The concurrent reinforcement of two interresponse times: absolute rate of reinforcement

Abstract

Three pigeons obtained food on a one-key schedule of reinforcement for two concurrent, discriminated interresponse times. The overall rate of reinforcement was determined by a family of variable-interval schedules and by a continuous reinforcement schedule. The average frequency of reinforcement varied from 1.1 to 300 reinforcements per hour; the relative frequency of reinforcement for each of the two interresponse times was 0.5 throughout the experiment. The number of responses per minute increased sharply as the number of reinforcements per hour increased from 1 to 20. Beyond 30 reinforcements per hour, the curve was approximately flat, although it sometimes decreased slightly at the highest reinforcement rates. The relative frequency of the shorter interresponse time also increased sharply as the number of reinforcements per hour increased from 1 to 20. The asymptote of the relative frequency function approximately equalled the relative reciprocal of the length of the shorter interresponse time for reinforcement rates greater than 30 or 40 reinforcements per hour. This approximation was obscured by the response-rate function.