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BEHAVIORAL CONTRAST FOR KEY PECKING AS A FUNCTION OF COMPONENT DURATION WHEN ONLY ONE COMPONENT VARIES
Author(s) -
McSweeney Frances K.,
Melville Cam L.
Publication year - 1993
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.1993.60-331
Subject(s) - duration (music) , contrast (vision) , component (thermodynamics) , interval (graph theory) , extinction (optical mineralogy) , variable (mathematics) , pecking order , statistics , psychology , contrast effect , reinforcement , mathematics , developmental psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , optics , combinatorics , biology , ecology , physics , mathematical analysis , acoustics , thermodynamics
Pigeons pecked keys for food reinforcers delivered by multiple variable‐interval 2‐min variable‐interval 2‐min schedules. Positive behavioral contrast was created by changing one component to extinction; negative contrast was achieved by changing one component to a variable‐interval 15‐s schedule. The duration of each component was varied independently of the other from 5 to 960 s. The size of positive contrast was greatest when the extinction component was 30 or 60 s long. It did not change significantly with changes in the duration of the variable‐interval 2‐min component. The absolute size of negative contrast decreased with increases in the duration of the variable‐interval 2‐min component. It did not change significantly with changes in the duration of the variable‐interval 15‐s component. These results show that the size of contrast is determined primarily by the duration of the component that provides the less favorable conditions of reinforcement. These results are not predicted by current theories.