Choice, foraging, and reinforcer duration

Abstract

Pigeons were exposed to a foraging schedule characterized by three different states, beginning with a search state in which completion of a variable interval on a white key led to a choice state. In the choice state the subject could, by appropriate responding on a fixed ratio of three, either accept or reject the schedule offered. If the subject accepted the schedule, it entered a handling state in which the appropriate reinforcer amount was presented according to a variable-interval schedule. In Experiment 1 the shorter duration reinforcer was more likely to be accepted the longer the duration of the search state and the shorter the equal durations of the handling states. In Experiment 2 the shorter duration reinforcer was more likely to be accepted the longer the handling time preceding the longer duration reinforcer. All of the results were in qualitative--and some were in quantitative--agreement with those predicted by the delay-reduction hypothesis and the optimal-diet model.