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PATTERNING WITH FIXED‐TIME SCHEDULES OF RESPONSE‐INDEPENDENT REINFORCEMENT 1
Author(s) -
Alleman Harold D.,
Zeiler Michael D.
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.1974.22-135
Subject(s) - schedule , reinforcement , time perception , food delivery , time allocation , statistics , duration (music) , computer science , mathematics , psychology , social psychology , physics , neuroscience , social science , cognition , marketing , sociology , business , operating system , acoustics
Pigeons were first exposed to a schedule providing food when the time between successive key pecks (the interresponse time) exceeded a specified duration. When food then was presented at regular intervals independent of responding (fixed‐time schedule), responses typically occurred at a steady rate in the periods between successive food presentations. Once the birds had been exposed to a fixed‐ratio schedule, however, response rate under fixed‐time schedules was positively accelerated. Variations in the sequence of conditions given different subjects indicated that the changes in patterning were due to the fixed‐ratio schedule, rather than to the number of transitions from a response‐dependent to the response‐independent fixed‐time schedule, to changed parameter values, or to prolonged experience with the fixed‐time schedule. The effects of fixed‐time schedules on patterning depended upon experimental history.