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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1969 Nov;12(6):861–874. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-861

Choice as time allocation1

William M Baum, Howard C Rachlin
PMCID: PMC1338696  PMID: 16811415

Abstract

When pigeons' standing on one or the other side of a chamber was reinforced on two concurrent variable-interval schedules, the ratio of time spent on the left to time spent on the right was directly proportional to the ratio of reinforcements produced by standing on the left to reinforcements produced by standing on the right. The constant of proportionality was less than unity for all pigeons, indicating a bias toward the right side of the chamber. The biased matching relation obtained here is comparable to the matching relation obtained with concurrent reinforcement of key pecks. The present results, together with related research, suggest that the ratio of time spent in two activities equals the ratio of the “values” of the activities. The value of an activity is the product of several parameters, such as rate and amount of reinforcement, contingent on that activity.

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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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