Abstract
Four rats were reinforced on a mixed fixed-interval, fixed-interval (FI,FI) schedule. The short FI was 15 sec, and the long FI was 60 sec. Two levers were available to the subject. Responses on one were reinforced following short intervals, and responses on the other were reinforced following long intervals. All subjects learned the temporal discrimination. They responded at higher rates on the short lever early in the interval and on the long lever late in the interval. Duration of the preceding interval had no effect on the distribution of responses, but subjects made slightly more responses following long intervals.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Catania, A. C. (1970). Reinforcement schedules and psychophysical judgments: A study of some temporal properties of behavior. In W. N. Schoenfeld, The theory of reinforcement schedules (pp. 1-42). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Catania, A. C., & Reynolds, G. S. (1968). A quantitative analysis of the behavior maintained by interval schedules of reinforcement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 11, 327–383.
Church, R. M., & Deluty, M. Z. (1977). Bisection of temporal intervals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 3, 216–228.
Gibbon, J., & Allan, L. (Eds.) (1984). Timing and time perception (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 423). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Innis, N. K. (1978). Contrast effects in multiple fixed-interval reinforcement schedules. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 29, 233–242.
Meck, W. H., & Church, R. M. (1984). Simultaneous temporal processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 10, 1–29.
Meltzer, D. (1987). Sequential effects of interval duration on fixed-interval performance. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 47, 73–80.
Meltzer, D., & Howerton, D. L. (1973). Sequential effect of reinforcement magnitude on fixed-interval performance in rats. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 85, 361–366.
Meltzer, D., & Robertson, K. (1990). Sequential effects of response-opportunity duration. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 28, 426–428.
Staddon, J. E. R., & Innis, N. K. (1969). Reinforcement omission on fixed-interval schedules. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 12, 689–700.
Stubbs, A. (1968). The discrimination of stimulus duration by pigeons. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 11, 223–258.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meltzer, D., Robertson, K. & Irwin, J. Choice discrimination and fixed-interval performance. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 29, 407–410 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333955
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333955