Faculty Articles
Effects of Reinforcer Rate and Reinforcer Quality on Time Allocation: Extensions of Matching Theory to Educational Settings
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
ISSN
0021-8855
Publication Date
Fall 1992
Abstract
We examined how 3 special education students allocated their responding across two concurrently available tasks associated with unequal rates and equal versus unequal qualities of reinforcement. The students completed math problems from two alternative sets on concurrent variable-interval (VI) 30-s VI 120-s schedules of reinforcement. During the equal-quality reinforcer condition, high-quality (nickels) and low-quality items (“program money” in the school's token economy) were alternated across sessions as the reinforcer for both sets of problems. During the unequal-quality reinforcer condition, the low-quality reinforcer was used for the set of problems on the VI 30-s schedule, and the high-quality reinforcer was used for the set of problems on the VI 120-s schedule. Equal- and unequal-quality reinforcer conditions were alternated using a reversal design. Results showed that sensitivity to the features of the VI reinforcement schedules developed only after the reinforcement intervals were signaled through countdown timers. Thereafter, when reinforcer quality was equal, the time allocated to concurrent response alternatives was approximately proportional to obtained reinforcement, as predicted by the matching law. However the matching relation was disrupted when, as occurs in most natural choice situations, the quality of the reinforcers differed across the response options.
DOI
10.1901/jaba.1992.25-691
Volume
25
Issue
3
First Page
691
Last Page
699
NSUWorks Citation
Neef, N. A.,
Mace, F. C.,
Shea, M. C.,
Shade, D.
(1992). Effects of Reinforcer Rate and Reinforcer Quality on Time Allocation: Extensions of Matching Theory to Educational Settings. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25(3), 691-699.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/369