BEHAVIOR OF THE PIGEON UNDER SELF-YOKED INTERVAL AND RATIO SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT.
Item
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Title
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BEHAVIOR OF THE PIGEON UNDER SELF-YOKED INTERVAL AND RATIO SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT.
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Identifier
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AAI8401912
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identifier
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8401912
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Creator
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ALBERT, JULIAN K.
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Contributor
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Brett K. Cole
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Date
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1983
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Experimental
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Abstract
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In Exp. I, five pigeons were exposed to a mixed schedule consisting of a fixed interval (FI) component and a ratio component, in which the components changed after every reinforcement. The number of responses emitted in an FI component served as the ratio requirement in the immediately following ratio component, so that the schedules were equated for number of responses-per-reinforcer. The procedure was labeled "self-yoked," and the ratio component was called "yoked-ratio (YR)." At all values of FI (15, 30, 60, and 120 sec), response rates and post-reinforcement pauses were essentially the same in FI and YR. Experiment II consisted of mixed and multiple schedules. The multiple schedules were created by the addition of an exteroceptive stimulus (key light) to one of the schedule components. Schedule parameter values were identical to those in Exp. I. In the multiple schedules, response rates were higher and post-reinforcement pauses were shorter in YR. In the mixed schedules, behavior generally returned to its non-differential form. Several instances of continued differential behavior in the mixed schedules was attributed to behavior still in transition; in all cases, the separation was less than under the multiple schedules. The virtual identity of behavior in FI and YR in Exp. I, and in the mixed schedules of Exp. II, demonstrates that there are conditions in which interval and ratio schedules will not produce the differences in behavior typically observed under such schedules. Those conditions consist of the following: (a) the schedules are equated in terms of number of responses-per-reinforcer, (b) schedule changes take place after each reinforcement, and (c) differential stimuli are not correlated with the schedules. It was asserted that any description of behavioral differences produced by interval and ratio schedules is incomplete without taking account of the conditions under which differential behavior does not emerge.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
