Premium
RATES AND PATTERNS OF RESPONDING WITH CONCURRENT FIXED‐INTERVAL AND VARIABLE‐INTERVAL REINFORCEMENT 1
Author(s) -
Nevin John A.
Publication year - 1971
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 - 10.1901/jeab.1971.16-241
Subject(s) - reinforcement , interval (graph theory) , schedule , statistics , mathematics , psychology , computer science , social psychology , combinatorics , operating system
Pigeons were exposed to concurrent fixed‐interval and variable‐interval schedules of food reinforcement on two keys. The times between reinforcement were varied systematically on both keys. The overall relative frequency of responding on the fixed‐interval key depended on the relative frequency of reinforcement, but did not match it. Instead, the ratio of responses on the fixed‐interval key to responses on the variable‐interval key was a power function of the ratio of reinforcements, with an exponent of 0.5. Patterns of responding between reinforcements on the fixed‐interval key depended on both relative and absolute values of the reinforcement schedules. Similar overall relative responding was obtained at different absolute schedule values with equal relative reinforcement, despite some differences in patterns of responding.