Choice and the Conditioned Reinforcing Strength of Informative Stimuli

Abstract

In two experiments using the concurrent chains procedure, pigeons were presented with a choice between alternatives in which the prevailing stimuli were correlated or uncorrelated with differing conditions of reinforcement. In both experiments, the overall rate of primary reinforcement afforded by the alternative with the correlated stimuli was lower than that afforded by the alternative with the uncorrelated stimulus. The difference between rates of primary reinforcement was achieved through selective manipulation of the probability of the reinforcement (Experiment 1) and duration of the interreinforcement interval (Experiment 2) in the alternative with the correlated stimuli. The results indicated that the alternative with the correlated stimuli maintained at least as much choice responding as did the alternative with the uncorrelated stimulus, despite the lower overall rate of primary reinforcement. The results further suggested that the conditioned reinforcement provided by the stimulus positively correlated with the availability of reinforcement compensated for the lower overall rate of primary reinforcement from that alternative.