Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
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In five experiments we studied the effects on pigeons' key pecking of the location of four or more successive response-dependent reinforcers imbedded in a schedule arranging otherwise response-independent reinforcers. In Experiment 1, high local response rates early in the session were extended farther into the session as the number of response-dependent reinforcers at the beginning of the session increased. A block of four successive response-dependent reinforcers then was scheduled at the beginning, middle, or end of the session (Experiment 2) resulting in higher local response rates at those times in the session when the response-dependent reinforcers were arranged. ⋯ In Experiment 5, responding early in the session had no consequence other than allowing access to the schedule of response-independent food delivery. As in the first experiment, local rates generally were higher early in the session. The results indicate that the location of response-reinforcer dependencies precisely control behavior and that such effects often are not captured by descriptions of behavior in terms of overall response rates.