Reversibility of reinforcement between eating and running by schedule changes: A comparison of hypotheses and models

Rats increased eating that produced access to a running-wheel or increased running that produced access to food, depending on which response was potentially deprived, relative to baseline, by the scheduled ratio of responding. Under both schedules, instrumental responding significantly exceeded appropriate baselines of the noncontingent effects of the schedule. The results contradicted the hypothesis that reinforcement is produced by an overall or momentary probability differential between two responses; instead, they supported the condition of response deprivation as a key determinant of reinforcement. Of several recent quantitative models that predict reversibility of reinforcement by schedule changes, only the predictions of the relative response-deprivation model did not differ significantly from the data of either schedule.     

Stimulus preference and the transitivity of preference

Four pigeons were exposed to multiple schedules with concurrent variable interval (VI) components and then tested for preference transfer. Half of the pigeons were trained on a multiple concurrent VI 20-sec, VI 40-sec/cuncurrent VI 4G-sec5 VI 80-sec schedule. The remaining pigeons were trained on a multiple concurrent VI 80-sec, VI 40-sec/concurrent VI 40-sec, VI 20-sec schedule-After stability criteria for time and response proportions were simultaneously met, four preference transfer tests were conducted with the stimuli associated with the VI 40-sec schedules. During the transfer tests, each pigeon allocated a greater proportion of responses (M=0,79) and time (M=0.82) to the stimulus associated with the VI 40-sec schedule that was paired with the VI 80-sec schedule than lo the VI 40-sec schedule stimulus paired with the VI 20-sec schedule. Absolute reinforcement rates on the two VI 40 sec schedules were approximately equal and unlikely to account for the observed preference. Nor was the preference consistent with the differences in local reinforcement rates associated with the two stimuli. Instead, the results were interpreted in terms of the differential value that stimuli acquire as a function of previous pairings with alternative schedules of reinforcement.     

Resurgence of behavior during extinction depends on previous rate of response

In two experiments, food-deprived rat subjects leverpressed for food in three successive training phases. In the first phase of both experiments, rats were exposed to a multiple schedule, one component of which produced a high rate of response, and the other of which produced a lower rate of response (multiple random ratio [RR], random interval [RI] in Experiment 1, and multiple differential reinforcement of high rate, differential reinforcement of low rate in Experiment 2). Rats were then transferred to a multiple fixed interval (FI; 60-sec, 60-sec) schedule, until the effects of the first phase on response rate were no longer apparent and their response rates did not differ from those of rats responding on a multiple FI 60-sec, FI 60-sec schedule without previously experiencing a multiple RR, RI schedule. During the third stage oftraining, all rats were placed into extinction. During extinction, rates of responding were higher in the component previously associated with the high rate of responding in Phase 1, and they were lower in the component previously associated with low rates of responding in Phase 1. These results suggest that resurgence effects, like other history effects, are controlled by previous rates of responding.     

The sensitivity of the pigeon’s keypeck to the differential reinforcement of long interresponse times

Keypecking of pigeons was studied under differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) and variable-interval (VI) schedules in which the interreinforcement times on the two schedules were equated by a yoking procedure. Each schedule was available for half of every session and a change of schedule was signaled by a change of key color. The value of the DRL schedule was varied from .5 to 300 sec. Response rates were always higher in the VI schedule, but within sessions there was a sharp change in response rate coincident with the change in schedule only under lower schedule values. A group without prior training was tested with a 180-sec schedule value, and it, too, developed a higher response rate during the VI schedule, showing that the effect was not dependent on prior experience under low schedule values. In all conditions except the .5- and 1-sec values of the schedule, the mean proportion of responses emitted during the VI schedule was approximately .85 of the responses emitted during both schedules. The conclusion was that the requirement of a minimum interresponse time for reinforcement may work its effect by determining which responses may occur just prior to the reinforced response and thus receive delayed reinforcement.     

Rates of responding in the pigeon generated by simple and complex schedules which provide the same rates of reinforcement

Four pigeons pecked for food reinforcement on variable interval 1-min schedules and on the variable-interval 1-min components of multiple, concurrent, and pseudoconcurrent schedules. The pseudoconcurrent schedule provided only one schedule of reinforcement; but, any reinforcer could be collected by responding on either of two keys. The rate of responding generated by the variable interval schedule was not greater than the rates of responding generated by the components of the complex schedules. But, the rate of reinforcement obtained from the variable interval schedule was greater than the rates of reinforcement obtained from the components of the multiple schedule. These results may contradict the equation proposed by Herrnstein (1970). The equation predicts that the rate of responding generated by a schedule of reinforcement will be greater when the schedule appears alone, than when it appears as one component of a complex schedule.     

