Suzuki S
Department of Behavioral Science, Faculty of Letters, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060, Japan.
Behav Processes. 1997 Feb;39(2):205-14. doi: 10.1016/s0376-6357(96)00049-6.
The present study examined human choice between a task including a single alternative (i.e. a single-alternative task), and a task including multiple alternatives (i.e. a multi-alternative task). The subjects were divided into three groups and were exposed to three conditions. The multi-alternative task included two alternatives in two groups and included three alternatives in one group. An alternative in the single-alternative task was identical to one in the multi-alternative task. Amount of reinforcement for alternatives specific to the multi-alternative tasks was manipulated under three conditions in each group. When the amount of reinforcement was equal to or larger than that in the alternative common to both tasks, the subjects preferred the multi-alternative task over the single-alternative task. When amount of reinforcement was smaller, there was no difference in preference between the multi-alternative and the single-alternative tasks. In addition, the degree of preference for the multi-alternative task depended on the number of alternatives that produced larger reinforcers.
本研究考察了人类在包含单一选项的任务（即单选项任务）和包含多个选项的任务（即多选项任务）之间的选择。受试者被分为三组，并接受三种条件。多选项任务在两组中包含两个选项，在一组中包含三个选项。单选项任务中的一个选项与多选项任务中的一个选项相同。在每组的三种条件下，对多选项任务特有的选项的强化量进行了操纵。当强化量等于或大于两个任务共有的选项中的强化量时，受试者更喜欢多选项任务而非单选项任务。当强化量较小时，多选项任务和单选项任务在偏好上没有差异。此外，对多选项任务的偏好程度取决于产生更大强化物的选项数量。
