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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 2004 Jan;81(1):65–83. doi: 10.1901/jeab.2004.81-65

Bouts of responding: the relation between bout rate and the rate of variable-interval reinforcement.

Richard L Shull 1, Julie A Grimes 1, J Adam Bennett 1
PMCID: PMC1284972  PMID: 15113134

Abstract

By nose poking a lighted key, rats obtained food pellets on either a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement or a schedule that required an average of four additional responses after the end of tile variable-interval component (a tandem variable-interval variable-ratio 4 schedule). With both schedule types, the mean variable interval was varied between blocks of sessions from 16 min to 0.25 min. Total rate of key poking increased similarly as a function of the reinforcer rate for the two schedule types, but response rate was higher with than without the four-response requirement. Analysis of log survivor plots of interresponse times showed that key poking occurred in bouts. The rate of initiating bouts increased as a function of reinforcer rate but was either unaffected or was decreased by adding the four-response requirement. Within-bout response rate was insensitive to reinforcer rate and only inconsistently affected by the four-response requirement. For both kinds of schedule, the ratio of bout time to between-bout pause time was approximately a power function of reinforcer rate, with exponents above and below 1.0.

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Selected References

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