Lewis A Bizo

University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty Member

University of Waikato, Psychology, Adjunct

Southern Cross University, Psychology, Adjunct

University of New England - Australia, Psychology, Faculty Member

Followers

225

Following

Co-authors

Public Views

I completed my PhD in 1994 at the University of Otago testing a behavioural model of time perception with pigeons under the supervision of Professor Geoff White. I then spent 4 years as a Postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University working with Professor Peter Killeen on his Mathematical Principles of Reinforcement. I have subsequently held teaching and administrative positions at the University of Southampton, Southern Cross University, University of Waikato, the University of New England, University of Technology Sydney, and Charles Sturt University.
Supervisors: Professor Geoff White (PhD supervisor) and Professor Peter Killeen (Postdoctoral Mentor)
Phone: +61447619468
Address: 337 Russell St, Bathurst, NSW2795, Australia

less

InterestsView All (19)

Uploads

Papers by Lewis A Bizo

Temporal generalization and peak shift in humans

Learning & Behavior, May 1, 2007

Two popular accounts of peak shift are explanation in terms of summation of excitatory and inhibi... more Two popular accounts of peak shift are explanation in terms of summation of excitatory and inhibitory gradients and Thomas's (e.g., explanation in terms of adaptation level theory . Spence (1937) assumed that an excitatory gradient forms around the S , producing a tendency to respond in the presence of the S , and that this excitation of responding generalizes around the S . An inhibitory gradient is also assumed to form around the S , producing a tendency not to respond in the presence of the S , and this inhibition of responding is thought to generalize around the S . Honig, provided empirical evidence of both excitatory and inhibitory gradients following discrimination training. Spence's account assumes that observed generalization gradients result from the combination of inhibitory and excitatory tendencies to respond to the same stimulus. The summation of the inhibitory and excitatory gradients predicts the shift of a stimulus-generalization gradient from the S in a direction away from the S following intradimensional discrimination training. ) used Helson's (1964) adaptation level theory to explain peak shift, arguing that the relational aspects of stimuli determine the position of a generalization gradient. The stimuli used in 123

Download

Time perception and Weber's Law

SQAB 2015: Choice and Consequences

Behavioural Processes, Jun 1, 2016

Download

Effects of schedules of reinforcement on the variability of location

Generalization of learned variability across multiple dimensions in humans

Behavioural Processes, 2019

This study examined whether trained variability would generalize across dimensions of the target ... more This study examined whether trained variability would generalize across dimensions of the target response. Two experiments used a computerized rectangle drawing task that required participants to click and drag a mouse cursor to create rectangles on a computer screen. In Experiment 1, one group received points when successive rectangles varied in their size, shape and location (VAR), another group were yoked to the VAR group and received points that were allocated to them using a yoking procedure (YOKE), regardless of the variability in the size, shape or location of the rectangle drawn. Variability was higher for a dimension when variability on that dimension was directly reinforced. In Experiment 2, three groups of participants received points when rectangles varied on two dimensions; each group differed in the two dimensions that required variation. Variability was again higher for the reinforced dimensions for two of the three groups. Comparison with the YOKE group showed that the variability on those dimensions where variability was not directly reinforced was affected by reinforcement for variability on the other dimensions. Specifically, the variability in Shape and Location was significantly higher when these two dimensions occurred with other dimensions where variability was reinforced (as in Experiment 2) compared to when they were not required to vary (as in the YOKE group). This suggests that, for these two groups, the reinforced variability on the other two dimensions generalized to the third dimension. Implications of this finding to our understanding of factors that promote behavioral variability are discussed.

Download

Beyond inference by eye: Statistical and graphing practices in <i>JEAB</i> , 1992-2017

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Feb 12, 2019

Debates about the utility of p values and correct ways to analyze data have inspired new guidelin... more Debates about the utility of p values and correct ways to analyze data have inspired new guidelines on statistical inference by the American Psychological Association (APA) and changes in the way results are reported in other scientific journals, but their impact on the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) has not previously been evaluated. A content analysis of empirical articles published in JEAB between 1992 and 2017 investigated whether statistical and graphing practices changed during that time period. The likelihood that a JEAB article reported a null hypothesis significance test, included a confidence interval, or depicted at least one figure with error bars has increased over time. Features of graphs in JEAB, including the proportion depicting single-subject data, have not changed systematically during the same period. Statistics and graphing trends in JEAB largely paralleled those in mainstream psychology journals, but there was no evidence that changes to APA style had any direct impact on JEAB. In the future, the onus will continue to be on authors, reviewers and editors to ensure that statistical and graphing practices in JEAB continue to evolve without interfering with characteristics that set the journal apart from other scientific journals.

