Roche, J. P., Stubbs, D. A., & Glanz, W. E. (1996).
Assessment and choice: An operant simulation of foraging in patches.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
66, 327-347.
Pigeons were presented with an operant simulation of two prey
patches using concurrent random-ratio schedules of reinforcement.
An unstable patch offered a higher initial reinforcement
probability, which then declined unpredictably to a zero
reinforcement probability in each session. A stable patch offered
a low but unvarying reinforcement probability. When the
reinforcement probability declined to zero in a single step, the
birds displayed shorter giving-up times in the unstable patch
when the ratio between the initial reinforcement probabilities in
the unstable and stable patches was greater and when the combined
magnitude of the reinforcement probabilities in the two patches
was greater. When the unstable patch declined in two steps, the
birds behaved as if their giving-up times were influenced heavily
by events encountered during the most recent step of the
double-step change. This effect was observed, however, only when
the reinforcement probability in that step was .04, not when it
was .06. All of these data agree with the predictions of a
capture-probability model based on a comparison of the estimated
probability of receiving a reinforcer in the current patch with
that in alternative patches.
Key words: foraging, patch-leaving decisions, patch selection,
choice, concurrent schedules of reinforcement, statistical
decision theory, key peck, pigeons