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RESISTANCE TO CHANGE AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS—REINFORCER AND LOCATION—REINFORCER CONTINGENCIES
Author(s) -
McLean Anthony P.,
CampbellTie Philippa,
Nevin John A.
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.1996.66-169
Subject(s) - reinforcement , stimulus (psychology) , psychology , pecking order , extinction (optical mineralogy) , stimulus control , statistics , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , mathematics , neuroscience , paleontology , evolutionary biology , nicotine , biology
Pigeons responded on two keys in each component of a multiple concurrent schedule. In one series of conditions the distribution of reinforcers between keys within one component was varied so as to produce changes in ratios of reinforcer totals for key locations when summed across components. In a second series, reinforcer allocation between components was varied so as to produce changes in ratios of reinforcer totals for components, summed across key locations. In each condition, resistance to change was assessed by presenting response‐independent reinforcers during intercomponent blackouts and (for the first series) by extinction of responding on both keys in both components. Resistance to change for response totals within a component was always greater for the component with the larger total reinforcer rate. However, resistance to change for response totals at a key location was not a positive function of total reinforcement for pecking that key; indeed, relative resistance to extinction for the two locations showed a weak negative relation to ratios of reinforcer totals for key location. These results confirm the determination of resistance to change by stimulus—reinforcer contingencies.