PROBABILITY LEARNING AS A FUNCTION OF MOMENTARY REINFORCEMENT PROBABILITY 1

Pigeons were trained on a probability learning task where the overall reinforcement probability was 0.50 for each response alternative but where the momentary reinforcement probability differed and depended upon the outcome of the preceding trial. In all cases, the maximum reinforcement occurred wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the experimental analysis of behavior Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 363 - 368
Main Author Williams, Ben A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.05.1972
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ISSN0022-5002
1938-3711
DOI10.1901/jeab.1972.17-363

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Summary:Pigeons were trained on a probability learning task where the overall reinforcement probability was 0.50 for each response alternative but where the momentary reinforcement probability differed and depended upon the outcome of the preceding trial. In all cases, the maximum reinforcement occurred with a “win‐stay, lose‐shift” response pattern. When both position and color were relevant cues, the optimal response pattern was learned when the reinforcement probability for repeating the just‐reinforced response was 0.80 but not when the probability was 0.65. When only color was relevant, learning occurred much more slowly, and only for subjects trained on large fixed ratio requirements.
ISSN:0022-5002
1938-3711
DOI:10.1901/jeab.1972.17-363