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. 1983 Jul;40(1):1–13. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1983.40-1

Choice: Some quantitative relations

Edmund Fantino, Michael Davison
PMCID: PMC1347840  PMID: 16812333

Abstract

Six pigeons responded in fifty-six conditions on a concurrent-chains procedure. Conditions included several with equal initial links and unequal terminal links, several with unequal initial links and equal terminal links, and several with both unequal initial and terminal links. Although the delay-reduction hypothesis accounted well for choice when the initial links were equal (mean deviation of .04), it fit the data poorly when the initial links were unequal (mean deviation of .18). A modification of the delay-reduction hypothesis, replacing the rates of reinforcement with the square roots of these rates, fit the data better than either the unmodified delay-reduction equation or Killeen's (1982) model. The modified delay-reduction equation was also consistent with data from prior studies using concurrent chains. The absolute rates of responding in each terminal link were well described by the same hyperbola (Herrnstein, 1970) that describes response rates on simple interval schedules.

Keywords: choice, delay-reduction hypothesis, concurrent-chains schedule, Herrnstein's hyperbola, Killeen's model, generalized matching law, variable-interval schedules, key peck, pigeons

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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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