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SIGNALLED REINFORCEMENT IN DIFFERENTIAL‐REINFORCEMENT‐OF‐LOW‐RATE SCHEDULES 1
Author(s) -
Marcucella Henry
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.1974.22-381
Subject(s) - reinforcement , differential reinforcement , schedule , stimulus (psychology) , statistics , audiology , psychology , computer science , mathematics , social psychology , cognitive psychology , medicine , operating system
At several fixed and variable minimum reinforced interresponse times, a stimulus was added to differential‐reinforcement‐of‐low‐rate schedules to signal the availability or nonavailability of reinforcement. As the minimum reinforced interresponse time increased, the rate of unreinforced responding decreased. Changing from fixed to variable minimum interresponse time in the basic differential‐reinforcement‐of‐low‐rate schedule further decreased the rate of unreinforced responding. Both effects were to some degree reversible. For fixed minimum reinforced interresponse times of 30 sec or shorter, most unreinforced responses terminated interresponse times just short of that required for reinforcement. The minimum reinforced interresponse time and the number of short response latencies (≤0.5 sec) to the onset of the signal were negatively correlated. Both of these analyses suggested that at values of 30 sec or shorter, the subjects discriminated the availability of the reinforcer more on the basis of time than on the basis of presence or absence of the signal.