Post reinforcement behavior and its relation to the psychophysical power law

• Main Author: Casey, Ronald W.
• Other Authors: Meunier, Gary F.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Reinforcement (Psychology); Reaction time.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/180909; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/414707

The duration of the post reinforcement pause was measured for three white rats on fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement ranging from 26 to 120. The post reinforcement pause consistently increased as the ratio requirement increased for all three subjects. The data failed to show one function (power, logarithmic, or linear) as significantly more useful than the other two in describing the relationship between systematically increased fixed ratios and the respective post reinforcement pause for each ratio. Furthermore, there was no consistent relationship between the response rate and the fixed ratio requirement.