The effect of rate of reinforcement and time in session on preference for variability |
| |
| Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Frances?K?McSweeneyEmail author Benjamin?P?Kowal Eric?S?Murphy |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-4820, USA. fkmcs@mail.wsu.edu |
| |
| Abstract: | Pigeons pecked keys on concurrent-chains schedules that provided a variable interval 30-sec schedule in the initial link.
One terminal link provided reinforcers in a fixed manner; the other provided reinforcers in a variable manner with the same
arithmetic mean as the fixed alternative. In Experiment 1, the terminal links provided fixed and variable interval schedules.
In Experiment 2, the terminal links provided reinforcers after a fixed or a variable delay following the response that produced
them. In Experiment 3, the terminal links provided reinforcers that were fixed or variable in size. Rate of reinforcement
was varied by changing the scheduled interreinforcer interval in the terminal link from 5 to 225 sec. The subjects usually
preferred the variable option in Experiments 1 and 2 but differed in preference in Experiment 3. The preference for variability
was usually stronger for lower (longer terminal links) than for higher (shorter terminal links) rates of reinforcement. Preference
did not change systematically with time in the session. Some aspects of these results are inconsistent with explanations for
the preference for variability in terms of scaling factors, scalar expectancy theory, risk-sensitive models of optimal foraging
theory, and habituation to the reinforcer. Initial-link response rates also changed within sessions when the schedules provided
high, but not low, rates of reinforcement. Within-session changes in responding were similar for the two initial links. These
similarities imply that habituation to the reinforcer is represented differently in theories of choice than are other variables
related to reinforcement. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 PubMed SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
