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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1967 Jan;10(1):35–43. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1967.10-35

Preference for mixed- versus fixed-ratio schedules1

Edmund Fantino
PMCID: PMC1338315  PMID: 16811303

Abstract

Pigeons' pecks on one key produced a stimulus correlated with a mixed-ratio schedule of food reinforcement. Pecks on a second key produced a stimulus correlated with a fixed-ratio schedule. When the arithmetic mean of the mixed ratios equaled the fixed ratio, the former stimulus maintained a higher rate of pecking. When the fixed ratio was sufficiently smaller, preference shifted to it. The pigeons' relative preference for the schedules could be described by comparing the geometric mean of the reinforcement rates in the several mixed-ratio components with the reinforcement rates in the fixed-ratio components.

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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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