Tests of behavioral-economic assessments of relative reinforcer efficacy II: economic complements.
This experiment was conducted to test the predictions of two behavioral-economic approaches to quantifying relative reinforcer efficacy. The normalized demand analysis suggests that characteristics of averaged normalized demand curves may be used to predict progressive-ratio breakpoints and peak responding. By contrast, the demand analysis holds that traditional measures of relative reinforcer efficacy (breakpoint, peak response rate, and choice) correspond to specific characteristics of non-normalized demand curves. The accuracy of these predictions was evaluated in rats' responding for food or water: two reinforcers known to function as complements. Consistent with the first approach, predicted peak normalized response output values obtained under single-schedule conditions ordinally predicted progressive-ratio breakpoints and peak response rates obtained in a separate condition. Combining the minimum-needs hypothesis with the normalized demand analysis helped to interpret prior findings, but was less useful in predicting choice between food and water--two strongly complementary reinforcers. Predictions of the demand analysis had mixed success. Peak response outputs predicted from the non-normalized water demand curves were significantly correlated with obtained peak responding for water in a separate condition, but none of the remaining three predicted correlations was statistically significant. The demand analysis fared better in predicting choice--relative consumption of food and water under single schedules of reinforcement predicted preference under concurrent schedules significantly better than chance.
Madden
Gregory J
GJ
University of Kansas Department of Applied Behavioral Science, Lawrence 66045, USA. gmadden@ku.edu
Smethells
John R
JR
Ewan
Eric E
EE
Hursh
Steven R
SR
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology