Context, observing behavior, and conditioned reinforcement

Pigeons made observing responses for stimuli signalling either a fixed-interval 30-sec schedule or a fixed-ratio x schedule, where x was either 20, 30, 100, 140, or 200 and the schedules alternated at random after reinforcement. If observing responses did not occur, food-producing responses occurred to a stimulus common to both reinforcement schedules. When the fixed-interval schedule was paired with a low-value fixed ratio, i.e., 20 or 30, the presentation of the stimulus reliably signalling the fixed-ratio schedule reinforced observing behavior, but the presentation of the stimulus reliably signalling the fixed-interval schedule did not. The converse was the case when the fixed-interval schedule was paired with a large-valued fixed ratio, i.e., 100, 140, or 200. The results demonstrated that the occasional presentation of the stimulus signalling the shorter interreinforcement interval was necessary for the maintenance of observing behavior. The reinforcement relationship was a function of the schedule context and was reversed by changing the context. Taken together, the results show that the establishment and measurement of conditioned reinforcement is dependent upon the context or environment in which stimuli reliably correlated with differential events occur.