CHOICE AS A FUNCTION OF LOCAL VERSUS MOLAR REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES

• Published in: Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 455 - 473
• Main Author: Williams, Ben A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.1991; Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Subjects: Animals; Appetitive Behavior; Attention; Biological and medical sciences; choice; Choice Behavior; concurrent schedules; Discrimination Learning; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; intertrial interval; Learning. Memory; lever press; local reinforcement contingencies; Male; matching law; Mental Recall; momentary maximizing; Probability Learning; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Reinforcement Schedule; Learning; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Acquisition process; Choice; Rat; Animal; Rodentia; Strategy; Concurrent reinforcement; Intertrial interval

Rats were trained on a discrete‐trial probability learning task. In Experiment 1, the molar reinforcement probabilities for the two response alternatives were equal, and the local contingencies of reinforcement differentially reinforced a win‐stay, lose‐shift response pattern. The win‐stay portion w...