Eileen M. Roscoe, Brian A. Iwata, & Melissa S. Rand (2003).
Effects of reinforcer consumption and magnitude on response rates during noncontingent reinforcement.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
36, 525-539.
Results of previous research on the effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) have been
inconsistent when magnitude of reinforcement was manipulated. We attempted to clarify the
influence of NCR magnitude by including additional controls. In Study 1, we examined the
effects of reinforcer consumption time by comparing the same magnitude of NCR when session
time was and was not corrected to account for reinforcer consumption. Lower response rates
were observed when session time was not corrected, indicating that reinforcer consumption can
suppress response rates. In Study 2, we first selected varying reinforcer magnitudes (small,
medium, and large) on the basis of corrected response rates observed during a contingent
reinforcement condition and then compared the effects of these magnitudes during NCR. One
participant exhibited lower response rates when large-magnitude reinforcers were delivered; the
other ceased responding altogether even when small-magnitude reinforcers were delivered. We
also compared the effects of the same NCR magnitude (medium) during 10-min and 30-min
sessions. Lower response rates were observed during 30-min sessions, indicating that the
number of reinforcers consumed across a session can have the same effect as the number
consumed per reinforcer delivery. These findings indicate that, even when response rate is
corrected to account for reinforcer consumption, larger magnitudes of NCR (defined on either a
per-delivery or per-session basis) result in lower response rates than do smaller magnitudes.
DESCRIPTORS: noncontingent reinforcement, reinforcer magnitude, satiation