Preference for the interval schedule following multiple variable-ratio yoked-variable-interval schedule training

Pigeons were studied on multiple variable-ratio yoked-variable-interval schedules in which components had equal rates of food reinforcement and appeared equally often on each of two keys. Interpolated between component changes on the final multiple schedule were 10-sec probes in which both schedule stimuli were present, one on each key. During multiple schedule training, variable-ratio response rates were greater than yoked-variable-interval rates; however, response rate differences in the components were not a function of the mean ratio value for the 40-to-320-ratio range studied. During the choice probes, subjects responded more to the stimulus associated with the interval schedule than to the one associated with the ratio schedule. It was concluded that pigeons prefer interval schedules over equal reinforcement rate ratio schedules, because the former generate fewer responses per reinforcement.     

Intermittent reinforcement and salt arousal of thirst in rats

Sated rats, previously trained to leverpress for H₂O reinforcement on continuous or variable-interval (10-sec or 60-sec) schedules, were given NaCl injections and tested for leverpressing. Under all schedules, responding was an inverted U function of NaCl concentration (0.15M to 3.0M). However, NaCl thirst produced relatively little change in behavior under the VI 60-sec schedule.     

Instrumental responding by rats on free-operant schedules with components that schedule response-dependent reinforcer omission: Implications for optimization theories

In two experiments, we assessed whether rats optimize the number of reinforcers per response. In Experiment 1, one group of rats was trained to leverpress for food reinforcement on a simple variable-interval (VI) 60-sec schedule. For another group, a negative fixed-ratio component was imposed on the VI schedule to produce a conjoint contingency in which reinforcement became available on the VI schedule but was omitted when the ratio criterion was satisfied. In Experiment 2, one group of rats responded on a VI schedule and also received response-independent food. For another group, responding above a certain rate canceled the response-independent food. Despite the negative contingency experienced by the groups in Experiments 1 and 2, responding was maintained at a level at which the number of obtained reinforcers was reduced substantially below the maximum number possible. In addition, in both experiments, the groups that experienced the negative contingency responded at a lower rate than did a yoked control group that experienced the same frequency of reinforcement but lacked the negative component. These results demonstrate that although rats do not optimize their behavior with respect to reinforcement, they are nevertheless sensitive to some aspect of the instrumental contingency in operation.     

Choice responding following multiple schedule training

Pigeons’ choice responding on 10-sec interpolated probes was studied after baseline training on multiple variable-interval variable-interval schedules of food reinforcement. Unreinforced choice following training with three different relative reinforcement rates (Experiment 1), with a 3-ply multiple schedule (Experiment 2), and with three different relative reinforcement durations (Experiment 3) was examined. Least squares lines were fit to choice relative response rate and schedule relative response rate as functions of training relative reinforcement rate; choice slope was significantly greater than schedule slope in all three experiments. This result is counter to the prediction of Herrnstein’s (1970) theory that these slopes should not differ. Luce’s (1959) theory also failed to account for the data. It was concluded that choice responding was controlled by both approach to the stimulus associated with the smaller mean interreinforcer interval or the longer duration, and avoidance of the other stimulus.     

Response rate is not an effective mediator of learned stimulus equivalence in pigeons

We explored response rate as a possible mediator of learned stimulus equivalence. Five pigeons were trained to discriminate four clip art pictures presented during a 10-sec discrete-trial fixed interval (FI) schedule: two paired with a one-pellet reinforcer, which supported a low rate of responding, and two paired with a nine-pellet reinforcer, which supported a high rate of responding. After subjects associated one stimulus from each of these pairs with a discriminative choice response, researchers presented two new clip art stimuli during a 10-sec FI: one trained with a differential reinforcement of low rate schedule (DRL) after the FI and the other trained with a differential reinforcement of high rate schedule (DRH) after the FI. Each of the stimuli that were withheld during choice training was later shown to see if the choice responses would transfer to these stimuli. The results suggest that response rate alone does not mediate learned stimulus equivalence.     

Optimization of reward rate on concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules

Six rats were placed on concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules with a 15-sec changeover delay (COD). The variable-interval schedules were varied such that the COD comprised between 25% and 100% of the average interreinforcement interval of the more favorable alternative. The obtained reinforcement rate and the rate of changing from one schedule to the other were compared to predictions of Houston and McNamara’s (1981) optimality model of concurrent choice. The pattern of behavioral allocation was consistent with the predictions of the model, although none of the animals was able to achieve optimal performance on any of the presented schedules. Observed behavior reliably tracked optimal behavior in that the ratio of obtained reinforcers to the optimum predicted by Houston and McNamara did not vary as the underlying schedule parameters was changed.     

