Department of Psychiatry (MC 3944), University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030-3944, USA.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2012 Jul;98(1):45-64. doi: 10.1901/jeab.2012.98-45.
Two experiments were conducted to compare choices between sequences of reinforcers in pigeon (Experiment 1) and human (Experiment 2) subjects, using functionally analogous procedures. The subjects made pairwise choices among 3 sequence types, all of which provided the same overall reinforcerment rate, but differed in their temporal patterning. Token reinforcement schedules were used in both experiments and the type of exchange schedule varied across blocks of sessions. Some conditions permitted immediate exchange of tokens for consumable reinforcers (food for pigeons, video access for humans); in other conditions, tokens accumulated and were exchanged for consumable reinforcers only at the end of the sequence. Choice patterns in the immediate-exchange conditions were generally similar across species, with both pigeons and humans preferring sequences with the shortest delay to the initial reinforcer in the series. The results are broadly consistent with models of temporal discounting expanded to include the impact of sequences of delayed reinforcers acting in parallel from the time of the choice. Preferences were less consistent with discounting models in the delayed exchange conditions. Questionnaire data gathered at the end of the experiment were consistent with prior results of questionnaire studies, but showed no straightforward relation to the observed choice patterns, urging caution in the extrapolation of results from one decision-making domain to the other.
进行了两项实验，以比较鸽子（实验 1）和人类（实验 2）受试者在使用功能类似的程序在强化序列之间进行选择的情况。受试者在 3 种序列类型之间进行了成对选择，这 3 种类型的序列提供了相同的整体强化率，但在时间模式上有所不同。代币强化程序在两个实验中都被使用，并且交换计划的类型在整个会话块中都有所不同。在一些条件下，允许立即将代币兑换成可食用的强化物（鸽子的食物，人类的视频访问）；在其他条件下，代币只能在序列结束时积累并兑换成可食用的强化物。在立即兑换条件下，鸽子和人类的选择模式通常相似，都倾向于选择延迟时间最短的序列，从而获得系列中的第一个强化物。结果与扩展到包括同时从选择时间开始作用的延迟强化序列的影响的时间折扣模型大致一致。在延迟兑换条件下，偏好与折扣模型不太一致。实验结束时收集的问卷调查数据与先前的问卷调查研究结果一致，但与观察到的选择模式没有直接关系，因此在将一个决策领域的结果推断到另一个领域时需要谨慎。
