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MATCHING IN CONCURRENT VARIABLE‐INTERVAL AVOIDANCE SCHEDULES
Author(s) -
Logue A. W.,
Villiers Peter A.
Publication year - 1978
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.1978.29-61
Subject(s) - matching law , variable (mathematics) , interval (graph theory) , matching (statistics) , reinforcement , duration (music) , statistics , computer science , psychology , mathematics , social psychology , mathematical analysis , art , literature , combinatorics
After pretraining with multiple variable‐interval avoidance schedules, two rats were exposed to a series of concurrent variable‐interval avoidance schedules. Responses on two levers cancelled delivery of electric shocks arranged according to two independent variable‐interval schedules. The ratio of responses and time spent on the two levers approximately matched the ratio of shocks avoided on each. Matching to the number of shocks received was not obtained. Concurrent variable‐interval avoidance can therefore be added to the group of positive and negative reinforcement schedules that can be expressed in the quantitative framework of the matching law.