Jones, B. M., & Davison, M. (1996).
Residence time and choice in concurrent foraging schedules.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
65, 423-444.
Five pigeons were trained on a concurrent-schedule analogue of
the "some patches are empty" procedure. Two
concurrently available alternatives were arranged on a single
response key and were signaled by red and green keylights. A
subject could travel between these alternatives by responding on
a second yellow "switching" key. Following a changeover
to a patch, there was a probability (p) that a single
reinforcer would be available on that alternative for a response
after a time determined by the value of lambda, a probability of
reinforcement per second. The overall scheduling of reinforcers
on the two alternatives was arranged nonindependently, and the
available alternative was switched after each reinforcer. In Part
1 of the experiment, the probabilities of reinforcement,
pred and pgreen, were equal on the two
alternatives, and the arranged arrival rates of reinforcers,
lambdared and lambdagreen, were varied across
conditions. In Part 2, the reinforcer arrival times were arranged
to be equal, and the reinforcer probabilities were varied across
conditions. In Part 3, both parameters were varied. The results
replicated those seen in studies that have investigated time
allocation in a single patch: Both response and time allocation
to an alternative increased with decreasing values of lambda and
with increasing values of p, and residence times were
consistently greater than those that would maximize obtained
reinforcer rates. Furthermore, both response- and time-allocation
ratios undermatched mean reinforcer-arrival time and
reinforcer-frequency ratios.
Key words: foraging, concurrent schedules, matching, residence
time, key peck, pigeons