Temporal control in chained fixed-ratio, fixed-interval schedules

Four rats were subjected to chained fixed-ratio (FR), fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement (chain FR 5 FI). A FR schedule at one lever produced a discriminative stimulus (i.e., light) associated with an FI schedule of primary reinforcement (water) at the second response lever. The FR sched...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Todorov, João Claudio (author)
Other Authors: Couto, Kalliu Carvalho (author), Carvalho, Lucas Couto de (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/TODOROV, João Claudio; COUTO, Kalliu Carvalho; CARVALHO, Lucas Couto de. Temporal control in chained fixed-ratio, fixed-interval schedules. Psychology & Neuroscience, v. 6, n. 1, p. 105-108, jan./jun. 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3922/j.psns.2013.1.15. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1983-32882013000100015. Acesso em: 29 jul. 2020.
https://doi.org/https://dx.doi.org/10.3922/j.psns.2013.1.15
Country:Brazil
Oai:oai:repositorio.unb.br:10482/29054
Description
Summary:Four rats were subjected to chained fixed-ratio (FR), fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement (chain FR 5 FI). A FR schedule at one lever produced a discriminative stimulus (i.e., light) associated with an FI schedule of primary reinforcement (water) at the second response lever. The FR schedule was kept constant, whereas the FI length was changed from 10 to 60 s under five different experimental conditions. Increases in the FI length resulted in increases in pre-ratio pauses, but pauses in the FI tended to be a constant percentage of FI length. Data from this experiment indicate that pre-ratio pauses are also a function of the interreinforcement interval (IRI). Data from three experiments with chained FR 5 FI 60-s schedules indicate that pausing in the FI component of chained FR FI schedules with the FI as the second component of the chain may tend to disappear as the IRI duration increases.