THE EFFECTS OF NUMBER OF RESPONSES ON PAUSE LENGTH WITH TEMPORAL VARIABLES CONTROLLED<sup>1</sup>

Crossman, Edward K.; Heaps, R. Steven; Nunes, Dennis L.; Alferink, Larry A.

doi:10.1901/jeab.1974.22-115

Cited by 21 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Log-transformed data from the Crossman et al (1974) Psychological Reports, 1973Reports, ,32,1925Reports, -1928 also observed this effect (e.g ., Barowsky & Mintz, 1978), and it undoubtedly contributes to some of the variability in the present observations. Finally, Figure 3 presents the data collected in the Ball State University laboratories (log transformations of the median pause from the last five sessions at a ratio size).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Quantification of pausing on fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement

Meunier

Starratt

Sergio

1979

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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Rat and pigeon data that had been collected in three separate laboratories were examined with reference to the effects on fixed-ratio behavior of either delaying the delivery of a scheduled reinforcer and/or varying the size of the ratio requirement. All such effects were reflected as changes in the duration of the interval (the preratio pause) that intervened between delivery of a reinforcer and commencement of responding for the next one. Although there was considerable variability in the absolute values obtained for the functions, in all cases , and for each individual subject, the relationship between these independent variables and durations of the preratio pause was well described by a power function . This finding is consonant with a previously offered suggestion that power functions provide a useful measurement of response strength for latency-type data.Some time ago, Ferster and Skinner (1957) observed that fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement produce a pattern of responding typified by a pause immediately after delivery of a reinforcer, followed by a steady rate of responding until the next reinforcer. This pattern is found in the behavior of a wide number of species working under FR schedules (Inman & Cheney, 1974 ;Laursen, 1972;Powell & Curley, 1976 ;Todd & Cogan, 1978). Subsequent research has confirmed that the pause (usually termed the preratio pause) is remarkably sensitive to a host of independent variables, whereas the responding after it is not (e.g., Felton & Lyon, 1966; Meunier & Starratt, 1979;Morgan, 1972 ;Powell, 1969;Sidman & Stebbins, 1959).The purpose of the present work is to suggest a general quantitative rule that seems to serve as a good description of these relationships. Data from one unpublished and two previously published experiments were reanalyzed for this purpose. Only salient methodological details from the previously published experiments are restated in this article. METHODCrossman, Heaps, Nunes, and Alferink (1974 , Experiment 1) reinforced pigeons with 3-sec access to Purina Racing Pigeon Checkers according to a two-ply multiple schedule. In the first component, the one of interest to this report, responding according to FR schedules of 25, 50, 100, 200, 300 , 25, and 50 was examined in a reversal design. In the other component, the first response after a reinforcer initiated a time-out, and the first response after termination of time-out was reinforced. BothThis research was supported in part by a grant from the Ball State University Office of Research. Thanks are due to Ed Crossman for generously supplying raw data and to Robert E. HiII, Jr. for statistical help . Reprints may be obtained from Gary F . Meunier, Department of Psychological Science, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306. birds were experimentally naive at the beginning of the study . Components of the schedule alternated randomly, and an attempt was made to equate average interreinforcement intervals in the two.Topping , Johnson, and McGlynn (1973), on the other hand , studied eight ex...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Quantification of pausing on fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement

Meunier

Starratt

Sergio

1979

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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“…Thus, the optimal strategy on FR, as on fixed-T RID, is to respond immediately after food. However, in both cases animals wait before responding and, as one might expect based on the assumption of a roughly constant interresponse time on all ratio schedules, the duration of the wait on FR is proportional to the ratio requirement (Powell 1968), although longer than on a comparable chain-type schedule with the same interreinforcement time (Crossman et al 1974). The phenomenon of ratio strain-the appearance of long pauses and even extinction on high ratio schedules (Ferster & Skinner 1957)-may also have something to do with obligatory linear waiting.…”

Section: Temporal Dynamics: Linear Waitingmentioning

confidence: 87%

Operant Conditioning

Staddon

Cerutti

2003

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

342

213

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Operant behavior is behavior "controlled" by its consequences. In practice, operant conditioning is the study of reversible behavior maintained by reinforcement schedules. We review empirical studies and theoretical approaches to two large classes of operant behavior: interval timing and choice. We discuss cognitive versus behavioral approaches to timing, the "gap" experiment and its implications, proportional timing and Weber's law, temporal dynamics and linear waiting, and the problem of simple chain-interval schedules. We review the long history of research on operant choice: the matching law, its extensions and problems, concurrent chain schedules, and self-control. We point out how linear waiting may be involved in timing, choice, and reinforcement schedules generally. There are prospects for a unified approach to all these areas.

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“…In other words, we propose that indifference between schedules that require responding and those that do not is the exception, not the rule (cf. Crossman, Heaps, Nunes, & Alferink, 1974).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Delays and Ratio Requirements in Self‐control Choice

Grossbard

Mazur

1986

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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In a discrete-trial procedure, pigeons could choose between 2-s and 6-s access to grain by making a single key peck. In Phase 1, the pigeons obtained both reinforcers by responding on fixed-ratio schedules. In Phase 2, they received both reinforcers after simple delays, arranged by fixed-time schedules, during which no responses were required. In Phase 3, the 2-s reinforcer was available through a fixed-time schedule and the 6-s reinforcer was available through a fixed-ratio schedule. In all conditions, the size of the delay or ratio leading to the 6-s reinforcer was systematically increased or decreased several times each session, permitting estimation of an "indifference point," the schedule size at which a subject chose each alternative equally often. By varying the size of the schedule for the 2-s reinforcer across conditions, several such indifference points were obtained from both fixedtime conditions and fixed-ratio conditions. The resulting "indifference curves" from fixed-time conditions and from fixed-ratio conditions were similar in shape, and they suggested that a hyperbolic equation describes the relation between ratio size and reinforcement value as well as the relation between reinforcer delay and its reinforcement value. The results from Phase 3 showed that subjects chose fixed-time schedules over fixed-ratio schedules that generated the same average times between a choice response and reinforcement.Key words: self-control, amount of reinforcement, delay of reinforcement, fixed ratio, adjusting procedure, key peck, pigeonsWe speak of self-control in situations that involve choice between large, delayed reinforcers and smaller, more immediate reinforcers (Ainslie, 1974). Thus, an animal is said to behave impulsively if it forgoes a larger reinforcer by choosing the reinforcer that is less delayed but smaller. Conversely, it is said to demonstrate self-control if it chooses the reinforcer that is larger but more delayed.We begin with the assumption that an animal's behavior in a self-control situation depends on the relation between a reinforcer's delay and the resulting reinforcement value (i.e., effectiveness in sustaining instrumental responding). A number of different functions relating reinforcement delay and value have been proposed (see Ainslie, 1975). For example, Chung (1965) proposed a negative ex-

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THE EFFECTS OF NUMBER OF RESPONSES ON PAUSE LENGTH WITH TEMPORAL VARIABLES CONTROLLED¹

Cited by 21 publications

References 8 publications

Quantification of pausing on fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement

Quantification of pausing on fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement

Operant Conditioning

A Comparison of Delays and Ratio Requirements in Self‐control Choice

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THE EFFECTS OF NUMBER OF RESPONSES ON PAUSE LENGTH WITH TEMPORAL VARIABLES CONTROLLED1

Cited by 21 publications

References 8 publications

Quantification of pausing on fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement

Quantification of pausing on fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement

Operant Conditioning

A Comparison of Delays and Ratio Requirements in Self‐control Choice

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THE EFFECTS OF NUMBER OF RESPONSES ON PAUSE LENGTH WITH TEMPORAL VARIABLES CONTROLLED¹