Rapid acquisition in concurrent chains: effects of initial-link duration.

Full Abstract

Pigeons were trained in a concurrent chains procedure in which the terminal-link schedules in each session were either fixed-interval (FI) 10s FI 20s or FI 20s FI 10s, as determined by a pseudorandom binary series. The initial-link was a variable-interval (VI) 10-s schedule. Training continued until initial-link response allocation stabilized about midway through each session and was sensitive to the terminal-link immediacy ratio in that session. The initial-link schedule was then varied across sessions between VI 0.01 s and VI 30s according to an ascending and descending sequence. Initial-link response allocation was a bitonic function over the full range of durations. Preference for the FI 10-s terminal-link at first increased as programmed initial-link duration varied from 0.01 to 7.5s, and then decreased as initial-link duration increased to 30s. The bitonic function poses a potential challenge for existing models for steady-state choice, such as delay-reduction theory (DRT) [Fantino, E., 1969. Choice and rate of reinforcement. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 12, 723-730], which predict a monotonic function. However, an extension of Grace and McLean's [Grace, R.C., McLean, A.P., 2006. Rapid acquisition in concurrent chains:
evidence for a decision model. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 85, 181-202] decision model predicted the bitonic function, and may ultimately provide an integrated account of choice in concurrent chains under both steady-state and dynamic conditions.

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Author information

Author/s: Christensen, Darren R (DR); Grace, Randolph C (RC);

Affiliation: University of Canterbury, Department of Psychology, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. drc41(-atsign-)student.canterbury.ac.nz

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Behavioural processes (Behav Processes), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 78 (issue 2) : pp 217-23

Dates: Created 2008/04/28; Completed 2008/07/25;

PMID: 18304759, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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