Effects of a response dependent reinforcement history on response rate maintenance under response independent reinforcement and on re-establishment under response dependent reinforcement

Abstract

The effect of two different histories of reinforcement on response rate was examined. In a first phase three rats were exposed to a tandem RI 8 s FT 8 s reinforcement schedule while another three rats were exposed to a yoked RI 16 s reinforcement schedule. Another three rats were exposed to a tandem RI 8 s FT 8 s reinforcement schedule while another three rats were exposed to a yoked RI 8 s VT 8 s reinforcement schedule. In a second phase all rats were exposed to a RT 16 s reinforcement schedule. In a third phase the rats were exposed to the same reinforcement schedules as in the first phase. After a history of response dependent reinforcement response rate decreased for all rats under independent reinforcement. This effect was more pronounced for rats exposed to immediate reinforcement in the first phase than for rats under delayed reinforcement. Response rate re-establishment under dependent reinforcement was not affected by a history of independent reinforcement. In addition, an important finding was that although the programmed contingencies were different the obtained response-reinforcer intervals controlled response rate across all phases of the study.