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Earning and obtaining reinforcers under concurrent interval
scheduling.
MacDonall, J. S. (2005).
Earning and obtaining reinforcers under concurrent interval scheduling.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 84, 167-
183.
Contingencies of reinforcement specify how reinforcers are earned and how they
are obtained. Ratio contingencies specify the number of responses that earn a
reinforcer, and the response satisfying the ratio requirement obtains the earned
reinforcer. Simple interval schedules specify that a certain time earns a
reinforcer, which is obtained by the first response after the interval. The
earning of reinforcers has been overlooked, perhaps because simple schedules
confound the rates of earning reinforcers with the rates of obtaining
reinforcers. In concurrent variable-interval schedules, however, spending time
at one alternative earns reinforcers not only at that alternative, but at the
other alternative as well. Reinforcers earned for delivery at the other
alternative are obtained after changing over. Thus the rates of earning
reinforcers are not confounded with the rate of obtaining reinforcers, but the
rates of earning reinforcers are the same at both alternatives, which masks
their possibly differing effects on preference. Two experiments examined the
separate effects of earning reinforcers and of obtaining reinforcers on
preference by using concurrent interval schedules composed of two pairs of stay
and switch schedules (MacDonall, 2000). In both experiments, the generalized
matching law, which is based on rates of obtaining reinforcers, described
responding only when rates of earning reinforcers were the same at each
alternative. An equation that included both the ratio of the rates of obtaining
reinforcers and the ratio of the rates of earning reinforcers described the
results from all conditions from each experiment.
Key words: preference, concurrent schedule, earning reinforcers, optimal
foraging theory, generalized matching law, lever press, rats