ABSTRACT
A BEHAVIORAL ECONOMIC MODEL THAT EXPLAINS THE CHOICE AND ALLOCATION OF WORK RATE IS USED TO PREDICT PERFORMANCE PATTERNS IN THREE CONTEXTS: with single schedules, with concurrent schedules when total reinforcement is low, and with concurrent schedules when reinforcement increases. Performance in the three contexts is predicted to change in orderly ways depending on how the subject evaluates the reinforcers earned. Quadrant diagrams are used to generate reinforcer demand functions, work-rate supply functions, and reinforcement-rate expansion paths. Preference between reinforcers is viewed as being a variable, with preference reversing in some situations.
ABSTRACT
Using an A-B-A-B design, two procedures for requesting a change of activity were compared for their effect on the stereotypic behavior of a man with autism. One procedure requested immediate change of activities, whereas the second procedure gave advance notice of a change. Less stereotypy occurred when advance notice of change was given.
ABSTRACT
The field of behavioral economics combines concepts from economics and operant conditioning to examine the influence of schedules or price on preference for reinforcers. Three case studies are reported in which behavioral economic analyses were used to assess relative preference for reinforcers shown by people with intellectual disabilities when schedule requirements varied. The studies examined (a) preference for different reinforcers, (b) substitutability of reinforcers, and (c) changes in preference as a function of schedule requirements.
ABSTRACT
Predictions about impulsive and self-controlled choices were tested in an ABAB design with five mentally retarded children. Choices were between small immediate or large delayed reinforcers under two conditions. In free-choice conditions subjects worked immediately on chosen tasks; in commitment conditions there was a 24-hour delay between choosing and commencing work. Generally, more impulse choices occurred under free-choice conditions, as predicted by the generalized matching law.
Subject(s)
Impulsive Behavior , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Reinforcement, Psychology , Adolescent , Child , Choice Behavior , Female , Humans , Male , Reinforcement Schedule , Time FactorsABSTRACT
The components of concurrent schedules were separated temporally by placing interval schedules on the changeover key. The rates of responding on both the main and changeover keys were examined as a function of the reinforcement rates. In the first experiment, the sensitivity of main-key performance to changing reinforcement rates was inversely related to the temporal separation of components, and changeover performance was monotonically related to the ratio of the reinforcement rates. In the second experiment, when the ratio of the reinforcement rates was scheduled to remain constant while the frequency of reinforcement was varied, changeover performance did not remain constant. A "sampling" interpretation of changeover responding was proposed and subsequently tested in a third experiment where extinction was always scheduled in one component and the frequency of reinforcement was varied in the second component. It was concluded that changeover performance can be interpreted using molar measures of reinforcement and that animals sample activities available to them at rates which are controlled by relative reinforcement rates.
ABSTRACT
The generalized matching law can be applied to a signal-detection matrix to give two equations. The first relates responding in the presence of the stimulus to the reinforcements for the responses, and the second relates responding in the absence of the stimulus to the reinforcements for the responses. Evidence for stimulus discrimination is given by biases that are opposite in sign in the two equations. As the logarithmic ratio and z proportion transformations are similar, the combination of the absolute values of the two logarithmic biases gives a measure equivalent to the signal-detection measures d' and eta. The two equations can also be combined to eliminate the biases caused by the signalling stimuli and to produce a generalized matching-law statement relating overall performance to the obtained reinforcements.