Download

The role of Weber’s law in human time perception

Attention, perception & psychophysics, Oct 20, 2020

Weber's law predicts that stimulus sensitivity will increase proportionally with increases in sti... more Weber's law predicts that stimulus sensitivity will increase proportionally with increases in stimulus intensity. Does this hold for the stimulus of timespecifically, duration in the milliseconds to seconds range? There is conflicting evidence on the relationship between temporal sensitivity and duration. Weber's law predicts a linear relationship between sensitivity and duration on interval timing tasks, while two alternative models predict a reverse J-shaped and a U-shaped relationship. Based on previous research, we hypothesised that temporal sensitivity in humans would follow a U-shaped function, increasing and then decreasing with increases in duration, and that this model would provide a better statistical fit to the data than the reverse-J or the simple Weber's Law model. In a two-alternative forced-choice interval comparison task, 24 participants made duration judgements about six groups of auditory intervals between 100 and 3,200 ms. Weber fractions were generated for each group of intervals and plotted against time to generate a function describing sensitivity to the stimulus of duration. Although the sensitivity function was slightly concave, and the model describing a U-shaped function gave the best fit to the data, the increase in the model fit was not sufficient to warrant the extra free parameter in the chosen model. Further analysis demonstrated that Weber's law itself provided a better description of sensitivity to changes in duration than either of the two models tested.

Download

Reinforcer distributions affect timing in the free-operant psychophysical choice procedure

Learning and Motivation, Feb 1, 2016

Abstract In procedures used to study timing behavior, the availability of reinforcement changes a... more Abstract In procedures used to study timing behavior, the availability of reinforcement changes according to time since an event. Manipulation of this reinforcer differential often produces violations of scalar timing, but it is unclear whether such effects arise because of a response bias or a change in temporal discrimination. The present experiment investigated the effects of the overall and relative probability of obtaining a reinforcer on performance in the free-operant psychophysical procedure. We arranged short and long trials with unequal reinforcer ratios, at high or low overall reinforcer rates. Changes in the overall reinforcer rate produced only small changes in timing behavior. Changes in relative reinforcer probability, which caused differences in the likely availability of reinforcers across time within a trial, produced a change in both bias and discrimination. We suggest reinforcers affect timing, and that discrimination in timing tasks depends on the distribution of reinforcers in time, as well as on the interval to be timed.

Training with controlled reinforcer density: Implications for models of timing

Journal of experimental psychology, 1997

Pigeons discriminated between the 1st and 2nd halves of a trial. Trial duration was varied both w... more Pigeons discriminated between the 1st and 2nd halves of a trial. Trial duration was varied both within and between sessions in a 2-alternative free-operant psychophysical choice procedure. Two keys were illuminated either both red or both green at the beginning of a trial. Half the trials were long (red keys), and half were short (green keys). Session duration was kept constant across conditions. Left-key responding was reinforced only during the 1 st half of a trial, and right-key responding was reinforced only in the 2nd half of a trial. Contrary to predictions of the behavioral theory of timing , estimates of pacemaker period increased with increases in the trial duration despite constancy of reinforcement rate. Weber fractions were relatively constant across timed intervals, consistent with Weber's law. The present experiment is discussed with regard to implications for current theories of timing.

Download

Reawakening criminology: the importance of scientific method and inquiry in policing practice

