Davison, M., & Jones, B. M. (1998).
Performance on concurrent variable-interval extinction schedules.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
69, 49-57.
Six homing pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval
extinction schedules in a switching-key procedure. The
discriminative stimuli and associated schedules in operation were
selected randomly after each switch and each reinforcer. More
than 80 daily sessions were arranged in each of five experimental
conditions that varied the reinforcer rate on the
variable-interval schedule. Behavior allocation remained
nonexclusive even after extended training and did not change
systematically as a function of the reinforcer rate. Both of
these findings are predicted by a contingency-discriminability
description of choice and are incompatible with a generalized
matching description.
Key words: behavior allocation, concurrent schedules, extinction,
generalized matching, contingency discriminability, pecking,
pigeons