Choosing among multiple alternatives: Relative and overall reinforcer rates

Area of Science:

• Behavioral science
• Animal cognition
• Operant conditioning

Background:

• Choice behavior is extensively studied with two alternatives.
• Fewer studies explore decision-making with three or more concurrent options.
• Understanding complex choice environments is crucial for behavioral economics and psychology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how the overall rate of reinforcement influences choice preference among multiple (three and four) concurrently scheduled alternatives.
• To examine choice behavior in pigeons under varying reinforcer rates and ratios.
• To compare findings with existing two-alternative choice research.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments utilized concurrent schedules with pigeons.
• Experiment 1: Three alternatives with reinforcer ratios of 9:3:1, varying overall reinforcement rate.
• Experiment 2: Four alternatives with reinforcer ratios of 8:4:2:1, extinction conditions, and varied interval durations.

Main Results:

• Preference for richer options was less extreme with more alternatives, particularly between high-ratio pairs.
• The richer alternative received fewer responses per reinforcer, influencing preference intensity.
• Response rate ratios were independent of interval length, and pigeons consistently chose the richer option post-reinforcement.

Conclusions:

• Choice behavior with multiple alternatives is not a simple extrapolation from two-alternative research.
• Reinforcer rates and ratios significantly shape preference, but not always as predicted by simpler models.
• Pigeon choice behavior in complex concurrent schedules highlights unique adaptive strategies.