Abstract
Under fixed-ratio reinforcement, an added counter weakened performance to a greater extent when the added counter alternated with an identical fixed-ratio schedule (without the counter) in a multiple schedule. The results were interpreted as indicating an increase in the discriminative control by the added counter, which was caused by the contrast with the interpolated ratio requirement without the counter. The results confirm and extend earlier reports that fixed-ratio performance is substantially weakened by amplification of the discriminative control of performance by response count.
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Ferster, C. B. (1953). The use of the free operant in the analysis of behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 50, 263–274.
Ferster, C. B., & Peele, D. B. (1980). The contribution of an added counter to a fixed-ratio schedule. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 34, 93–105.
Ferster, C. B., & Skinner, B. F. (1957). Schedules of reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
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The research described in this article was conducted prior to C. B. Ferster’s death in February 1981, and was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant BNS-8309045 to The American University.
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Peele, D.B., Ferster, C.B. Effects of an added counter on keypecking maintained by a fixed-ratio schedule: Context effects. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 28, 219–220 (1990). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334008
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334008