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RESPONSE‐INDEPENDENT FOOD DELIVERY AND BEHAVIORAL RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Author(s) -
Harper David N.
Publication year - 1996
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.1996.65-549
Subject(s) - reinforcement , food delivery , component (thermodynamics) , psychology , duration (music) , statistics , schedule , function (biology) , developmental psychology , audiology , econometrics , mathematics , social psychology , computer science , medicine , biology , economics , thermodynamics , physics , commerce , evolutionary biology , acoustics , operating system
Response‐independent food was delivered during a dark‐key phase between two multiple‐schedule components to explore its disruptive effects on responding. Responding in components was maintained by separate variable‐interval 120‐s schedules, with a 2‐s reinforcer in Component 1 and a 6‐s reinforcer in Component 2. Across conditions the rate and duration of response‐independent food presentations were manipulated. The results showed that response rates in both components decreased as a function of the duration and the rate of response‐independent food presentations; moreover, the decrease in response rate relative to the baseline level was larger in Component 1 than in Component 2. These findings were consistent with expectations from behavioral momentum theory, which predicts that if equal disruption (response‐independent food in this case) is applied to responding in two components, then the ratio of response‐rate change in Component 1 versus Component 2 should remain constant, irrespective of the magnitude of that disruption.