SHIFTS IN THE PSYCHOMETRIC FUNCTION AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR MODELS OF TIMING

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior - Tập 74 Số 1 - Trang 25-54 - 2000
Armando Machado1, Paulo Guilhardi2
1Department of Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington 47405, USA.
2INDIANA UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITY OF SãO CARLOS

Tóm tắt

This study examined how two models of timing, scalar expectancy theory (SET) and learning to time (LeT), conceptualize the learning process in temporal tasks, and then reports two experiments to test these conceptualizations. Pigeons responded on a two‐alternative free‐operant psychophysical procedure in which responses on the left key were reinforceable during the first two, but not the last two, quarters of a 60‐s trial, and responses on the right key were reinforceable during the last two, but not the first two, quarters of the trial. In Experiment 1 three groups of birds experienced a difference in reinforcement rates between the two keys only at the end segments of the trial (i.e., between the first and fourth quarters), only around the middle segments of the trial (i.e., between the second and third quarters), or in both end and middle segments. In Condition 1 the difference in reinforcement rate favored the left key; in Condition 2 it favored the right key. When the reinforcement rates differed in the end segments of the trial, the psychometric function—the proportion of right responses across the trial—did not shift across conditions; when it occurred around the middle of the trial or in both end and middle segments, the psychometric function shifted across conditions. Experiment 2 showed that the psychometric function shifts even when the overall reinforcement rate for the two keys is equal, provided the rates differ around the middle of the trial. This pattern of shifts of the psychometric function is inconsistent with SET. In contrast, LeT provided a good quantitative fit to the data.

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Thông tin xuất bản

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Tập 74 Số 1

25-54

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