Premium
RESPONSE BIAS AND THE DISCRIMINATION OF STIMULUS DURATION 1
Author(s) -
Stubbs D. Alan
Publication year - 1976
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.1976.25-243
Subject(s) - reinforcement , stimulus (psychology) , audiology , response bias , duration (music) , psychology , psychometric function , statistics , psychophysics , cognitive psychology , social psychology , mathematics , neuroscience , perception , medicine , acoustics , physics
Pigeons discriminated stimulus duration in a psychophysical choice situation. Following presentation of any duration from a set of short durations (11 to 15 sec), responses on a red key were reinforced intermittently. Following presentation of any duration from a set of long durations (16 to 22 sec), responses on a green key were reinforced intermittently. Relative reinforcement rates were manipulated for choice responses across conditions. As relative reinforcement rates were varied, psychometric functions showed shifts in green‐key responses at all durations. A signal‐detection analysis showed that sensitivity remained roughly constant across conditions while response bias changed as a function of changes in relative reinforcement rate. Relative error rates tended to match relative reinforcement rates.