Psychology ETDs

Publication Date

5-31-1968

Abstract

A number of observing response experiments indicate animals prefer informative over noninformative response alternatives. This preference is exhibited even though there is no objective difference in reward conditions to favor one alternative over the other. In the present experiment, an equivalent mixture of short and long fixed-interval schedules was programmed in informative and noninformative response alternatives. The present approach sought to determine whether preference for the informative alternative could be rationalized from an estimation of the relative values of the fixed-interval schedules and mixtures. In conjunction with this purpose, preferences were evaluated over a broad range of short and long fixed-interval schedule differences.

The design included both pairwise choice and informative­noninformative mixture preference test procedures. In the pairwise choice procedure, preferences among the short fixed-interval, the long fixed-interval, the noninformative mixture, and the mean (the arithmetic average of the short and long fixed-intervals) fixed­interval schedules were assessed by the method of paired comparisons. In the informative-noninformative mixture preference tests, the informative, noninformative, and mean conditions were also compared against each other by the method of paired comparisons. Together these two procedures provided an integrated set of choice data to determine the relative values of the various schedules and mixtures and provided a basis to rationalize preference among them.

The results indicated that: (a) the value of the fixed­interval schedules was a negatively accelerated function of the length of the fixed-interval, (b) the value of the noninformative mixture approximated the arithmetic average of the short and long fixed-interval values, (c) the value of the informative mixture was greater than the value of the noninformative mixture, and (d) preference for informative over noninformative mixtures was not a continually increasing function of the differences between the short and long fixed-interval schedules; this result suggested that cues inherent in the noninformative mixture must be considered to predict preference for the informative mixture. The results of both test procedures were consistent with a theory which assumes that the animals1 decisions at the choice point are controlled by and can be understood in terms of the relative values of the competing response alternatives.

The results further indicated that choice and rate of response were not isomorphic measures. Choice consistently ordered the schedules according to their values while rate did not. The results suggested that rate of response indicates momentary reward maximizing behavior.

Degree Name

Psychology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Psychology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Frank Anderson Logan

Second Committee Member

Douglas Peter Ferraro

Third Committee Member

David Wilmot Bessemer

Fourth Committee Member

Henry Carleton Ellis

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS