Document Type
Dissertation
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Degree
PhD in Behavior Analysis
Dissertation Defense Date
2022
First Committee Member
Pinkston, Jonathan W.
Second Committee Member
Galizio, Annie
Third Committee Member
Bourret, Jason
Additional Committee Member(s)
Palmer, David
Abstract
"Human sensitivity to fixed-ratio (FR) schedules was examined in terms of running rate, pre-ratio pause (PRP), inter-response time (IRT), response force, and verbal behavior. College students pressed a force transducer to produce access to video media under a variety of multiple FR schedules. During Experiment 1, ten students participated in a single session with juxtaposed small (FR 5) and large (FR 20, 40, and 80) schedules. For all participants except two, running rate was faster during the large ratio. Response latencies, subsuming both PRP and IRT, decreased within session. Response force also tended towards smaller values when comparing early and late session. During Experiment 2, five participants returned for many sessions to permit within-subject comparison of responding at different ratio sizes. Sensitivity was observed as changes in running rate closely tracking changes in ratio sizes, within-session decreases in both latency and response force, and correlated changes in participant verbal behavior. Across both experiments, biphasic FR performance characteristic of experiments with non-humans was reproduced in that post-ratio pausing was typically longer than subsequent IRTs. However, unlike previous non-human research, PRPs did not increase with changes in ratio requirement."
Recommended Citation
Nuzzolilli, Andrew E., "Dynamics of human fixed-ratio performance" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations - College of Arts and Sciences. 44.
https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/casdissertations/44
