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Local preference in concurrent schedules: The effects of reinforcer sequences.
Krageloh, C. U., Davison, M., & Elliffe, D. M. (2005).
Local preference in concurrent schedules: The effects of reinforcer sequences.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 84, 37-64.
We investigated the effects that sequences of reinforcers obtained from the same
response key have on local preference in concurrent variable-interval schedules
with pigeons as subjects. With an overall reinforcer rate of one every 27 s, on
average, reinforcers were scheduled dependently, and the probability that a
reinforcer would be arranged on the same alternative as the previous reinforcer
was manipulated. Throughout the experiment, the overall reinforcer ratio was
1:1, but across conditions we varied the average lengths of same-key reinforcer
sequences by varying this conditional probability from 0 to 1. Thus, in some
conditions, reinforcer locations changed frequently, whereas in others there
tended to be very long sequences of same-key reinforcers. Although there was a
general tendency to stay at the just-reinforced alternative, this tendency was
considerably decreased in conditions where same-key reinforcer sequences were
short. Some effects of reinforcers are at least partly to be accounted for by
their signaling subsequent reinforcer locations.
Key words: choice, concurrent schedules, reinforcer sequences, conditional
probability of reinforcer location, local analyses, key peck, pigeons