Conditioned Motivating Operations have value-altering effects that are a function of what?

• A. A Learning History
• B. Value-Altering Effects That Are Unlearned
• C. Value-Altering Effects That Are Not Influenced by Learning History
• D. Value-Altering Effects That Are A Function Of Learning History

Answer: (D)

Conditioned motivating operations gain their value-altering power through learning history. The effect a CMO has on how much a reinforcer is valued arises because, in the past, the organism learned an association between that stimulus and the availability or availability of reinforcement. That learned relation makes the CMO alter the reinforcer’s value in the moment—making reinforcement more or less effective depending on the history with that cue. Without that learning, the stimulus wouldn’t reliably change how valuable the reinforcer is. For example, money becomes more valuable as a reinforcer because we’ve learned it can be exchanged for goods; a cue that has learned to predict food does so because of prior experience linking the cue to the food's availability. Hence, the value-altering effects of conditioned MOs are a function of learning history.