Variable‐ratio Schedules as Variable‐interval Schedules With Linear Feedback Loops

McDowell, J. J.; Wixted, John T.

doi:10.1901/jeab.1986.46-315

Cited by 72 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…These data offer support for the findings reported by McDowell and Wixted (1986) in their study of humans' sensitivity to molar aspects of the contingency. This finding was obtained after adopting the appropriate control conditions for establishing sensitivity to the VI schedule.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The present study aimed to systematically replicate the experiment conducted by McDowell and Wixted (1986)including the appropriate control conditions-to ascertain whether sensitivity to the molar aspects of the schedules could be obtained.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, there is little strong evidence for the ability to integrate information across time on such contingencies. Critically, McDowell and Wixted (1986) did not run their subjects with a standard VI schedule without a linear feedback loop. Although such comparisons exist crossexperimentally, the use of such comparisons is difficult, and it may have been that their subjects (humans) would have responded at the same rate on any schedule to which they were exposed.…”

Section: Swansea University Swansea Walesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means that the molecular or local aspects of the schedule could also account for the lower response rates on VI schedules. Vaughan and Miller (1984) suggest that such confounds between the molecular and molar aspects of the contingencies make the use of simple schedules problematic, and that on more complex schedules, there is very little support for a molar view (see also Reed & Schachtman, 1989).The variable-interval-plus-linear-feedback (VI ) schedule (McDowell & Wixted, 1986) is an important schedule to study in the investigation of molar sensitivity. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The variable-interval-plus-linear-feedback (VI ) schedule (McDowell & Wixted, 1986) is an important schedule to study in the investigation of molar sensitivity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human sensitivity to reinforcement feedback functions

Reed

2007

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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Exploring the ability to integrate information over extended periods of time is important to the study of learning and behavior. Researchers have suggested that this ability underlies optimal performance, and the extent to which behavior is controlled by events occurring over an extended period of time is central to theoretical debate about instrumental performance (Schachtman & Reed, 1998). In particular, the extent of this ability addresses a distinction between "molar" and "molecular" theorists (cf. Baum, 1981;Vaughan & Miller, 1984). "Molar theorists" hold that behavior is guided by the integration of information about responses made and reinforcers earned, across temporally extended periods. Organisms learn to match their response rate output to the reinforcer rate input and, thus, come to perform optimally (see, e.g., Baum, 1981). In contrast, "molecular theorists" posit that reinforcement acts only to strengthen the immediately preceding behavior local to the delivery of reinforcement, and information over temporally extended periods is not integrated (e.g., Peele, Casey, & Silberberg, 1984). For example, if response rates immediately prior to reinforcement are low, then strengthening the tendency to emit low local rates would reduce overall response rates. According to this view, optimal performance observed over extended periods is only a by-product of these local processes and does not depend on the ability to integrate information across extended periods (e.g., Vaughan & Miller, 1984).Schedules of reinforcement have often been employed to assess sensitivity to the temporally extended (molar) relationship between response output and reinforcement input, often characterized as the reinforcer feedback function. Demonstrating sensitivity to this molar characteristic of a schedule is important, since it would suggest that integration over time is a critical factor in instrumental performance. However, although the concept of molar sensitivity has currency in the literature at a theoretical level, the evidence in its support based on schedule performance is not without controversy. Under many conditions in which schedule performance suggests sensitivity to temporally extended aspects of the environment, molecular process may also lead to the same result. For example, response rates are higher on variable ratio (VR) schedules than on variable interval (VI) schedules (Peele et al., 1984). This result is compatible with the suggestion that responding is guided by sensitivity to the temporally extended reinforcer feedback function; higher response rates lead to higher reinforcer rates on VR schedules, but not on VI schedules. However, VI schedules also reinforce longer interresponse times (IRTs) than do VR schedules. Molecular theorists, like Peele et al., suggest that the reinforcement of particular IRTs is the prime determinant of schedule performance, such that if long IRTs are reinforced, then increased emission of this long IRT would lead to reduced overall response rates. On VI schedules, the probability ...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Swansea University Swansea Walesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The variable-interval-plus-linear-feedback (VI ) schedule (McDowell & Wixted, 1986) is an important schedule to study in the investigation of molar sensitivity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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