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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1978 Mar;29(2):161–166. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1978.29-161

Effect of variable-interval punishment on the behavior of humans in variable-interval schedules of monetary reinforcement1

C M Bradshaw, E Szabadi, P Bevan
PMCID: PMC1332744  PMID: 16812044

Abstract

One male and three female human subjects pressed a button for monetary reinforcement under a range of variable-interval schedules specifying different frequencies of reinforcement. On alternate days, responding was also punished (by subtraction of money) according to a variable-interval 170-second schedule. In the absence of punishment, the rate of responding was an increasing negatively accelerated function of reinforcement frequency, as predicted by Herrnstein's equation. The effect of the punishment schedule was to suppress responding under lower frequencies of reinforcement; responding under higher reinforcement frequencies was much less affected. This was reflected in an increase in the value of KH (the constant expressing the reinforcement frequency corresponding to the half-maximal response rate), whereas there was no significant change in the value of Rmax (the constant expressing the maximum response rate). Previous results had shown that variable-ratio punishment resulted in a change in the values of both constants (Bradshaw, Szabadi, and Bevan, 1977). The results of the present study were consistent with the concept that the suppressive effects of punishment on responding depend on the nature of the punishment schedule.

Keywords: Herrnstein's equation, response rate, reinforcement frequency, variable interval, variable-interval punishment, button pressing, humans

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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