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. 1983 Jul;40(1):15–34. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1983.40-15

Bias and sensitivity to reinforcement in a concurrent-chain schedule

Michael Davison
PMCID: PMC1347841  PMID: 16812334

Abstract

Six pigeons were trained on concurrent-chain schedules in which the initial links were either dependent (Experiment 1) or independent (Experiment 2) concurrent variable-interval schedules and the terminal links were fixed-duration delays to reinforcement in blackout. A changeover delay of three seconds operated in the initial links. Both the initial- and terminal-link schedule values were varied over 61 experimental conditions. An analysis of the data using the generalized matching law showed that the sensitivity of initial-link response allocation to the frequency of terminal-link production was independent of both the duration of the terminal-link delays and, though less clearly, of the duration of the initial-link schedules. Sensitivity of initial-link response allocation to terminal-link reinforcer-rate ratios was a joint function of the terminal-link durations and the smaller average initial-link duration. The results showed that the generalized matching law is useful in analyzing concurrent-chain schedule performance and that a changeover delay in the initial links eliminates some terminal- to initial-link interactions that have made quantitative predictions for concurrent-chain performances difficult.

Keywords: concurrent-chain schedules, generalized matching law, sensitivity to reinforcement, response allocation, time allocation, bias, delay of reinforcement, 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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