Becky Penrod, Michele D. Wallace, & Edwin J. Dyer.
Assessing potency of high- and low-preference reinforcers with respect to response rate and response patterns.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
41, 2008, 177-188.
Previous research has suggested that the availability of high-preference
stimuli may override the reinforcing efficacy of concurrently available
low-preference stimuli under relatively low schedule requirements (e.g.,
fixed-ratio 1 schedule). It is unknown if similar effects would be obtained
under higher schedule requirements. Thus, the current study compared
high-preference and low-preference reinforcers under progressively
increasing schedule requirements. Results for 3 of the 4 participants
indicated that high-preference stimuli maintained responding under
higher schedule requirements relative to low-preference stimuli. For 1
participant, high-preference and low-preference stimuli were demonstrated
to be equally effective reinforcers under increasing schedule requirements.
Implications with respect to rate of performance and response patterns are
discussed.
DESCRIPTORS: positive reinforcement, preference assessments, progressive ratio, response effort