Abstract
Pigeon’s keypecking was reinforced on a multiple fixed-ratio (FR) schedule. All three components were maintained at a FR 50 response requirement with two components containing timeouts. A 2.5-sec time-out appeared regularly after the 30th response in one of these components, while a 10-sec time-out appeared after the 30th response in the second time-out component. Pauses following reinforcement were shortest in the non-time-out component, while longest duration pausing accompanied the 10-sec time-out component. The 2.5-sec time-out generated intermediate duration pauses. In time-out components, response rate was low preceding the time-out, and high immediately following it. The total time from response initiation to subsequent reinforcement was highly predictive of pause duration.
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This research was supported in part by grants from the City University of New York Faculty Research Award program and NIH Biomedical Sciences Support Grants to the City College of New York.
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Barowsky, E.I., Mintz, D.E. The effects of time-out duration during fixed-ratio reinforcement. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 215–218 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336812
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336812