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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1984 Sep;42(2):305–319. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1984.42-305

Interreinforcement time, work time, and the postreinforcement pause

David P Rider, Nora N Kametani
PMCID: PMC1348085  PMID: 16812391

Abstract

Six rats were trained with food deliveries contingent upon their pressing a lever and holding it down for fixed, cumulative durations. Hold requirements were varied from 7.5 seconds to 120 seconds. Lever holding was maintained reliably at hold requirements as long as 30 seconds to 105 seconds for different rats. At longer hold requirements, lever holding was erratic and tended to occur only early in sessions. At shorter and intermediate requirements, the patterns of lever holding resembled those of responding under fixed-ratio schedules for discrete responses, with breaks in responding immediately after reinforcement alternating with relatively continuous lever holding until the next reinforcement. At longer hold requirements, postpause lever holding frequently was interrupted with additional pauses. The duration of postreinforcement pauses increased linearly with the scheduled hold requirement. However, for five of six rats, the hold requirement, which represents the actual time spent lever holding per reinforcer, accounted for somewhat less variance in pause duration than did interreinforcement time.

Keywords: postreinforcement pause, interreinforcement time, work time, continuous response, lever holding, rats

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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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