Logue A W
Office of Academic Affairs, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury 11568-8000, USA.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2002 May;77(3):357-66. doi: 10.1901/jeab.2002.77-357.
From the Harvard Pigeon Lab of the 1960s arose a behavior-analytic approach that was quantitative and rigorous, rooted in Herrnstein's matching law. Researchers modified the matching law to describe choice behavior in a variety of different settings and examined its relations with other quantitative models. Beginning in the early 1970s, researchers began using the Harvard Pigeon Lab's quantitative framework to study in the laboratory specific aspects of the world outside the laboratory. Much of this work concerned investigations of self-control-choice of a larger, more delayed reinforcer over a smaller, less delayed reinforcer. Experiments using a quantitative framework derived from the matching law have also been conducted outside the laboratory; however, these have been far less frequent. Current and future researchers will benefit the field by devising new, creative ways to investigate the matching law and related quantitative models outside the laboratory. Such research can help to demonstrate the validity of these models as basic principles of behavior, can enhance public opinion of and rewards for such research, and can stimulate further development of the Harvard Pigeon Lab's quantitative approach by using that approach with new variables.
20世纪60年代的哈佛鸽子实验室产生了一种行为分析方法，这种方法是定量且严谨的，以赫尔斯坦的匹配定律为基础。研究人员对匹配定律进行了修改，以描述各种不同环境中的选择行为，并研究其与其他定量模型的关系。从20世纪70年代初开始，研究人员开始使用哈佛鸽子实验室的定量框架在实验室中研究实验室之外世界的特定方面。这项工作大多涉及自我控制的研究——在更大、延迟时间更长的强化物与更小、延迟时间更短的强化物之间做出选择。使用源自匹配定律的定量框架进行的实验也在实验室之外开展过；然而，这些实验的频率要低得多。当前和未来的研究人员若能设计出新的、有创造性的方法在实验室之外研究匹配定律及相关定量模型，将造福于该领域。这样的研究有助于证明这些模型作为行为基本原理的有效性，能够提升公众对这类研究的看法和奖励，并能够通过将该方法应用于新变量来刺激哈佛鸽子实验室定量方法的进一步发展。
