Effects of differential probabilities of reinforcement on human timing

Abstract

We investigated how differential payoffs affect the temporal discrimination of humans. In a temporal bisection task, participants learned to make one response after a short sample and another after a long sample. When presented with a range of intermediate samples, the proportion of responses fitted well a Gaussian-like distribution function characterized by a location (bias), a scale (sensitivity) parameter, and two asymptote (discrimination) parameters. In Experiment 1, when one response yielded more reinforcers than the other, parameters were unaltered, but overall responses increased for the response producing higher payoffs. In Experiment 2, we used a video game to track motion during the sample and participants learned to approach the “short” response location at sample onset and remain there before departing to the “long” location on long trials. Departure times were shorter when “long” choices produced higher payoffs than “short” and matched well the shifted psychometric functions. However, on some trials, subjects were biased for short, returning to the short side after having departed towards long. Evidence was found for effects of differential payoffs on response bias, but discrimination and sensitivity did not change consistently. These results favor a behavioral account of timing processes.