title: The copyist model and the shaping view of reinforcement.
abstract: The strengthening view of reinforcement attributes behavior change to changes in the response strength or the value of the reinforcer. In contrast, the shaping view explains behavior change as shaping different response units through differential reinforcement. In this paper, we evaluate how well these two views explain: (1) the response-rate difference between variable-ratio and variable-interval schedules that provide the same reinforcement rate; and (2) the phenomenon of matching in choice. The copyist model (Tanno and Silberberg, 2012) - a shaping-view account - can provided accurate predictions of these phenomena without a strengthening mechanism; however, the model has limitations. It cannot explain the relation between behavior change and stimulus control, reinforcer amount, and reinforcer quality. These relations seem easily explained by a strengthening view. Future work should be directed at a model which combine the strengths of these two types of accounts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bunkyo Gakuin University, Kamekubo 1196, Fujimino-shi, Saitama 356-8533, Japan. Electronic address: tantantan01@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanno
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016, USA. Electronic address: asilber@american.edu.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Silberberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Keio University, Mita 2-15-45, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8345, Japan. Electronic address: gami@flet.keio.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakagami
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology
keywords: Concurrent schedule; Copyist model; Shaping view; Strengthening view; Variable interval; Variable ratio