Four Asian quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) wvere exposed to concurrent-chain schedules, the terminial links of which were either variable-interval 30 sec and variable-time 30 sec, or fixed-interval 30 sec and fixed-time 30 sec. Except for one bird that exhibited a preference for the variable-interval schedule over the variable-time schedule, no consistent preferences were demonistrated for response-dependent or response-independent schedules. However, response rates were three times greater on response-dependent than on responseindependent schedules. The discrinmination between terminal-link schedules wVas rapidly recovered after the schedcule positions wvere reversed. Casual observations revealed that the birds engaged in stereotypic circling and pecking while the response-independent schedules wvere operative. (Fantino, 1969;Herrnstein, 1970). However, in some cases when terminallink schedules provide equivalent rates of reinforcement pigeons demonstrate a preference for one scheduile over the other. For example. Fantino (1968) found that pigeons preferred fixed-interval schedules to schedules that provided the same amount of reinforcement but which requiired higlh rates of terminal-link

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The role of response function in maintaining behavior during the delivery of response-independent reinforcers was examined. Rats were trained on two-component multiple schedules. One component was associated with response-dependent reinforcers for all rats and the second component was associated with a schedule of response-dependent or response-independent reinforcer delivery or extinction. The rats exposed to each of the multiple schedules initially developed responding in both components, but sustained responding occurred only in the components where reinforcer delivery occurred. These results suggest that response induction does not alone account for the sustained responding in response-independent reinforcer components of multiple schedules.

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