Premium
FALSIFICATION OF MATCHING THEORY'S ACCOUNT OF SINGLE‐ALTERNATIVE RESPONDING: HERRNSTEIN'S K VARIES WITH SUCROSE CONCENTRATION
Author(s) -
Dallery Jesse,
McDowell J. J.,
Lancaster Juliana S.
Publication year - 2000
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.2000.73-23
Subject(s) - matching law , reinforcement , hyperbola , asymptote , matching (statistics) , range (aeronautics) , constant (computer programming) , psychology , statistics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , social psychology , computer science , geometry , programming language , materials science , composite material
Eight rats pressed levers for varying concentrations of sucrose in water under eight variable‐interval schedules that specified a wide range of reinforcement rate. Herrnstein's (1970) hyperbolic equation described the relation between reinforcement and responding well. Although the y asymptote, k , of the hyperbola appeared roughly constant over conditions that approximated conditions used by Heyman and Monaghan (1994), k varied when lower concentration solutions were included. Advances in matching theory that reflect asymmetries between response alternatives and insensitive responding were incorporated into Herrnstein's equation. After fitting the modified equation to the data, Herrnstein's k also increased. The results suggest that variation in k can be detected under a sufficiently wide range of reinforcer magnitudes, and they also suggest that matching theory's account of response strength is false. The results support qualitative predictions made by linear system theory.