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TRANSITIVITY AS A PROPERTY OF CHOICE 1
Author(s) -
Navarick Douglas J.,
Fantino Edmund
Publication year - 1972
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.1972.18-389
Subject(s) - aperiodic graph , schedule , reinforcement , interval (graph theory) , transitive relation , mathematics , property (philosophy) , variable (mathematics) , duration (music) , computer science , psychology , statistics , combinatorics , social psychology , mathematical analysis , philosophy , epistemology , operating system , art , literature
Pigeons' pecks in the presence of two concurrently available initial‐link stimuli occasionally produced one of two stimuli associated with mutually exclusive terminal links. Pecks during either terminal link produced food according to aperiodic (variable‐interval and variable‐ratio) or periodic (fixed‐interval and fixed‐ratio) schedules of reinforcement. Aperiodic and periodic schedules to which the pigeons were indifferent, in the sense that these schedules maintained equal responding in the initial links, often yielded different preferences in separate choice tests with a third schedule. Conversely, aperiodic and periodic schedules that were equally preferred to a third schedule often failed to generate indifference. These intransitivities imply that (1) aperiodic and periodic schedules are not functionally equivalent in their effects upon choice, and (2) efforts to find a simple method for transforming aperiodic schedules into their periodic equivalents will fail.