Differentiation of Response Characteristics during Multiple Fixed Ratio Extinction

Abstract

Multiple Fixed Ratio Extinction force and displacement data for lever pressing were obtained from a rhesus monkey restrained in a primate chair. Two basic behaviors were defined: responses, which were reinforced, and errors, which were not. When a Fixed Ratio 4 baseline was used and the reinforced force or displacement band was shifted, relative frequency force and displacement distributions shifted in the same direction. Under force-specific or displacement-specific reinforcement the number of errors preceding the first response of the fixed ratio was always larger than the number preceding any of the other responses. It appeared that S discriminated the response requirements, and that the procedure can be used to study such discrimination in detail.