Journal
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
Volume 66, Issue 2, Pages 83-100Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2004.01.004
Keywords
multiple schedule; behavioral interactions; induction; contrast; habituation; within-session changes in responding; reinforcer duration; pigeons; rats
Categories
Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [MH61720] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The experiments tested the idea that changes in habituation to the reinforcer contribute to behavioral interactions during multiple schedules. This idea predicts that changing an aspect of the reinforcer should disrupt habituation and produce all interaction. pigeons and rats responded on multiple variable interval variable interval schedules. Introducing variability into the duration of reinforcers in one component increased response rates in both components when the schedules provided high, but not low, rates of reinforcement. The increases in constant-component response rates grew larger as the session progressed. Within-session decreases in responding were smaller when the other component provided variable-, rather than fixed-, duration reinforcers. These results are consistent with the idea that changes in habituation to the reinforcer contribute to behavioral interactions. They help to explain why interactions do not Occur for some subjects under conditions that produce them for others. Finally, the results question the assumption that induction and behavioral contrast are always produced by different theoretical mechanisms. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available