the design of externally valid experiments a...
Investigated the effects of the opportunity to run on activity-based anorexia in 42 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Ss were allowed different amounts of time to run on wheels while exposed to a restricted feeding schedule of 1 90-min meal per day. Generally, the incidence of strong anorexia increased when opportunity exceeded 12 hrs of access to a free w...
Skinner has assigned the persistence of cognitive explanations to the literature of freedom and dignity. This view is challenged especially as it applies to behavioral scientists. It is argued that cognitive explanations persist (a) because current behaviorism does not challenge cognitive epistomology; (b) because behavior analysts have failed to p...
Applied behavior analysis began when laboratory based principles were extended to humans inorder to change socially significant behavior. Recent laboratory findings may have applied relevance; however, the majority of basic researchers have not clearly communicated the practical implications of their work. The present paper samples some of the new...
This review concerns human performance on concurrent schedules of reinforcement. Studies indicate that humans match relative behavior to relative rate of reinforcement. Herrnstein's proportional matching equation describes human performance but most studies do not evaluate the equation at the individual level. Baum's generalized matching equation h...
This note presents a serendipitous result of an operant experiment on choice in human communication. Evidence suggests that demand characteristics associated with the experimenter-subject relationship can control verbal utterances and over-ride programmed operant contingencies.
This paper addresses the current help-oriented focus of researchers in applied behavior analysis. Evidence from a recent volume of JABA suggests that analytic behavior is at low levels in applied analysis while cure-help behavior is at high strength. This low proportion of scientific behavior is apparantly related to cure-help contingencies set by...
Leaf 126a inserted. Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1975. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-151). Microfiche of typescript.
Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 1972. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-68). Microfilm of typescript.