Baum William M
University of California, Davis.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2021 Jul;116(1):21-43. doi: 10.1002/jeab.689. Epub 2021 May 6.
The multiscale molar view of behavior is based on three basic laws of behavior: the Law of Allocation, the Law of Induction, and the Law of Covariance. Experiments that mix response-contingent food with noncontingent food shed light on these three laws. Food, like other phylogenetically important events, induces various activities that compete in allocation. Quantitative accounts represent induction with power functions. These power functions define activities' competitive weights, and relative time allocation among activities matches relative competitive weight. Behavior-food covariance determines which activities are induced. Phylogenetic (behavior-fitness) covariance determines which adjunctive activities are induced. Ontogenetic covariance may be represented in feedback functions. Feedback functions for variable-interval schedules may be observed even when overlaid by noncontingent food deliveries. Equations derived from the three laws describe responding in experiments with mixed response-contingent and noncontingent food. Equations derived here accounted for responding in three data sets: (a) from Rachlin and Baum (1972); (b) a new data set in which overall food rate was fixed while the proportion of response-contingent and noncontingent food varied; and (c) a new data set in which food occurred according to various variable-interval schedules. The same pigeons served throughout. All results were accommodated by the derived equations.
分配定律、诱导定律和协变定律。将响应依赖型食物与非依赖型食物混合的实验揭示了这三条定律。食物与其他具有系统发育重要性的事件一样，会诱导各种在分配上相互竞争的活动。定量描述用幂函数来表示诱导。这些幂函数定义了活动的竞争权重，活动之间的相对时间分配与相对竞争权重相匹配。行为-食物协变决定了诱导哪些活动。系统发育（行为-适应性）协变决定了诱导哪些辅助活动。个体发育协变可以在反馈函数中体现。即使被非依赖型食物投放所覆盖，也可能观察到可变间隔时间表的反馈函数。从这三条定律推导出来的方程描述了在混合响应依赖型和非依赖型食物的实验中的反应。这里推导的方程解释了三个数据集的反应：（a）来自拉赫林和鲍姆（1972年）的数据集；（b）一个新数据集，其中总食物率固定，而响应依赖型和非依赖型食物的比例不同；（c）一个新数据集，其中食物根据各种可变间隔时间表出现。整个过程使用的是同一批鸽子。所有结果都与推导出来的方程相符。
