Abstract
The force of lever-pressing was measured under a 1-min. fixed-interval schedule of food reinforcement. The Ss, 6 rats, were tested under 4 conditions of response force requirement imposed in the following order: 22, 52, 22, and 7.4 gm. In one analysis, it was found that the average force of lever-pressing gradually increased in magnitude during the 1-min. intervals. Under the higher force requirements, it was found that criterion responses were less numerous and occurred closer to the end of the fixed-interval. Sub-criterion responses, however, remained numerous at higher force requirements. After the imposition of the highest (52 gm) requirement, it was found that a higher average force characterized the performance even after 5 weeks’ exposure to lower values.
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This investigation was supported by P. H. S. Research Grant MH-01604 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
During the performance of the experiment, P. H. S. Fellow, IFIMH-20, 985-01.
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Gollub, L.R., Lee, R.M. Response force under fixed-interval reinforcement. Psychon Sci 4, 9–10 (1966). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342148
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342148