Time-allocation, matching, and contrast

A variable-interval schedule arranged food reinforcement for key pecking by pigeons on a single operandum at two rates, corresponding to two classes of reinforced interresponse times ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 sec and from 3.5 to 4.5 sec. The scheduled reinforcement rate for the higher component response rate was constant and equivalent to that of a variable-interval 4-min schedule. The scheduled reinforcement rate for the lower component response rate varied from zero to over 100 per hour. The number of occurrences of the constant component response rate varied inversely with the reinforcement rate for the variable component. This result, by definition a concurrent reinforcement interaction, or contrast, was the combined effect of two time-allocation functions, which together determine mean response rate: the time allocated to both component rates as a function of the total reinforcement rate, and the time allocated to a particular component rate as a function of the percentage of reinforcements for that component. The present experiment reveals a further parallel between the controlling relations for free responding on a single operandum and those for choice between two operanda; in each case, a concurrent reinforcement interaction can be found that corresponds to matching.