The influence of context-reinforcer associations on instrumental performance

In each of two experiments, rats were trained to press the lever in a Skinner box, food reinforcement being available on a variable-interval 60-sec schedule (VI 60). There followed an “exposure phase” for which the levers were removed from the boxes, and then a final test with the levers replaced to assess the effects of the intervening treatment on instrumental responding. Experiment 1 showed that simple exposure to the box reduced the vigor of instrumental performance in comparison with a condition in which food was made available during the exposure phase. Animals which received no exposure treatment also showed a relatively high rate of response. Experiment 2 demonstrated that an exposure treatment in which the occurrence of food is signaled by a light stimulus also leads to a decline in instrumental responding. These results are held to support the notion that associations between the context and the reinforcer serve to energize appetitive instrumental behavior.     

The role of response-reinforcer correlation in signaled reinforcement effects

In three experiments, we examined the effects of signaling reinforcement during operant responding in order to illuminate the factors underlying instrumental overshadowing and potentiation effects. Specifically, we examined whether signaling reinforcement produces an enhancement and attentuation of responding when the response-reinforcer correlation is weak and strong, respectively. In Experiment 1, rats responded on variable-ratio (VR) or variable-interval (VI) schedules that were equated for the number of responses emitted per reinforcer. A signal correlated with reinforcement enhanced response rates on the VR schedule, but attenuated response rates were produced by the signal on the VI schedule. In Experiment 2, two groups of rats responded on a VI schedule while the two other groups received a conjoint VI, negative fixed-ratio schedule in which the subjects lost the availability of reinforcements if they emitted high response rates. A reinforcement signal attenuated responding for the simple VI groups but not for the animals given the negative fixed-ratio component, although the signal improved response efficiency in both groups. In Experiment 3, a poor correlation between responding and reinforcement was produced by a VI schedule onto which the delivery of response-independent food was superimposed. A signal for reinforcement initially elevated responding on this schedule, relative to an unsignaled condition; however, this pattern was reversed with further training. In sum, the present experiments provide little support for the view that signaling reinforcement enhances responding when the response-reinforcer correlation is weak and attenuates responding when this correlation is strong.     

Concurrent schedule responding as a function of body weight

Five pigeons pecked for food reinforcement on several concurrent schedules. Their body weights were varied from 80% to 110% of their free-feeding weights. A number of predictions of the equations proposed by Herrnstein (1970) were tested. As predicted, the relative rate of responding equalled the relative rate of reinforcement for all subjects, on all schedules, at all body weights. And, as predicted, the overall rates of responding on the components of a concurrent schedule were slower than the local rates of responding on the components of an identical multiple schedule. Contrary to prediction, the total rate of responding generated by the concurrent schedules did not increase with increases in the total rate of reinforcement they provided. And, contrary to prediction, the k parameter did not remain constant, and the R₀ parameter did not increase with increases in body weight. It was concluded that Herrnstein’s matching law and his interpretation of the m parameter are correct but that the interpretations of k and R₀ require further investigation.     

Conjunctive schedules of reinforcement IV: Effects on the pattern of responding of changes in requirement at reinforcement

The effects of different schedule requirements at reinforcement on patterns of responding by pigeons were assessed under conjunctive schedules with comparable response-number requirements, Under one conjunctive schedule (conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedule), a response was reinforced after a 6-min interval had elapsedand a specific minimum number of responses had been emitted, Under a second conjunctive schedule, a response was reinforced after the 6-min fixed interval and upon completion of a tandem schedule requirement (conjunctive fixed-interval tandem schedule), This schedule retained the same required minimum number of responses as the first conjunctive schedule, but responses were never reinforced according to a fixed-ratio schedule; the tandem schedule was comprised of a fixed-ratio and a small (.1 to 10.0 sec) fixed-interval schedule, Under the conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedule, responding was characterized by an initial pause, an abrupt transition to a high response rate, and a second transition to a lower rate that prevailed or slightly increased up to reinforcement, Under the conjunctive fixed-interval tandem schedule, pauses were extended, response rates were lower, and the initial high rate of responding was generally absent, The above effects depended upon the size of the fixed interval of the tandem schedule, The distinct pattern of responding generated by conjunctive fixed-interval fixed-ratio schedules depends upon occasional reinforcement of fixed-ratio responding and not merely on the addition of a minimum number of required responses.     

