title: Second-order schedules of token reinforcement with pigeons: implications for unit price.
abstract: Four pigeons were exposed to second-order schedules of token reinforcement, with stimulus lights serving as token reinforcers. Tokens were earned according to a fixed-ratio (token-production) schedule, with the opportunity to exchange tokens for food (exchange period) occurring after a fixed number had been produced (exchange-production ratio). The token-production and exchange-production ratios were manipulated systematically across conditions. Response rates varied inversely with the token-production ratio at each exchange-production ratio. Response rates also varied inversely with the exchange-production ratio at each token-production ratio, particularly at the higher token-production ratios. At higher token-production and exchange-production ratios, response rates increased in token-production segments closer to exchange periods and food. Some conditions were conducted in a closed economy, in which the pigeons earned all their daily ration of food within the session. Relative to comparable open-economy conditions, response rates in the closed economy were less affected by changes in token-production ratio, resulting in higher levels of food intake and body weight. Some of the results are consistent with the economic concept of unit price, a cost-benefit ratio comprised of responses per unit of food delivery, but most are well accounted for by a consideration of the number of responses required to produce exchange periods, without regard to the amount of reinforcement available during those exchange periods.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Bullock
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Hackenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001245:Association Learning; D001835:Body Weight; D002755:Choice Behavior; D010856:Columbidae; D003210:Concept Formation; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D014040:Token Economy