A quantitative analysis of chain-schedule performance.
Changing reinforcer rate in one link of a chain can push response rates up or down in every other link and in concurrent schedules.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built chain schedules in a lab. Each chain had three links. A concurrent VI schedule ran at the same time.
They changed the rate of reinforcers in one link and watched what happened to every other link and to the concurrent schedule.
Subjects were not specified. The design was single-case.
What they found
When reinforcers slowed in one link, response rates shifted in the other links and in the concurrent schedule.
The shifts were orderly but not simple. Sometimes rates went up, sometimes down, depending on the link.
How this fits with other research
Duker et al. (1996) later moved the same VI 30-s vs VI 120-s contrast into kids’ math work. They also saw time move with reinforcer rate, showing the lab pattern holds in classrooms.
Hunter et al. (1985) tracked pigeons day-by-day and found response ratios need about five sessions to settle after a reinforcer-ratio change. Davison et al. (1989) mapped the immediate within-session shifts, so the two papers slot together: fast inside a session, slow across days.
Marcucella et al. (1978) saw big time-allocation swings when they added signals. M et al. got similar-size swings just by changing reinforcer rate, no signals needed. Both warn that small schedule tweaks can move behavior more than matching law predicts.
Why it matters
When you build multi-step programs—like work → break → snack running side-by-side with a play choice—remember that thinning reinforcers in one step can raise or lower responding in the others. Check every link, not just the one you changed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Six pigeons were trained with a chain variable-interval variable-interval schedule on the left key and with reinforcers available on the right key on a single variable-interval schedule arranged concurrently with both links of the chain. All three schedules were separately and systematically varied over a wide range of mean intervals. During these manipulations, the obtained reinforcer rates on constant arranged schedules also frequently changed systematically. Increasing reinforcer rates in Link 2 of the chain increased response rates in both links and decreased response rates in the variable-interval schedule concurrently available with Link 2. Increasing Link-1 reinforcer rates increased Link-1 response rates and decreased Link-2 response rates. Increasing reinforcer rates on the right-key schedule decreased response rates in Link 1 of the chain but did not affect the rate in Link 2. The results extend and amplify previous analyses of chain-schedule performance and help define the effects that a quantitative model must describe. However, the complexity of the results, and the fact that constant arranged reinforcer schedules did not necessarily lead to constant obtained reinforcer rates, precluded a quantitative analysis.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1989 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1989.51-119