Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
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A change in the size of a fixed-ratio schedule involves a simultaneous change in number of responses, in time to complete the ratio (work time), and in the interval between successive reinforcements (interreinforcement interval). Previous studies have suggested the importance of work time and the interreinforcement interval in controlling the length of the post-reinforcement pause. The present study sought to determine whether number of responses is also a significant factor. ⋯ When the work times (Experiment I) or interreinforcement intervals (Experiment II) were equated for the two components, the pause before the fixed-ratio x was longer than the pause before the fixed-ratio 2 plus timeout. As fixed-ratio x size increased, the relative difference in the lengths of the two types of pauses also increased. Because the fixed-ratio x component contained a larger number of responses than the fixed-ratio 2 plus timeout component, the relatively longer pause preceding the fixed-ratio x indicates that number of responses played a significant role in determining the length of the post-reinforcement pause.
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Five pigeons were exposed to an unsignalled avoidance procedure where key pecks were maintained through shock postponement. Functions obtained showed an inverse relationship between rate of responding and length of the response-shock interval, while changes in the shock-shock interval had no systematic effect on response rates. The rate of shocks delivered generally decreased with increases in length of both response-shock and shock-shock intervals. Results show that key pecking in pigeons, maintained through an unsignalled avoidance procedure, was affected by changes in response-shock and shock-shock intervals in the same manner as other responses in pigeons and in rats.