Shock delivery during the pause in a fixed-interval schedule

Abstract

Five rats worked under a Fixed-Interval 60 seconds reinforcement schedule in which shock frequency during the pause was manipulated. No systematic effects were found between frequency of shocks and the pause or the terminal rate of responding. These results, in particular the latter one, run against an interpretation of Fixed-Interval Schedules as Multiple Extinction-Variable Interval Schedules and its description by the law of relative reinforcement. It is suggested that local effects of shock account for the obtained results. This assertion is based upon two observations: First, the pause tended to increase as a consequence of shock delivery, independently of its frequency. Second, increases in the pause were observed since the early application of shocks.