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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1994 Jul;62(1):15–32. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1994.62-15

Duration comparison: relative stimulus differences stimulus age, and stimulus predictiveness.

D A Stubbs 1, L R Dreyfus 1, J G Fetterman 1, D M Boynton 1, N Locklin 1, L D Smith 1
PMCID: PMC1334364  PMID: 8064211

Abstract

Under a psychophysical trials procedure, pigeons were presented with a red light of one duration followed by a green light of a second duration. Eight geometrically spaced base durations were paired with one of four shorter and four longer durations as the alternate member of a duration pair, with different pairs randomly intermixed. One choice was reinforced if red had lasted longer than green, and a second choice was reinforced if green had lasted longer. Performance was compared when all the base durations and their pair members were included (entire-range condition) or when only the four longest base durations and their comparison durations (restricted-range condition) were used. Discrimination sensitivity decreased for longer duration pairs under both conditions, supporting a memory-based account. Sensitivity was lower under the restricted-range condition. Under both conditions, a bias to report "green as longer" increased as the second green duration increased. Bias changed as a matching function of the green-duration predictiveness of the correct choice. The results are related to a quantitative model of timing and remembering proposed by Staddon.

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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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