Year: 1992
Type: article
Abstract: It has been hypothesized that the magnitude-of-reinforcement effect may differ in closed and open experimental economies. We determined the relationship between magnitude of reinforcement and response rate in three feeding conditions: a closed economy in which total intake was unrestricted, a closed economy in which total intake was restricted so as to maintain body weight at 85% of free-feeding weight, and a traditional open economy in which subjects received food outside the experimental session. In the closed economies, regardless of body weight, the rats responded faster for smaller pellets and when the fixed ratio for pellets was higher. In the open economy, there was no reliable effect of pellet size or pellet cost on response rate. It is concluded that although there are circumstances in which response rate is an immediate function of the parameters of reinforcement, rate is not necessarily a measure of response strength. Response rate may instead, or additionally, contribute to a strategy of reducing the costs associated with resource utilization.
Authors: George Collier, DeanneF. Johnson, Cynthia Morgan
Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G2081357066, DETERMINANTS OF CHOICE
OpenAlex ID: W2076373858