Variation as an operant dimension

Variation is the raw material on which selection operates (Catania 2007). Operants, behaviors selected by consequences, emerge from variation. The currently existing literature considers variation a measureable characteristic; a continuum ranging from stereotypic to stochastic. It has been suggested that behavior variability can be directly reinforced. In a series of experiments, Neuringer and colleagues have demonstrated increased variability in sequences of responses on two keys in pigeons as a function of reinforcement being contingent of variability in such response sequences. The present experiment replicated these results in the variability in response topographies in rats. However, variability typically increases during extinction, and it might be more appropriate to describe increased behavior variability as a gradually more rapid extinction of previously reinforced responses. Knowledge of sources of behavioral variability can contribute to advances in behavioral modification in applied areas such as teaching, animal training and clinical treatments, as well as provide extended knowledge of the mechanisms of operant learning.