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Published on: August 10, 2014
Response rate, latency, and resistance to change
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|March 1, 1983
Summary
Pigeons trained on variable schedules showed that adding food during timeouts decreased response rates. This indicates that even concurrent reinforcement can disrupt established behaviors, with latency being a sensitive indicator.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral psychology
- Animal behavior studies
- Operant conditioning principles
Background:
- Pigeons were trained using a multiple variable-interval/variable-interval schedule.
- Pacing contingencies established distinct high and low response rates in different schedule components.
- Timeout periods were implemented to separate these schedule components.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the resistance to change of established response rates under different reinforcement conditions.
- To assess the impact of concurrent, response-independent food presentations during timeout periods on behavior.
- To evaluate the sensitivity of response rate and latency as measures of behavioral resistance to change.
Main Methods:
- Pigeons were subjected to resistance-to-change tests.
- Response-independent food was delivered during timeout periods, with varying durations across sessions.
- Response rates and latencies to the first response within schedule components were systematically measured.
Main Results:
- Response rates in both high and low rate components decreased as the duration of food presentation during timeouts increased.
- Latency to the first response in each component also increased with longer food presentations.
- Both response rate and latency measures showed comparable proportional changes relative to their baselines.
Conclusions:
- Baseline response rates maintained by pacing contingencies demonstrate equal resistance to change when reinforcement densities are equivalent.
- Latency to respond is identified as a sensitive and reliable measure for assessing resistance to change in behavioral studies.
- Concurrent reinforcement during inter-component intervals can disrupt established operant behavior.
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