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SECOND‐ORDER SCHEDULES OF TOKEN REINFORCEMENT: COMPARISONS OF PERFORMANCE UNDER FIXED‐RATIO AND VARIABLE‐RATIO EXCHANGE SCHEDULES 1
Author(s) -
Webbe Frank M.,
Malagodi E. F.
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.1978.30-219
Subject(s) - schedule , reinforcement , security token , lever , variable (mathematics) , computer science , changeover , mathematics , psychology , computer network , telecommunications , social psychology , engineering , operating system , transmission (telecommunications) , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis
Rats' lever pressing produced tokens according to a 20‐response fixed‐ratio schedule. Sequences of token schedules were reinforced under a second‐order schedule by presentation of periods when tokens could be exchanged for food pellets. When the exchange period schedule was a six‐response fixed ratio, patterns of completing the component token schedules were bivalued, with relatively long and frequent pauses marking the initiation of each new sequence. Altering the exchange period schedule to a six‐response variable ratio resulted in sharp reductions in the frequency and duration of these initial pauses, and increases in overall rates of lever pressing. These results are comparable to those ordinarily obtained under simple fixed‐ratio and variable‐ratio schedules.