Tonneau, F., Ríos, A., & Cabrera, F. (2006).
Measuring resistance to change at the within-session level.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 86, 109-121.
Resistance to change is often studied by measuring response rate in various
components of a multiple schedule. Response rate in each component is normalized
(that is, divided by its baseline level) and then log-transformed. Differential
resistance to change is demonstrated if the normalized, log-transformed response
rate in one component decreases more slowly than in another component. A problem
with normalization, however, is that it can produce artifactual results if the
relation between baseline level and disruption is not multiplicative. One way to
address this issue is to fit specific models of disruption to untransformed
response rates and evaluate whether or not a multiplicative model accounts for
the data. Here we present such a test of resistance to change, using
within-session response patterns in rats as a data base for fitting models
of disruption. By analyzing response rate at a within-session level, we were
able to confirm a central prediction of the resistance-to-change
framework while discarding normalization artifacts as a plausible
explanation of our results.
Key words: : resistance to change, absolute rates, relative rates, within-session patterns, lever press, rats