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TRAVEL TIME AND CONCURRENT‐SCHEDULE CHOICE: RETROSPECTIVE VERSUS PROSPECTIVE CONTROL
Author(s) -
Davison Michael,
Elliffe Douglas
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.2000.73-65
Subject(s) - travel time , dwell time , time perception , time allocation , stimulus (psychology) , schedule , psychology , response time , travel behavior , chronesthesia , statistics , computer science , mathematics , cognitive psychology , cognition , transport engineering , neuroscience , engineering , episodic memory , clinical psychology , social science , computer graphics (images) , sociology , operating system
Six pigeons were trained on concurrent variable‐interval schedules in which two different travel times between alternatives, 4.5 and 0.5 s, were randomly arranged. In Part 1, the next travel time was signaled while the subjects were responding on each alternative. Generalized matching analyses of performance in the presence of the two travel‐time signals showed significantly higher response and time sensitivity when the longer travel time was signaled compared to when the shorter time was signaled. When the data were analyzed as a function of the previous travel time, there were no differences in sensitivity. Dwell times on the alternatives were consistently longer in the presence of the stimulus that signaled the longer travel time than they were in the presence of the stimulus that signaled the shorter travel time. These results are in accord with a recent quantitative account of the effects of travel time. In Part 2, no signals indicating the next travel time were given. When these data were analyzed as a function of the previous travel time, time‐allocation sensitivity after the 4.5‐s travel time was significantly greater than that after the 0.5‐s travel time, but no such difference was found for response allocation. Dwell times were also longer when the previous travel time had been longer.