Ono, K. (2004).
Effects of experience on preference between forced and free choice.
Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
81, 27-37.
Preference between forced choice and free choice in concurrent-chain schedules
of reinforcement was investigated in pigeons after exposure to particular
combinations of terminal links. In Experiment 1, in which terminal links always
ended with reinforcers, one of three pairs of terminal links was arranged as
preexposure: (a) both terminal links had only one key (forced choice), (b) both
terminal links had two keys (free choice), or (c) a combination of free and
forced choice was arranged across sessions. In test sessions following the
preexposure, pigeons’ preferences rapidly shifted to the terminal links with
which they had no recent experience. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was
repeated except that each terminal link ended intermittently with reinforcers
with a probability of .5 and there was no terminal-link arrangement with a
combination of free and forced choice. Pigeons showed the same preference
changes as in Experiment 1, but the preference changes did not appear
immediately at the beginning of test sessions. These data suggest that recent
previous experience was a more important determinant of preference than the
difference between forced-choice and free-choice terminal links.
Key words: choice behavior, experience, behavioral history,
preference, forced versus free choice, multiple concurrent-chain schedule, key
peck, pigeons