Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1976 Nov;26(3):441–449. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1976.26-441

The effects of unsignalled delayed reinforcement1

Ben A Williams
PMCID: PMC1333534  PMID: 16811959

Abstract

Pigeons' pecks were reinforced according to a variable-interval schedule. A delay-of-reinforcement procedure was then added to the schedule, or a yoked-control procedure was arranged where the reinforcers occurred independently of responding according to the same variable-interval schedule. During the delay-of-reinforcement procedure, the first peck after a reinforcer was scheduled began a delay timer and the reinforcer was delivered at the end of the interval. No stimulus change signalled the delay interval and responses could occur during it, so that the obtained delays were often shorter than those scheduled. Responding under this procedure was highly variable but, in general, behavior was substantially reduced even with the shortest delay used, 3 sec. In addition, the rates maintained by delayed reinforcement were only slightly greater than those maintained by the yoked-control procedure, suggesting that adventitious pairings of response and reinforcer were responsible for some of the maintenance of behavior that did occur. The results challenge recent conceptions of reinforcement as involving response-reinforcer correlations and re-emphasize the role of temporal proximity between response and reinforcer.

Keywords: delay of reinforcement, correlational learning, temporal contiguity, response-independent reinforcement, VI schedules, key peck, pigeons

Full text

PDF
441

Selected References

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

  1. Baum W. M., Rachlin H. C. Choice as time allocation. J Exp Anal Behav. 1969 Nov;12(6):861–874. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-861. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baum W. M. The correlation-based law of effect. J Exp Anal Behav. 1973 Jul;20(1):137–153. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1973.20-137. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chung S. H. Effects of delayed reinforcement in a concurrent situation. J Exp Anal Behav. 1965 Nov;8(6):439–444. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1965.8-439. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chung S. H., Herrnstein R. J. Choice and delay of reinforcement. J Exp Anal Behav. 1967 Jan;10(1):67–74. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1967.10-67. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. DEWS P. B. Free-operant behavior under conditions of delayed reinforcement. I. CRF-type schedules. J Exp Anal Behav. 1960 Jul;3:221–234. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1960.3-221. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. FERSTER C. B. Sustained behavior under delayed reinforcement. J Exp Psychol. 1953 Apr;45(4):218–224. doi: 10.1037/h0062158. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. FLESHLER M., HOFFMAN H. S. A progression for generating variable-interval schedules. J Exp Anal Behav. 1962 Oct;5:529–530. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1962.5-529. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Herbert E. W. Two-key concurrent responding: response-reinforcement dependencies and blackouts. J Exp Anal Behav. 1970 Jul;14(1):61–70. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1970.14-61. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. 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]
  10. Lattal K. A. Reponse-reinforcer independence and conventional extinction after fixed-interval and variable-interval schedules. J Exp Anal Behav. 1972 Jul;18(1):133–140. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1972.18-133. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Neuringer A. J. Delayed reinforcement versus reinforcement after a fixed interval. J Exp Anal Behav. 1969 May;12(3):375–383. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-375. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Nevin J. A. Response strength in multiple schedules. J Exp Anal Behav. 1974 May;21(3):389–408. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1974.21-389. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pierce C. H., Hanford P. V., Zimmerman J. Effects of different delay of reinforcement procedures on variable-interval responding. J Exp Anal Behav. 1972 Jul;18(1):141–146. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1972.18-141. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rachlin H., Baum W. M. Effects of alternative reinforcement: does the source matter? J Exp Anal Behav. 1972 Sep;18(2):231–241. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1972.18-231. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Richards R. W. Reinforcement delay: some effects on behavioral contrast. J Exp Anal Behav. 1972 May;17(3):381–394. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1972.17-381. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wilkie D. M. Delayed reinforcement in a multiple schedule. J Exp Anal Behav. 1971 Sep;16(2):233–239. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1971.16-233. [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