Herrnstein’s equation for the rates of responding during concurrent schedules

McSweeney, Frances K.; Melville, Cam L.; Whipple, Jennifer

doi:10.3758/bf03199777

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…For example, a reanalysis of de Villiers and Herrnstein (1976) indicated that only 78% of the variance was accounted for when these averaging procedures were eliminated, as opposed to the 94% originally reported by those authors. In addition, McSweeney et al (1983) found very low percentages of variance accounted for in a number of situations when single-subject data were analyzed. The present values, therefore, may be well within the normal range.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S r_o AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

Dougan

McSweeney

1985

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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In a test of Herrnstein's (1970Herrnstein's ( , 1974 equation for simple schedules, 15 pigeons pecked a key that produced food delivered according to variable-interval schedules. One group of birds was water deprived, and food-reinforced key pecking occurred in the presence of free water. Two other groups were not water deprived; water was present for one and absent for the other. As predicted by Herrnstein, the parameter r. was significantly higher in the water-deprived group than in the two nondeprived groups. Contrary to Herrnstein's interpretation of r., the rate of drinking varied across schedules. Herrnstein's interpretation can be salvaged by considering r0 to be an average. However, if r. is an average, the equation is not a good explanation of behavior because this average is not valid until all schedules have been sampled. In addition, low percentages of variance accounted for suggest that Herrnstein's equation may be of limited usefulness even as a descriptive model for these situations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S r_o AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

Dougan

McSweeney

1985

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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“…Furthermore, taking undermatching and bias into account in Equation 5 yielded estimates of R~that were positive, were in a plausible range (cf. McSweeney et al, 1983), and were systematically related to the obtained RL values. That is, the Rṽ alues estimated by taking undermatching and bias into account were consistent with Herrnstein's interpretation.…”

Section: R-----omentioning

confidence: 99%

The context for reinforcement: Modulation of the response-reinforcer relation by concurrently available extraneous reinforcement

White

McLean²,

Aldiss

1986

Animal Learning & Behavior

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Right-lever presses by hooded rats in three groups produced reinforcers at variable-intervals that differed over five conditions. The groups differed by virtue of the constant rates of reinforcers obtained by left-lever responding-high, medium, or low. The function relating right-response rates to right-reinforcer rates was adequately described by the hyperbola proposed by Herrnstein. According to Herrnstein's interpretation, the rate-of-change parameter (R o ) for the hyperbola represents the rate of reinforcers obtained from sources other than right-lever reinforcers. Estimates of R o did not bear a direct relation to the rate of reinforcers obtained on the left, contrary to what was expected according to Herrnstein's interpretation. There were many instances in which Ro estimates were smaller than the rate ofleft-lever reinforcers actually obtained. Such instances could not be accounted for by Herrnstein's hyperbola unless the undermatching and bias that were found for the choice between right and left reinforcers were taken into account. We concluded that Herrnstein's proposal that response rate can be predicted in terms of the choice between reinforcers arranged by the experimenter and reinforcers obtained from extraneous sources remains tenable if undermatching and bias are taken into account. defined operant response, B, and some other behavior, Bs, is given by where R is the rate of reinforcers obtained by operant responses and R o is the rate of extraneous reinforcers produced by other behavior.Herrnstein (1970, 1974) A dominant theme in contemporary research on operant behavior is that response strength depends on the context for reinforcement. In Herrnstein's (1970Herrnstein's ( , 1974 influential formulation, the reinforcement context for any given behavior is specified by the outcomes of potential choices available to the individual. Herrnstein suggested that in any situation in which the relation between an operant response and its reinforcing consequences is being studied, there always exists some other behavior that is maintained by reinforcers extraneous to the experimentally defmed source of reinforcers. In other words, the individual always has a choice between engaging in operant behavior defined by the experimental procedure versus engaging in some other behavior, whatever that may be.According to Herrnstein (1970), choice between two alternatives is predicted by the "matching law" (de VilHers, 1977;Herrnstein, 1961;Nevin, 1984): response proportions match reinforcer proportions. Following the matching law, the choice between a single experimenter-(1) (

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“…Finally, derivation of the matching law requires that a number of assumptions be made concerning the control of behavior (Timberlake, 1982). Recently, several authors have questioned the validity of these assumptions (Dougan & McSweeney, 1985;McSweeney, Melville, & Whipple, 1983;Timberlake, 1982). As Timberlake has argued, the matching law cannot be considered a general theory of behavior unless the assumptions of matching can be supported.…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some Parameters of Behavioral Contrast and Allocation of Interim Behavior in Rats

Dougan

McSweeney

Farmer

1985

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Two experiments examined the effects of baseline reinforcement rate and component duration on behavioral contrast and on re-allocation of interim behavior in rats. Positive behavioral contrast occurred during multiple variable-interval 10-second extinction (VI 10 EXT) after a multiple VI 10 VI 10 baseline condition, but not during multiple VI 60 EXT following multiple VI 60 VI 60 baseline. Component duration had no significant effect on contrast. These results differed from those found in studies of pigeons' key pecking. Contrast was accompanied by an increased rate of drinking in the changed component, but drinking in the constant component did not decrease. These results are not consistent with the competition theory of contrast, but are consistent with the predictions based on the matching law. However, no current theory seems to account for all instances of behavioral contrast.Key words: behavioral contrast, behavioral competition, matching theory, interim responding, multiple schedules, bar pressing, rats Reynolds (1961) found that when reinforcement rate was reduced in one component of a multiple schedule, response rate in the other, constant component increased. This effect is known as positive behavioral contrast. Hinson and Staddon (1978) demonstrated that the magnitude of behavioral contrast increases when there is an alternative to operant responding. Rats' food-reinforced responding on a multiple schedule showed more contrast when a wheel-running response was available than when it was not. These data are the ma-

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Herrnstein’s equation for the rates of responding during concurrent schedules

Cited by 33 publications

References 56 publications

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S r_o AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S r_o AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

The context for reinforcement: Modulation of the response-reinforcer relation by concurrently available extraneous reinforcement

Some Parameters of Behavioral Contrast and Allocation of Interim Behavior in Rats

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Herrnstein’s equation for the rates of responding during concurrent schedules

Cited by 33 publications

References 56 publications

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S ro AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S ro AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

The context for reinforcement: Modulation of the response-reinforcer relation by concurrently available extraneous reinforcement

Some Parameters of Behavioral Contrast and Allocation of Interim Behavior in Rats

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Product

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VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S r_o AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE

VARIATION IN HERRNSTEIN'S r_o AS A FUNCTION OF ALTERNATIVE REINFORCEMENT RATE