title: Associative interaction: joint control of key pecking by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships.
abstract: The joint control of rate of key pecking in pigeons by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships was studied in the context of a two-component multiple schedule of reinforcement. Food presentation was always associated with one component and extinction with the other. The stimulus-reinforcer relationship was manipulated by varying the relative durations of the two components. In the food-presentation component, a fixed rate of reinforcement, independent of rate of responding, was generated by a schedule referred to as "T*". One aspect of the response-reinforcer relationship, contiguity, was manipulated by varying the percentage of delayed reinforcers. With the multiple T* extinction schedule, stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships could be varied independently of one another. Rate of key pecking was sensitive to manipulations of both relationships. However, significant differential effects due to either the stimulus-reinforcer or response-reinforcer relationship were obtained only when the other relationship was weak: stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relationships interacted in the joint control of responding.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Woodruff
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Conner
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gamzu
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Williams