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JournalISSN: 0022-5002

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 

Wiley-Blackwell
About: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Reinforcement & Stimulus control. It has an ISSN identifier of 0022-5002. Over the lifetime, 4650 publications have been published receiving 194812 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Experiments on single, multiple, and concurrent schedules of reinforcement find various correlations between the rate of responding and the rate or magnitude of reinforcement, which can be accounted for by a coherent system of equations.
Abstract: Experiments on single, multiple, and concurrent schedules of reinforcement find various correlations between the rate of responding and the rate or magnitude of reinforcement. For concurrent schedules (i.e., simultaneous choice procedures), there is matching between the relative frequencies of responding and reinforcement; for multiple schedules (i.e., successive discrimination procedures), there are contrast effects between responding in each component and reinforcement in the others; and for single schedules, there are a host of increasing monotonic relations between the rate of responding and the rate of reinforcement. All these results, plus several others, can be accounted for by a coherent system of equations, the most general of which states that the absolute rate of any response is proportional to its associated relative reinforcement.

2,690 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present experiment is a study of strength of response of pigeons on a concurrent schedule under which they peck at either of two response-keys and investigates output as a function of frequency of reinforcement.
Abstract: A previous paper (Herrnstein, 1958) reported how pigeons behave on a concurrent schedule under which they peck at either of two response-keys The significant finding of this investigation was that the relative frequency of responding to each of the keys may be controlled within narrow limits by adjustments in an independent variable In brief, the requirement for reinforcement in this procedure is the emission of a minimum number of pecks to each of the keys The pigeon receives food when it completes the requirement on both keys The frequency of responding to each key was a close approximation to the minimum requirement The present experiment explores the relative frequency of responding further In the earlier study it was shown that the output of behavior to each of two keys may be controlled by specific requirements of outputs Now we are investigating output as a function of frequency of reinforcement The earlier experiment may be considered a study of differential reinforcement; the present one, a study of strength of response Both experiments are attempts to elucidate the properties of rdlative frequency of responding as a dependent variable

2,220 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Reliable acquisition of the pigeon's key-peck response resulted from repeated unconditional (response-independent) presentations of food after the response key was illuminated momentarily.
Abstract: Reliable acquisition of the pigeon's key-peck response resulted from repeated unconditional (response-independent) presentations of food after the response key was illuminated momentarily. Comparison groups showed that acquisition was dependent upon light-food pairings, in that order.

1,537 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A subject's performance under a conditional-discrimination procedure defines conditional relations between stimuli, and ancillary oral naming tests suggested that the subject's application of the same name to each stimulus was neither necessary nor sufficient to establish classes of equivalent stimuli.
Abstract: A subject's performance under a conditional-discrimination procedure defines conditional relations between stimuli: "If Al, then Bl; if A2, then B2." The procedure may also generate matching to sample. If so, the stimuli will be related not only by conditionality, but by equivalence: Al and Bl will become equivalent members of one stimulus class, A2 and B2 of another. One paradigm for testing whether a conditional-discrimination procedure has generated equivalence relations uses three sets of stimuli, A, B, and C, three stimuli per set. Subjects learn to select Set-B and Set-C comparisons conditionally upon Set-A samples. Having been explicitly taught six sample-comparison relations, A1B1, A1C1, A2B2, A2C2, A3B3,and A3C3, subjects prove immediately capable of matching the B- and C-stimuli; six new relations emerge (B1C1, B2C2, B3C3, C1B1, C2B2, C3B3). The 12 stimulus relations, six taught and six emergent, define the existence of three three-member stimulus classes, A1B1C1, A2B2C2 and A3B3C3. This paradigm was expanded by introducing three more stimuli (Set D), and teaching eight children not only the AB and AC relations but DC relations also-selecting Set-C comparisons conditionally upon Set-D samples. Six of the children proved immediately capable of matching the B- and D-stimuli to each other. By selecting appropriate Set-B comparisons conditionally upon Set-D samples, and Set-D comparisons conditionally upon Set-B samples, they demonstrated the existence of three four-member stimulus classes, A1B1C1D1, A2B2C2D2, and A3B3C3D3. These larger classes were confirmed by the subjects' success with the prerequisite lower-level conditional relations; they were also able to select Set-D comparisons conditionally upon samples from Sets A and C, and to do the BC and CB matching that defined the original three-member classes. Adding the three DC relations therefore generated 12 more, three each in BD, DB, AD, and CD. Enlarging each class by one member brought about a disproportionate increase in the number of emergent relations. Ancillary oral naming tests suggested that the subject's application of the same name to each stimulus was neither necessary nor sufficient to establish classes of equivalent stimuli.

1,475 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The generalized matching law predicts that bias should take this form (adding a constant proportion of responding to the favored alternative) and data from a variety of experiments indicate that it generally does.
Abstract: Data on choice generally conform closely to an equation of the form: log(B1/B2)=a log(r1/r2+log k, where B1 and B2 are the frequencies of responding at Alternatives 1 and 2, r1 and r2 are the obtained reinforcement from Alternatives 1 and 2, and a and k are empirical constants. When a and k equal one, this equation is equivalent to the matching relation: B1/B2=r1/r2. Two types of deviation from matching can occur with this formulation: a and k not equal to one. In some experiments, a systematically falls short of one. This deviation is undermatching. The reasons for undermatching are obscure at present. Some evidence suggests, however, that factors favoring discrimination also favor matching. Matching (a=1) may represent the norm in choice when discrimination is maximal. When k differs from one, its magnitude indicates the degree of bias in choice. The generalized matching law predicts that bias should take this form (adding a constant proportion of responding to the favored alternative). Data from a variety of experiments indicate that it generally does.

1,400 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202352
202290
202178
202069
201963
201879