Examining the Discriminative and Strengthening Effects of Reinforcers in Concurrent Schedules

Autor/inn/en	Boutros, Nathalie; Elliffe, Douglas; Davison, Michael
Titel	Examining the Discriminative and Strengthening Effects of Reinforcers in Concurrent Schedules
Quelle	In: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 96 (2011) 2, S.227-241 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-5002
Schlagwörter	Reinforcement; Probability; Animals; Evaluation Methods; Research Methodology; Food; Tests; Experimental Psychology + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Positive Verstärkung; Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung; Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie; Animal; Tier; Tiere; Research method; Forschungsmethode; Lebensmittel; Examination; Prüfung; Examen; Experimentelle Psychologie
Abstract	Reinforcers may increase operant responding via a response-strengthening mechanism whereby the probability of the preceding response increases, or via some discriminative process whereby the response more likely to provide subsequent reinforcement becomes, itself, more likely. We tested these two accounts. Six pigeons responded for food reinforcers in a two-alternative switching-key concurrent schedule. Within a session, equal numbers of reinforcers were arranged for responses to each alternative. Those reinforcers strictly alternated between the two alternatives in half the conditions, and were randomly allocated to the alternatives in half the conditions. We also varied, across conditions, the alternative that became available immediately after a reinforcer. Preference after a single reinforcer always favored the immediately available alternative, regardless of the local probability of a reinforcer on that alternative (0 or 1 in the strictly alternating conditions, 0.5 in the random conditions). Choice then reflected the local reinforcer probabilities, suggesting some discriminative properties of reinforcement. At a more extended level, successive same-alternative reinforcers from an alternative systematically shifted preference towards that alternative, regardless of which alternative was available immediately after a reinforcer. There was no similar shift when successive reinforcers came from alternating sources. These more temporally extended results may suggest a strengthening function of reinforcement, or an enhanced ability to respond appropriately to "win-stay" contingencies over "win-shift" contingencies. (Contains 1 table and 7 figures.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10