A COMPARISON OF VARIABLE‐RATIO AND VARIABLE‐INTERVAL SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT1

Abstract

Four pigeons responded under a two‐component multiple schedule of reinforcement. Responses were reinforced in one component under a variable‐ratio schedule and in the other component under a variable‐interval schedule. It was found that when rates of reinforcement were equal in the two components, the rate of response in the variable‐ratio component was nearly twice that in the variable‐interval component. Furthermore, for three of the four subjects, the function relating response rate to relative rate of reinforcement in the variable‐ratio component had a slope 2.5 to 3 times the slope of the corresponding function for the variable‐interval component.