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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1995 Sep;64(2):147–162. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1995.64-147

A quantitative analysis of extreme choice

Michael Davison, B Maxwell Jones
PMCID: PMC1350107  PMID: 16812765

Abstract

Six homing pigeons were trained on a variety of concurrent variable-interval schedules in a switching-key procedure. Unlike previous work, reinforcer ratios of up to 160 to 1 and concurrent extinction variable-interval schedules were arranged in order to investigate choice when reinforcer-frequency outcomes were extremely different. The data obtained over 11 conditions were initially analyzed according to the generalized matching law, which fitted the data well. The generalized matching law was then fitted only to conditions in which the reinforcer ratios were between 1 to 10 and 10 to 1. The deviations of choice measures from the other four more extreme reinforcer-ratio conditions were significantly more towards equal choice than predicted by this second generalized matching fit. A contingency-discriminability model, which predicts such deviations, described the data more effectively than did the generalized matching law, and also correctly predicted the maintenance of responding on both alternatives when one was associated with extinction.

Keywords: concurrent variable-interval schedules, choice, generalized matching, contingency-discriminability model, reinforcer sensitivity, 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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