STIMULUS CONTROL OF BEHAVIORAL HISTORY

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Abstract
Pigeons were exposed to two different reinforcement schedules under different stimulus conditions in each of two daily sessions separated by 6 hr (Experiments 1 and 2) or in a single session (Experiment 3). Following this, either a fixed‐interval (Experiment 1) or a variable‐interval schedule (Experiments 2 and 3) was effected in both stimulus conditions. In the first two experiments, exposure to fixed‐ratio or differential‐reinforcement‐of‐low‐rate schedules led to response‐rate, but not pattern, differences in subsequent performance on fixed‐ or variable‐interval schedules that persisted for up to 60 sessions. The effects of reinforcement‐schedule history on fixed‐interval schedule performance generally were more persistent. In Experiment 3, a history of high and low response rates in different components of a multiple schedule resulted in subsequent response‐rate differences under identical variable‐interval schedules. Higher response rates initially occurred in the component previously correlated with high response rates. For 3 of 4 subjects, the differences persisted for 20 or more sessions. Previous demonstrations of behavioral history effects have been confined largely to between‐subject comparisons. By contrast, the present results demonstrate strong behavioral effects of schedule histories under stimulus control within individual subjects.

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