Choice Between Reliable and Unreliable Outcomes: Mixed Percentage‐reinforcement in Concurrent Chains

Dunn, Roger

doi:10.1901/jeab.1987.47-57

Cited by 42 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Results in accordance with predictions from DRH were obtained for aversive consequences (Fantino, 1981), observing in pigeons (Case & Fantino, 1981) and humans (Case & Fantino, 1989;Fantino & Case, 1983), self-control (Ito & Asaki, 1982;Navarick & Fantino, 1976), percentage reinforcement Spetch, Belke, Barnet, Dunn, & Pierce, 1990;Spetch & Dunn, 1987), serial position effects in short-term memory (Wixted, 1989), threealternative choice (Fantino & Dunn, 1983), simultaneous-encounter experiments in nonhumans and humans (Fantino & Preston, 1989), and foraging, typically analyzed using successive-choice procedures (Abarca & Fantino, 1982;.…”

supporting

confidence: 67%

Effects of Different Accessibility of Reinforcement Schedules on Choice in Humans

Stockhorst

1994

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Based on the delay-reduction hypothesis, a less profitable schedule should be rejected if its duration exceeds the mean delay to reinforcement. It should be accepted if its duration is shorter than the mean delay. This was tested for humans, using a successive-choice schedule. The accessibility of the less profitable (variable-interval 18 s) schedule was varied by changing the duration (in terms of a fixed interval) of the waiting-time component preceding its presentation. Forty-eight students were randomly assigned to three groups. In Phase 1, the duration of the less profitable schedule equaled the mean delay to reinforcement in all groups. In Phase 2, waiting time preceding the less profitable schedule was reduced in Group 1 and increased in Group 2. Thus, the schedule was correlated either with a relative delay increase (Group 1) or a delay reduction (Group 2). In Group 3, conditions remained unchanged. As

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supporting

confidence: 67%

Effects of Different Accessibility of Reinforcement Schedules on Choice in Humans

Stockhorst

1994

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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“…When the outcomes, reinforcement or extinction, are not differentially signaled (Kendall, 1974;Moore, 1976;J. W. Schneider, 1968;Spetch & Dunn, 1987; and in most conditions of the present study), preference is determined by the relative strength of the terminal-link stimuli.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Devaluation of Stimuli Contingent on Choice: Evidence for Conditioned Reinforcement

Dunn

Williams

Royalty

1987

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Pigeons were presented a concurrent-chains schedule of reinforcement that had terminal links of equal duration. The initial links of the schedule were periodically interrupted by 15-s periods during which an extinction schedule was in effect. The extinction periods were presented on either a responsecontingent or a noncontingent basis. Relative response rate for the left alternative decreased when the extinction periods were accompanied by the left terminal-link stimulus. Relative response rate for the right alternative decreased when the extinction periods were accompanied by the right terminal-link stimulus. Relative response rate varied inversely with the frequency of presentation of the extinction periods but was unaffected by presence versus absence of the response contingency in the schedule of extinction-period presentation. Furthermore, relative response rate was unaffected by presentation of extinction periods accompanied by a novel stimulus. When the extinction periods were presented after reinforcement in the left terminal link instead of as interruptions of the initial links, relative response rate for the left alternative was reduced if the postreinforcemcnt extinction period was accompanied by the terminal-link stimulus for the left chain and reduced less if the extinction period was accompanied by the terminal-link stimulus for the right chain. The results demonstrate that the correlation between the terminal-link stimulus and extinction influenced the relative response rate in the initial link.Key words: conditioned reinforcement, stimulus value, extinction, concurrent chains, choice, pigeonsThe concept of a conditioned reinforcer entails an initially neutral stimulus acquiring properties of a reinforcer via a history of correlation with a primary reinforcer. One of the most common procedures to study the properties of conditioned reinforcers uses chain schedules in which the initial links are concurrently available (concurrent chains), and the terminal-link stimuli are correlated with different parameters of primary reinforcement. The critical measure is the relative rate of responding ("preference") strength can then be assessed by the effects of various parameters of the terminal-link schedules of primary reinforcement on preference.Early research with the concurrent-chains procedure suggested that preference was determined by the rate of reinforcement during the terminal links. For example, Herrnstein (1 964b) demonstrated that the relative rate of responding in initial links matched the relative rate of reinforcement on a variable-ratio schedule in one terminal link and a variable-interval (VI) schedule in the other despite the differing response requirements. But subsequent research demonstrated that a simple arithmetic average of the reinforcement rates in the two terminal links did not predict preference. Herrnstein (1964a), Fantino (1967), and Killeen (1968) compared fixed versus variable terminal-link schedules, and all reported higher rates in the initial link leading to the variable...

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“…This has the effect of decreasing the choice proportions predicted by Equation (1) towards indifference, an effect confirmed in many studies beginning with Fantino (1969a). Delay-reduction has successfully been extended to such areas as observing (Case & Fantino 1981;Fantino & Case 1983), self-control (Navarick & Fantino 1976;Ito & Asaki 1982), probabilistic reinforcement (Spetch & Dunn 1987) and foraging (Abarca & Fantino 1982;Fantino & Abarca 1985;Fantino 1987;Fantino & Preston 1988). However, it should be noted that…”

Section: B1mentioning

confidence: 73%

Economic context and pigeons’ risk-taking: an integrative approach

Goldshmidt

Fantino

2004

Behavioural Processes

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The present work tested pigeons' (Columba livia) risk sensitivity to changes in resource availability in the concurrent-chains choice procedure. Subjects were provided choices, generally between variable-ratio (VR) and fixed-ratio (FR) outcome schedules with equal or different mean values. Predictions from ecology's risk sensitivity, behavioral economic's rate maximization, and psychology's delay-reduction theory were contrasted under settings where budget was adversely affected by one of three manipulations in seven experiments: (1) session length was dramatically reduced; (2) choice-phase duration was substantially increased by increasing the response requirements in the choice phase or (3) outcome duration was significantly increased by increasing the response requirements in the outcome phase while holding session length constant. Although preference measures were sensitive to every budget manipulation, the nature of the changes observed were dependent upon the manner in which resource availability was manipulated and the choice alternatives offered. For example, choice was affected in an opposite manner when budget was adversely altered by lengthening choice duration ("search time") as opposed to lengthening outcome duration ("handling time"). Findings revealed partial support for pigeons' sensitivity both to changes in budget and to changes in conditioned reinforcer value. The overall pattern of results thus favors an integrative approach to describing the effect of economic context on general risk sensitivity.

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Choice Between Reliable and Unreliable Outcomes: Mixed Percentage‐reinforcement in Concurrent Chains

Cited by 42 publications

References 28 publications

Effects of Different Accessibility of Reinforcement Schedules on Choice in Humans

Effects of Different Accessibility of Reinforcement Schedules on Choice in Humans

Devaluation of Stimuli Contingent on Choice: Evidence for Conditioned Reinforcement

Economic context and pigeons’ risk-taking: an integrative approach

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