Behavioral contrast in one component of a multiple schedule as a function of the reinforcement conditions operating in the following component.
In multicomponent schedules, the next reinforcement condition drives current response rate.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team ran pigeons on a two-part schedule. Both parts paid food on a VI 5-min plan.
The twist: after the first part, one group hit extinction while the other stayed on VI 1-min.
They counted key pecks to see if the upcoming condition changed how hard the birds worked now.
What they found
Birds pecked faster in the part that led to extinction than in the part that led to richer pay.
The result showed order-dependent contrast: the next schedule, not the current one, set the pace.
How this fits with other research
Maltz (1981) later locked in the same rule: contrast size tracks the following reinforcement rate.
Dove et al. (1974) swapped in new VI values and still saw the jump-then-drop pattern, a clean replication.
Rogers-Warren et al. (1976) added bright lights to mark each part. Contrast stayed, proving the effect is not just hidden reflexes.
Yet A et al. (1976, null paper) found zero contrast when both parts paid equally. This sets a boundary: different upcoming rates are required.
Why it matters
When you run multicomponent sessions, think ahead. The schedule that comes next can raise or sink responding now.
Use this to boost low-rate behaviors: place a lean or extinction component right after the target response period.
Just keep reinforcer rates unequal across parts; equal pay kills the lift.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The key pecks of four pigeons were reinforced on a variable-interval 5-min schedule which operated in each of the four components of a multiple schedule, indicated by red, green, yellow, and blue stimuli and presented in such an order that the red stimulus always preceded the yellow and the green stimulus always preceded the blue. After establishing baseline rates, the reinforcement schedule associated with the blue and yellow components was altered so that one was now an extinction schedule and the other was a variable-interval 1-min schedule. In a second experimental stage, the blue stimulus was interchanged with the yellow so that the red stimulus preceded the blue and the green stimulus preceded the yellow. In both experimental stages the response rate in the variable-interval 5-min component that preceded the extinction component was higher than the response rate in the variable-interval 5-min component that preceded the variable-interval 1-min component. The results were discussed in relation to the importance of stimulus ordering in experiments concerned with investigating behavioral contrast.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1969 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1969.12-239