CHOICE BETWEEN CONCURRENT SCHEDULES1
- 1 March 1973
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- Vol. 19 (2), 331-344
- https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1973.19-331
Abstract
Six pigeons pecked for food in a three-key experiment. A subject at any time could choose the left or right key and receive reinforcement according to one two-key concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedule of reinforcement, or it could peck the center key. A peck on the center key arranged the complementary two-key concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedule on the left and right keys. The two different two-key concurrent schedules arranged reinforcements concurrently and were signalled by two different colors of key lights. Choice behavior in the presence of a given color conformed to the usual relationship in two-key concurrent schedules: the relative frequency of responding on a key approximately equalled the relative frequency of reinforcement on that key. Preference for a two-key concurrent schedule, which was equivalent to preference for a color, was measured by the percentage of all responses on the left and right keys in the presence of that color: this percentage approximately equalled the percentage of all reinforcements that were delivered in the presence of that color. Thus, choice between concurrent schedules conforms approximately to the same relationship as does choice between alternatives in a single concurrent schedule.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- TWO‐KEY CONCURRENT PACED VARIABLE‐INTERVAL PACED VARIABLE‐INTERVAL SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1971
- TWO‐KEY CONCURRENT RESPONDING: RESPONSE‐REINFORCEMENT DEPENDENCIES AND BLACKOUTS1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1970
- THE CONCURRENT REINFORCEMENT OF TWO INTERRESPONSE TIMES: ABSOLUTE RATE OF REINFORCEMENT1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1970
- THE CONCURRENT REINFORCEMENT OF TWO INTERRESPONSE TIMES: THE RELATIVE FREQUENCY OF AN INTERRESPONSE TIME EQUALS ITS RELATIVE HARMONIC LENGTH1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1969
- MAGNITUDE AND FREQUENCY OF REINFORCEMENT AND FREQUENCIES OF INTERRESPONSE TIMES1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1968
- THE RELATION BETWEEN RESPONSE RATES AND REINFORCEMENT RATES IN A MULTIPLE SCHEDULE1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1968
- CHOICE AND DELAY OF REINFORCEMENT1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1967
- PROBABILISTICALLY REINFORCED CHOICE BEHAVIOR IN PIGEONS1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1966
- RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE STRENGTH OF RESPONSE AS A FUNCTION OF FREQUENCY OF REINFORCEMENT1,2Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1961
- PREFERENCE AND SWITCHING UNDER CONCURRENT SCHEDULING1Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1958