Skip to main content
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1974 Jul;22(1):169–177. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1974.22-169

Two unlike patterns of random-ratio responding associated with different eating habits in rhesus monkeys1

Dennis D Kelly
PMCID: PMC1333255  PMID: 16811776

Abstract

Four rhesus monkeys were exposed to an identical series of schedules that specified a uniform probability of reinforcement for every response. As probability was lowered slowly in 10 steps of 20 sessions each from 1.0 through 0.01, two distinct patterns of responding emerged. Two subjects showed high, pause-free response rates that increased with each successive reduction in reinforcement probability. The other two showed consistent post-reinforcement pausing at all probabilities, including 1.0, and substantially lower response rates that peaked at the moderate probability values of 0.04 and 0.03. This low-rate pattern was found to be correlated with a pre-experimental preference in the two subjects for mouthing and chewing food pellets one at a time, while the former high-rate, pause-free pattern was linked to a long-standing habit of “pouch feeding” in the other monkeys. These idiosyncratic collateral behaviors that differentiated the schedule performances appeared neither superstitious in origin, nor useful in the case of the low-rate monkeys.

Full text

PDF
169

Selected References

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

  1. BLOUGH D. S. Delayed matching in the pigeon. J Exp Anal Behav. 1959 Apr;2:151–160. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1959.2-151. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dews P. B. The effect of multiple S-delta periods on responding on a fixed-interval schedule. V. Effect of periods of complete darkness and of occasional omissions of food presentations. J Exp Anal Behav. 1966 Sep;9(5):573–578. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1966.9-573. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. ESTES W. K. The problem of inference from curves based on group data. Psychol Bull. 1956 Mar;53(2):134–140. doi: 10.1037/h0045156. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. HALL K. R., BOELKINS R. C., GOSWELL M. J. BEHAVIOUR OF PATAS MONKEYS, ERYTHROCEBUS PATAS, IN CAPTIVITY, WITH NOTES ON THE NATURAL HABITAT. Folia Primatol (Basel) 1965;3(1):22–49. doi: 10.1159/000155023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. HODOS W., ROSS G. S., BRADY J. V. Complex response patterns during temporally spaced responding. J Exp Anal Behav. 1962 Oct;5:473–479. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1962.5-473. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Herrnstein R. J. On the law of effect. J Exp Anal Behav. 1970 Mar;13(2):243–266. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1970.13-243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. LATIES V. G., WEISS B., CLARK R. L., REYNOLDS M. D. OVERT "MEDIATING" BEHAVIOR DURING TEMPORALLY SPACED RESPONDING. J Exp Anal Behav. 1965 Mar;8:107–116. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1965.8-107. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Laties V. G., Weiss B. Effects of a concurrent task on fixed-interval responding in humans. J Exp Anal Behav. 1963 Jul;6(3):431–436. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1963.6-431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. SEGAL-RECHTSCHAFFEN E. Reinforcement of mediating behavior on a spaced-responding schedule. J Exp Anal Behav. 1963 Jan;6:39–46. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1963.6-39. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. SIDLEY N. A., SCHOENFELD W. N. BEHAVIOR STABILITY AND RESPONSE RATE AS FUNCTIONS OF REINFORCEMENT PROBABILITY ON "RANDOM RATIO" SCHEDULES. J Exp Anal Behav. 1964 May;7:281–283. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1964.7-281. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. SIDMAN M. A note on functional relations obtained from group data. Psychol Bull. 1952 May;49(3):263–269. doi: 10.1037/h0063643. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Schoenfeld W. N., Cumming W. W., Hearst E. ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1956 Aug;42(8):563–570. doi: 10.1073/pnas.42.8.563. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Singh S. D. Urban monkeys. Sci Am. 1969 Jul;221(1):108–115. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0769-108. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. WILSON M. P., KELLER F. S. On the selective reinforcement of spaced responses. J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1953 Jun;46(3):190–193. doi: 10.1037/h0057705. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Zuriff G. E. Collateral responding during differential reinforcement of low rates. J Exp Anal Behav. 1969 Nov;12(6):971–976. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior are provided here courtesy of Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

RESOURCES