THE PERSISTENCE OF FIXED-RATIO AND DIFFERENTIAL-REINFORCEMENT-OF-LOW-RATE SCHEDULE PERFORMANCES

Abstract

The effects of fixed-ratio (FR) and differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule histories on behavioral persistence were studied in three experiments with pigeons.After exposure to a multiple FR DRL schedule (baseline), either one of two prefeeding amounts were effected under the same schedule (test condition of Experiment 1), under extinction (test condition of Experiment 2), and under fixed-interval (FI) schedules (test condition of Experiment 3).FR response rates generally were less persistent than DRL response rates in Experiments 1 and 2, with the opposite occurring in Experiment 3. Regardless of the test schedules,FR response rates decreased and were less persistent under the large than under the small prefeeding amount.Rates under DRL schedules, however, were maintained when the test schedule was the same as in baseline (Experiment 1),and increased when the baseline schedule changed to an FI (Experiment 3),regardless of the prefeeding amount.Only when extinction was in effect during the test (Experiment 2)were the effects of prefeeding amounts on DRL rates observed consistently, such that these rates decreased with the larger prefeeding amount.These results suggest that the contingencies on response rates and patterns established by the baseline schedule affect the persistence of operant behavior to different prefeeding amounts and to changes in the test schedule.