Contingent and noncontingent responding in squirrel monkeys as a joint function of quality of, distance from, and schedule of food reinforcement

Abstract

Ss worked on chain FI VI, chain FI DRL, multiple SΔ VI or mult SΔ DRL. In chains, onset of the VI or DRL food link was contingent on right-bar presses in the FI link. In multiples, onset of the food component occurred after a preset duration of SΔ, and was not response-contingent. Sucrose or peanut pellets reinforced left-bar presses on the food schedules. Variability among Ss was great, but generally, results were: (1) where quality of the reinforcer made a difference, sucrose maintained higher response rates than peanut, whether responding was contingently or noncontingently reinforced; (2) responding in the components distal to food was somewhat more sensitive to quality of the reinforcer than responding in the proximal food components; (3) with food reinforcement rate in VI and DRL equated, there was no significant effect of type of schedule per se on FI responding in chains, but (4) there was a differential effect on SΔ responding in multiples, with less SΔ responding on mult SΔ DRL than mult SΔ VI.