WITHIN‐SESSION CHANGES IN RESPONDING DURING CONCURRENT SCHEDULES WITH DIFFERENT REINFORCERS IN THE COMPONENTS

Frances K McSweeney; Samantha Swindell; Jeffrey N Weatherly

doi:10.1901/jeab.1996.66-369

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WITHIN‐SESSION CHANGES IN RESPONDING DURING CONCURRENT SCHEDULES WITH DIFFERENT REINFORCERS IN THE COMPONENTS

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WITHIN‐SESSION CHANGES IN RESPONDING DURING CONCURRENT SCHEDULES WITH DIFFERENT REINFORCERS IN THE COMPONENTS

Frances K McSweeney, Samantha Swindell and Jeffrey N Weatherly

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, Vol.66(3), pp.369-390

11/1996

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1996.66-369

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117507

PMCID: PMC1284575

PMID: 8921615

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Abstract

within‐session patterns of responding

lever press

concurrent schedule

key peck

rats

pigeons

matching law

Rats and pigeons responded on several concurrent schedules that provided different reinforcers in the two components (food and water for rats, Experiment 1; wheat and mixed grain for pigeons, Experiment 2). The rate of responding and the time spent responding on each component usually changed within the session. The within‐session changes in response rates and time spent responding usually followed different patterns for the two components of a concurrent schedule. For most subjects, the bias and sensitivity to reinforcement parameters of the generalized matching law, as well as the percentage of the variance accounted for, decreased within the session. Negative sensitivity parameters were sometimes found late in the session for the concurrent food‐water schedules. These results imply that within‐session changes in responding could cause problems for assessing the validity of quantitative theories of concurrent‐schedule responding when the components provide different reinforcers. They question changes in a general motivational state, such as arousal, as a complete explanation for within‐session changes in responding. The results are compatible with satiation for, or sensitization‐habituation to, the reinforcers as explanations.

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Title: WITHIN‐SESSION CHANGES IN RESPONDING DURING CONCURRENT SCHEDULES WITH DIFFERENT REINFORCERS IN THE COMPONENTS
Creators: Frances K McSweeney
Samantha Swindell
Jeffrey N Weatherly
Publication Details: Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, Vol.66(3), pp.369-390
Academic Unit: Arts and Sciences, College of; Psychology, Department of
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Oxford, UK
Number of pages: 22
Identifiers: 99900548201501842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article