Behavioral control by the response-reinforcer correlation

Using a discrete-trials procedure, two experiments examined the effects of response-reinforcer correlations on responding while controlling molecular variables that operated at the moment of reinforcer delivery (e.g., response-reinforcer temporal contiguity, interresponse times preceding reinforcement). Each trial consisted of three successive components: Response, Timeout, and Reinforcement, with the duration of each component held constant. The correlation between the number of responses in the Response component and reinforcer deliveries in the Reinforcement component was varied. In the Positive-correlation condition, a larger number of responses in the Response component programmed a higher reinforcement rate (Experiment 1) or a shorter time to reinforcement (Experiment 2) in the Reinforcement component. Although programmed in this way, the actual reinforcer delivery was dependent on, and occurred immediately after, a response in the Reinforcement component. In the Zero-correlation condition, the programmed rates of reinforcement (Experiment 1) or the times to reinforcement (Experiment 2) in the Reinforcement component of each trial were yoked to those in the preceding Positive-correlation condition. Responding in the Response component was higher in the Positive- than in the Zero-correlation condition, without systematic changes in molecular variables. The results suggest that the response-reinforcer correlation can be a controlling variable of behavior.