Reinforcement context and resistance to change.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Animal behavior studies

Background:

• Pigeons were studied under a multiple schedule with varying reinforcement rates.
• Understanding resistance to change is crucial in behavioral economics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the behavioral momentum model's predictions in a multiple schedule.
• To investigate how reinforcement in one component affects resistance to change in another.

Main Methods:

• Eight pigeons were trained on a multiple variable-interval schedule.
• Four resistance-to-change procedures were applied: prefeeding, full extinction, component extinction, and response-independent food.

Main Results:

• Resistance to prefeeding and extinction decreased as the alternated component's reinforcement rate decreased.
• Resistance to response-independent food was not affected by the alternated component's rate.
• Maintaining reinforcement in the alternated component increased resistance to extinction in the constant component.

Conclusions:

• The behavioral momentum model accurately predicted most results, particularly extinction and response-independent food.
• The model's predictions aligned with the increased resistance to extinction when the alternated component was maintained.
• Discrepancies in prefeeding data suggest areas for refinement in the behavioral momentum theory.