Context effects on choice

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Psychology
• Animal Cognition

Background:

• Conditioned reinforcers are stimuli that acquire reinforcing properties through association with unconditioned reinforcers.
• The effectiveness of conditioned reinforcers is debated between global and local contextual approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether the effectiveness of conditioned reinforcers is better explained by a global or local approach.
• To examine pigeon choice behavior in concurrent-chains schedules with manipulated intertrial intervals.

Main Methods:

• Four experiments were conducted using pigeons on a concurrent-chains schedule.
• Intertrial intervals were manipulated and signaled in various ways across experiments.
• Choice preferences between alternatives with different reinforcement schedules were recorded.

Main Results:

• Pigeon preferences consistently aligned with a local analysis of choice.
• The inclusion of intertrial intervals did not decrease preference for richer alternatives as a global analysis would predict.
• Stimulus signaling of intertrial intervals did not alter the local analysis predictions.

Conclusions:

• The findings support a local contextual approach over a global approach in understanding conditioned reinforcer effectiveness.
• Delay-reduction theory may need refinement to account for local contexts in reinforcement schedules.
• Pigeon behavior in concurrent-chains schedules demonstrates sensitivity to local contingencies.