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PROGRESSIVE‐RATIO SCHEDULES: EFFECTS OF LATER SCHEDULE REQUIREMENTS ON EARLIER PERFORMANCES
Author(s) -
Baron Alan,
Derenne Adam
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.2000.73-291
Subject(s) - schedule , reinforcement , extinction (optical mineralogy) , extinction ratio , component (thermodynamics) , statistics , psychology , mathematics , computer science , chemistry , physics , social psychology , optics , mineralogy , wavelength , thermodynamics , operating system
Four rats were studied with variants of a progressive‐ratio schedule with a step size of 6 in which different terminal components followed completion of the 20th ratio: (a) a reversal of the progression, (b) a fixed‐ratio 6 schedule, or (c) extinction. Responding in the progressive‐ratio components of these schedules was compared to performances under conventional progressive‐ratio baselines. Under baseline conditions, postreinforcement pauses increased exponentially as a function of increasing ratio size, whereas running rates showed modest declines. The procedure of linking the progressive‐ratio schedule to the reversed progression or to the fixed‐ratio component resulted in decreased pausing. Linking the progressive‐ratio schedule to the extinction component had the opposite effect, that of producing weakened progressive‐ratio performances as evidenced by increased pausing. Subjects whose responses were reinforced on half of the ratios also showed exponential increases; however, pauses were substantially shorter following ratios on which the reinforcer was omitted. The results suggested that progressive‐ratio pausing reflects the influence of remote as well as local contingencies.