Bouts of responding on variable-interval schedules: effects of deprivation level

Rats obtained food pellets on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement by nose poking a lighted key. After training to establish baseline performance (with the mean variable interval set at either 60, 120, or 240 s), the rats were given free access to food during the hour just before their daily session. This satiation operation reduced the rate of key poking. Analysis of the interresponse time distributions (log survivor plots) indicated that key poking occurred in bouts. Prefeeding lengthened the pauses between bouts, shortened the length of bouts (less reliably), and had a relatively small decremental effect on the response rate within bouts. That deprivation level affects mainly between-bout pauses has been reported previously with fixed-ratio schedules. Thus, when the focus is on bouts, the performances maintained by variable-interval schedules and fixed-ratio schedules are similarly affected by deprivation.