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THE LAW OF EFFECT AND A VOIDANCE: A QUANTITATIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESPONSE RATE AND SHOCK‐FREQUENCY REDUCTION 1
Author(s) -
Villiers Peter A.
Publication year - 1974
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.1974.21-223
Subject(s) - matching law , reinforcement , shock (circulatory) , frequency , variable (mathematics) , reduction (mathematics) , interval (graph theory) , statistics , matching (statistics) , variables , control theory (sociology) , psychology , mathematics , computer science , social psychology , artificial intelligence , mathematical analysis , control (management) , medicine , combinatorics , geometry
Two experiments were conducted to investigate the quantitative relationship between response rate and reinforcement frequency in single and multiple variable‐interval avoidance schedules. Responses cancelled delivery of shocks that were scheduled by variable‐interval schedules. When shock‐frequency reduction was taken as the measure of reinforcement, the relationship between response rate and reinforcement frequency on single variable‐interval avoidance schedules was accurately described by Herrnstein's (1970) equation for responding on single variable‐interval schedules of positive reinforcement. On multiple variable‐interval avoidance schedules with brief components, asymptotic relative response rate matched relative shock‐frequency reduction. The results suggest that many interactions between response rates and shock‐frequency reduction in avoidance can be understood within the framework of the generalized matching relation, as applied by Herrnstein (1970) to positive reinforcement.