Factors affecting schedule-induced wood-chewing in rats: Percentage and rate of reinforcement,and operant requirement

In Experiment 1, rats were allowed to acquire either schedule-induced drinking or schedule-induced wood-chewing behavior under a fixed-interval (FI) 60-sec schedule of food reinforcement, following which food was omitted from 20% and then 50% of interreinforcement intervals. Omission of food severely disrupted induced drinking but had relatively little effect on induced wood-chewing. Experiment 2 investigated wood-chewing as a function of reinforcement rate, using a range of FI schedules from 5 to 180 sec in duration. Both the amount of chewing per session and the relative time spent chewing were bitonically related to reinforcement rate. In Experiment 3, schedule-induced chewing that had been acquired under a response-dependent schedule was found to persist under a response-independent schedule. Induced wood-chewing resembles other induced behaviors in important respects, but quantitative differences are also apparent.     

Behavioral momentum and relapse of extinguished operant responding

Previous experiments on behavioral momentum have shown that relative resistance to extinction of operant behavior in the presence of a stimulus depends on the rate of reinforcement associated with that stimulus, even if some of those reinforcers occur independently of the behavior. We present three experiments examining whether the rate of reinforcement in the presence of a stimulus similarly modulates the relative relapse of operant behavior produced by reinstatement, resurgence, and renewal paradigms. During baseline conditions, pigeons responded for food reinforcement on variable-interval 120-sec schedules in alternating periods of exposure to two stimuli arranged by a multiple schedule. Additional response-independent food presentations were also delivered in the presence of one of the multiple-schedule stimuli. Consistent with previous research, baseline response rates were lower in the presence of the stimulus with the added response-independent reinforcement, and relative resistance to extinction was greater in the presence of that stimulus. In addition, following extinction, the relative relapse of responding produced by reinstatement, resurgence, and renewal paradigms was greater in the presence of the stimulus associated with the higher rate of reinforcement. We suggest that a model of extinction from behavioral momentum theory may be useful for understanding these results.     

Preference and resistance to change in concurrent variable-interval schedules

Pigeons were trained on a multiple schedule in which separate concurrent schedules were presented in the two components of the schedule. During one component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variableinterval 80-sec schedules operated. In the second component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variableinterval 20-sec schedules operated. After stable baseline performance was obtained in both components, extinction probe choice tests were presented to assess preference between the variable-interval 40-sec schedules from the two components. The variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variableinterval 80-sec schedule was preferred over the variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variableinterval 20-sec schedule. The subjects were also exposed to several resistance-to-change manipulations: (1) prefeeding prior to the experimental session, (2) a free-food schedule added to timeout periods separating components, and (3) extinction. The results indicated that preference and resistance to change do not necessarily covary.     

Multiple determinants of transfer of evaluative function after conditioning with free-operant schedules of reinforcement

The aim of the four present experiments was to explore how different schedules of reinforcement influence schedule-induced behavior, their impact on evaluative ratings given to conditioned stimuli associated with each schedule through evaluative conditioning, and the transfer of these evaluations through derived stimulus networks. Experiment 1 compared two contrasting response reinforcement rules (variable ratio [VR], variable interval [VI]). Experiment 2 varied the response to reinforcement rule between two schedules but equated the outcome to response rate (differential reinforcement of high rate [DRH] vs. VR). Experiment 3 compared molar and molecular aspects of contingencies of reinforcement (tandem VIVR vs. tandem VRVI). Finally, Experiment 4 employed schedules that induced low rates of responding to determine whether, under these circumstances, responses were more sensitive to the molecular aspects of a schedule (differential reinforcement of low rate [DRL] vs. VI). The findings suggest that the transfer of evaluative functions is determined mainly by differences in response rate between the schedules and the molar aspects of the schedules. However, when neither schedule was based on a strong response reinforcement rule, the transfer of evaluative judgments came under the control of the molecular aspects of the schedule.     

Latent discrimination learning under a regular schedule of partial reinforcement

In this investigation, which employed rats in a runway, discriminative responding consisted of faster running on the reinforced than on the nonreinforced trials of either the 4NR or R4N schedule, both schedules containing fixed, repeated sequences of nonreinforced and reinforced trials. Under the 4NR schedule, four nonreinforced trials preceded a reinforced trial each day, and under the R4N schedule, a reinforced trial was followed by four nonreinforced trials each day. The major finding obtained was that under the 4NR schedule, discriminative responding was improved very substantially by a shift to extinction. Rats maintained on the 4NR schedule did not show improved discriminative responding, nor did discriminative responding improve in extinction following training under either the R4N schedule or a schedule of consistent reinforcement. Latent discrimination learning was defined as discriminative responding which fails to reflect adequately the amount of discrimination learning accomplished. The present findings demonstrate latent discrimination learning for regular schedules of partial reinforcement, something already demonstrated for brightness differential conditioning and possibly DRL schedules, as well.