Journal of criminological research, policy and practice, May 18, 2023

Purpose Criminology both as a field of study and as a practice draws on a broad range of discipli... more Purpose Criminology both as a field of study and as a practice draws on a broad range of disciplines from the social, behavioural, human, natural and medical sciences. However, over recent times, the natural and medical sciences have been dismissed, overlooked and even ridiculed, largely since the rise of critical criminology and related contemporary conflict and social harm approaches from the 1960s onwards. This has led to a chasm emerging between the study of criminology and the practice of criminology such as within a policing context. This paper aims to provide a review of an emerging forensic biological method, that of neuroscience, within a criminological context, to illustrate the importance of criminology embracing and reawakening its natural and medical science roots. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on a conceptual design to realign criminology with the full range of disciplines used to inform its theory and application. Findings Through illustrating the role of forensic neuroscience, the paper reawakens the scientific method and inquiry of criminology reflecting the importance of the discipline being, and remaining, multi- and trans-disciplinary in nature. The paper, while reflecting on the limitations of scientific method and inquiry, outlines the strengths this approach to criminology engenders, promoting and delivering a scientific-based research agenda that aims to support industry partners in the prevention, disruption and reduction of crime, disorder and threats to public security. Practical implications Firstly, it is important for criminology as a field of study to (re)engage with its scientific method and inquiry. Secondly, criminology, by engaging in robust scientific method and inquiry, has a significant contribution to make to professional practice and the work of industry professionals. Thirdly, while there are limitations to such scientific method and inquiry, it should not lead to this component of criminology being discarded. Fourthly, there is a need for contemporary research in the area of scientific method and inquiry and its application to criminological contexts, including that of police practice. Finally, by engaging in scientific method and inquiry that is evidence based, a chasm between the field of study and the practice associated with criminology can be addressed. Originality/value This paper addresses the gap between criminology as a field of study and as a practice by reengaging with scientific method and inquiry, illustrating the need and value of criminology being and remaining multi- and trans-disciplinary, ensuring professions underpinned by criminology are supported in their practice.

Not bird-brained: Chickens use prior experience to solve novel timing problems

PLOS ONE, Apr 5, 2023

Despite differences between bird and human brain anatomy, birds have recently demonstrated capaci... more Despite differences between bird and human brain anatomy, birds have recently demonstrated capacities thought to be uniquely human, including planning and problem-solving. Many avian demonstrations of 'complex' behaviors rely on species-specific behavior (e.g., caching, tool use), or use birds who have evolved largely in similarly undomesticated circumstances (e.g., pigeons). In the present experiment, we asked how a species domesticated thousands of years ago, chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus), used past experience to navigate novel problems in the double-bisection task. The double-bisection task which has been used extensively with pigeons, allowing a comparison of signatures of chicken and pigeon performance on the same task. Our findings revealed chickens, like pigeons, show flexible learning that is sensitive to the broader context in which events occur. Further, as with pigeons, our chickens' patterns of performance could be divided into two distinct categories which may reflect differences in the specific behaviors in which organisms engage during a timing task. Our findings demonstrate remarkable similarity in how chickens and pigeons use past experience to navigate novel problems. Further, these findings add to a growing body of knowledge suggesting the simplest forms of learning common across species-operant and respondent conditioning-are more flexible than is typically assumed.

Download

A Systematic Review of Emergent Learning Outcomes Produced by Foreign language Tact Training

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, Jul 6, 2022

Download

The mechanics of reinforcement

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Jun 1, 1998

Download

Reinforcement context and pacemaker rate in the behavioral theory of timing

Animal Learning & Behavior, Dec 1, 1995

Download

Pacemaker rate in the behavioral theory of timing

Journal of experimental psychology, Jul 1, 1994

The assumption by the behavioral theory of timing that pacemaker rate is proportional to reinforc... more The assumption by the behavioral theory of timing that pacemaker rate is proportional to reinforcer density was tested in 2 experiments. Pigeons discriminated between the 1st and 2nd halves of a 50-s trial. Responses on a left key were reinforced at variable intervals for the first 25 s of the trial, and right-key responses were reinforced at variable intervals during the second 25 s. In Experiment 1, overall reinforcement rate was varied by manipulating the intertrial interval (ITI) duration. Pacemaker rate, estimated by fitting predictions to psychometric functions, was an inverse function of m. In Experiment 2, reinforcer duration was manipulated as a means of altering reinforcer density. Pacemaker rate was found to be directly related to reinforcer duration. The present results support the assumption that pacemaker rate is determined by reinforcer density. This research was supported by grants from the New Zealand University Grants Committee and the University of Otago to K. Geoffrey White and by an Otago postgraduate award to Lewis A. Bizo. A table of absolute response and reinforcer frequencies can be obtained from us. We thank John Wixted for the nonlinear least squares regression procedure, Peter Killeen for many helpful comments and for suggesting Equation 4, and Russell Church for suggesting Figure .

Download

Scalar timing: a test of two timing models with humans

Skip to main content: ...

Mechanics of reinforcement

Download

Examining the effect of reinforcement on behaviour variability over multiple dimensions in humans

Response resurgence in the peak procedure

NASA-Task Load Index--Modified

PsycTESTS Dataset, 2011

Lewis A Bizo

Uploads

Papers by Lewis A Bizo

Log In