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The effect of response rate on reward value in a self‐control task
Author(s) -
Fortes Inês,
Vasconcelos Marco,
Machado Armando
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1002/jeab.123
Subject(s) - peck (imperial) , reinforcement , psychology , task (project management) , value (mathematics) , conditioning , self control , social psychology , statistics , mathematics , economics , geometry , management
To understand how effort, defined by number of responses required to obtain a reward, affects reward value, five pigeons were exposed to a self‐control task. They chose between two alternatives, 2 s of access to food after a delay of 10 s, and 6 s of access to food after an adjusting delay. The adjusting delay increased or decreased depending on the pigeons' choices. The delay at which the two alternatives were equally chosen defined the indifference point. To determine whether requiring responses during the delay led to more impulsive (smaller–sooner rewards) or self‐controlled (larger–later rewards) choices, we varied the number of required pecks during the 10‐s delay to the 2‐s reinforcer, and assessed how the requirement affected the indifference points. In the High Rate Phase, they had to peck at least 10 times during the delay; in the Low Rate Phase, they could peck at most 5 times during the delay. For four pigeons the indifference point increased with the response requirement; for one pigeon it decreased. The results suggest that, in general, reward value varies inversely with effort.