Deck 6: Schedules of Reinforcement and Choice Behavior

Question 1

Compare and contrast ratio and interval schedules in terms of how the contingencies of reinforcement are set up and the effects they have on the instrumental response.

Answer 1

Reinforcement schedules determine which behavior is reinforced; they control the rate, pattern, and continuance of instrumental behaviors. Ratio schedules reinforce based on the number of responses. Interval schedules reinforce based on the time elapsed prior to the response. Overall, it has been shown that the ratio schedules are more motivational to producing the instrumental behavior than the interval schedules.
Ratio schedules can have continuous or intermittent reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement have a single performance contingency, are set up outside the laboratory environment, and reinforcement value increases with a set number of successful performances. Intermittent reinforcement schedules can have fixed- or variable-ratio intervals for reinforcement of behaviors; they are set up in the laboratory environment. Fixed-intervals provide reinforcement only after a set time has elapsed subsequent to the instrumental behavior; the reinforcer occurs every time the same interval has passed. With the variable interval schedule the time elapse between reinforcements is not consistent or predictable.
Fixed-interval schedules tend to elicit responses that are performed at first with minimal and only occasional pauses; once behavior is learned the responses come more quickly. The pause after each reinforcement is measured and tends to increase with sudden or large changes in the interval requirement; this indicates a preparation for the learned expectation of effort that will be required to obtain the reinforcement. A steady rate of response is also demonstrated with variable-ratio schedules, and at times more so than the rate of the fixed-interval schedule. The pauses of the variable-ratio schedule are comparatively longer than the fixed-interval schedule, but overall less frequent with variable-ratio schedules.

Question 2

Describe how concurrent schedules of reinforcement are designed and what are typical findings with concurrent schedules.

Answer 2

Concurrent schedules of reinforcement are used to study choices. Typically performed in a laboratory setting, the environment provides more than one choice, each with a schedule of reinforcement running concurrently with the other. Concurrent schedules measure choice based on the distribution of the subject's behavior among the available choices.
When all choices of a concurrent schedule have the same reinforcement, the rate of response is equal to the rate of reinforcement (known as the matching law.) When the reinforcement schedule differs among choices, the rate of reinforcement still controls the rate of response per possible choice.

Question 3

Describe the generalized matching law equation and explain each of its parameters.

Answer 3

When all choices of a concurrent schedule have the same reinforcement, the rate of response is equal to the rate of reinforcement (known as the matching law.) When the reinforcement schedule differs among choices, the rate of reinforcement still controls the rate of response per possible choice.
The matching law equation describes how the rate of behavior and reinforcement of one choice is proportional to the total rate of response and reinforcement of all choices.
To explain the equation, one must understand the major statement that the behavior is the same as the response. Even if the behavior rate of one choice may differ from the other, the behavior of either choice is a proportion of the total rate of behavior; the same analogy can be said of the response for the particular choice.
In other words, the rate of behavior of any one choice is the same as the rate of response of that particular choice, even in the face of more than one choice. We can substitute numerical values to explain:

Question 4

Describe various theoretical explanations of the matching law.

Question 5

How are concurrent-chain schedules different from concurrent schedules, and what kinds of research questions require the use of concurrent-chain schedules?

Question 6

What is a reward discounting function, and how is it related to the problem of self-control?

Question 7

How have studies of self-control informed us about other important aspects of human behavior?