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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1982 Mar;37(2):251–266. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1982.37-251

Human fixed-interval performance with concurrently programmed schedules: A parametric analysis

Roger Poppen
PMCID: PMC1333139  PMID: 16812268

Abstract

Young adults pressed a lever for points, exchangeable for money, programmed on concurrent schedules in which one component was a fixed-interval and the other component either a fixed-ratio (Experiment 1) or a differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (Experiment 2). Two general patterns of fixed-interval responding, postreinforcement pause or constant rate, occurred in both experiments as a function of the parameter values of each component. Also patterns of interaction between the component schedules developed, in which responding or point delivery on one component appeared to be discriminative for responding on the other component. Once a pattern of responding was established, it tended to persist when the parameter values of the schedule were changed. On many schedules, subjects with an experimental history responded differently than did naive subjects, although certain schedule values were resistant to the history effects. The role of verbal strategies in mediating history effects was discussed.

Keywords: concurrent FI-DRL, concurrent FI-FR, history effects, lever press, 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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