title: Dynamics in the fine structure of schedule-controlled behavior.
abstract: The variability in the behavioral equilibrium established by six basic schedules was characterized. The measures were the pause preceding the first response in each interreinforcement interval; the mean rate of responding in each interreinforcement interval; and the relative frequency of each interresponse time. The temporal windows ranged across the 780-session exposure, across a session, and across the interreinforcement interval. A display of individual interresponse times as a function of time in the interreinforcement interval indicated clear recurrent responding at somewhat less than 3 Hz in every bird, even after extended exposure to a schedule and regardless of the contingency. No strong sequential dependencies in the interresponse-time distributions were identified. A simulator, based on a simple recurrent pulser, was presented that produced output similar to the obtained data. An archival data base of the behavior chronically maintained by the simple schedules was also generated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Jacksonville State University, Alabama 36265.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Palya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D010856:Columbidae; D011939:Mental Recall; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013998:Time Perception