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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

The Highest Local Density of Reinforcement Controls Overall Post-Reinforcement Pause Duration on Ratio Schedules

Bonem, Elliott J. 01 May 1988 (has links)
A series of experiments were conducted with pigeons to investigate the variables responsible for differential postreinforcement pause (PRP) durations found on ratio schedules. In Experiment I, behavior on fixed-ratio (FR) and variable-ratio (VR) schedules were compared to behavior evoked by two interpolated schedules. The addition of a single FR 1 component to the FR 50 baseline schedule reduced the overall PRP to a duration comparable to that found on the VR 50 schedule. The addition of both an FR 1 and an FR 215 component to an FR 50 baseline reduced PRP and IRT durations below those on a VR 50 schedule. Experiments II and III were designed to isolate the conditions under which the smallest ratio component exerts predominant control over PRP duration. The results of Experiment II demonstrated that a local increase in reinforcement density was a necessary, but not sufficient condition for reducing median PRP duration. That is, exposure to a response-independnt increase in reinforcement density attenuated, but did not eliminate the reduction in median PRP duration associated with the interpolated FR 1 component. The results of Experiment III demonstrated that neither random session location of the FR 1 component nor unsignaled presentation of the FR 1 component were necessary conditions for reducing the duration of the PRP. That is, a brief, response-dependent increase in reinforcement density was a sufficient condition for reducing PRP duration given a subject free from historical exposure to response-independent reinforcement. It was concluded that the difference in PRP duration produced by two, comparably-sized, fixed- and variable-ratio schedules is a function of the size of the smallest ratio component present in the reinforcement schedule. More generally, the highest local density of reinforcement controls the overall duration of the PRP on a response-dependent, ratio schedule.

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