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J Exp Anal Behav. 1969 November; 12(6): 861–874.
doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-861.
PMCID: PMC1338696
Choice as time allocation1
William M. Baum and Howard C. Rachlin
1This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to Harvard University. We are grateful to Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for making available the Lincoln Reckoner, on which most of the data analysis was done. Reprints may be obtained from William M. Baum, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Abstract
When pigeons' standing on one or the other side of a chamber was reinforced on two concurrent variable-interval schedules, the ratio of time spent on the left to time spent on the right was directly proportional to the ratio of reinforcements produced by standing on the left to reinforcements produced by standing on the right. The constant of proportionality was less than unity for all pigeons, indicating a bias toward the right side of the chamber. The biased matching relation obtained here is comparable to the matching relation obtained with concurrent reinforcement of key pecks. The present results, together with related research, suggest that the ratio of time spent in two activities equals the ratio of the “values” of the activities. The value of an activity is the product of several parameters, such as rate and amount of reinforcement, contingent on that activity.
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Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
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