Conditioning: Situation Versus Intermittent Stimulus

Investigating whether the intermittent stimulus long used in laboratory to study conditioned behavior might be applied to real-life situations, Wyrwicka (neurobiology, U. of California-Los Angeles) analyzes evidence of the influence of situations on behavior in laboratory studies, especially those in which the subject's reaction was dependent on complex situations rather than a single stimulus. She suggests that factors internal to the brain as well as external conditions may influence behavior.