Behaviour of Humans in Concurrent Schedules Programmed on Spatially Separated Operanda

Six human subjects responded on either of two levers for monetary reinforcement in a continuous choice situation. Responses on one lever (lever A) were reinforced at different frequencies specified by five variable-interval schedules. Reinforcements for responding on the other lever (lever B) were delivered according to a variable-interval schedule of standard reinforcement frequency. Results indicated that absolute response rate on lever A increased, while absolute response rate on lever B decreased as a function of reinforcement frequency for lever A. In terms of preference, the data conformed closely to Baum's (1974) generalized matching equation. Performances departing from perfect matching were obtained in four cases, but these deviations were not systematic either in the direction of overmatching or undermatching.

Chained and Tandem Fixed-Interval Schedule Performance and Frequency of Primary Reinforcement

Performance of pigeons on a three component chained fixed interval schedule and a three component tandem fixed interval schedule was investigated as a function of reinforcement frequency in the terminal components. Stimuli in the chained schedule functioned as discriminative stimuli, demonstrated by absolute response rate differences between comparable chain and tandem schedule components. Absolute differences between chain and tandem response rates of the first two components were relatively invariant when reinforcement frequency in the terminal component was varied.