Geriatric Behavior Laboratory, Hendersonville, NC, USA.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2023 Nov;120(3):320-329. doi: 10.1002/jeab.874. Epub 2023 Jul 18.
In separate chambers, responding by two pairs of pigeons was reinforced under concurrent random-ratio schedules of reinforcement. For each pair, the birds' schedules were coupled in such a manner that left- and right-key reinforcement probabilities were determined by the key being pecked by the other pigeon of the pair. In this way, a reinforcement matrix, like that of the popular Prisoner's Dilemma game of game theory, was created. The responding of all subjects soon gravitated to the choice combination identified by the mathematician John Nash as the equilibrium of the Prisoner's Dilemma game. This was found both before and after reversal of contingencies on the keys. In a second experiment, with a single pair of pigeons, stimuli signaling the choice of the paired pigeon had little lasting effect: responding again gravitated to the game's equilibrium. The results affirm earlier findings, demonstrating that Skinner's principle of positive reinforcement, together with Nashian mathematics, entirely accounts for iterative game-theoretic behavior. They extend these findings to the so-called free operant: to schedules of reinforcement in which responding is not constrained by stimulus-response sequencing (i.e., a trials procedure). The coupled schedule of reinforcement introduced here offers significant promise for the experimental analysis of economic and social behaviors.
在单独的隔间中，通过两对鸽子进行反应，根据同时进行的随机比率强化计划得到强化。对于每一对鸽子，它们的强化计划是相互关联的，即左和右键的强化概率由配对中的另一只鸽子啄键决定。通过这种方式，创建了类似于博弈论中流行的囚徒困境游戏的强化矩阵。所有实验对象的反应很快就倾向于数学家约翰纳什确定的作为囚徒困境游戏均衡的选择组合。这是在改变键上的偶然性之前和之后都发现的。在第二个实验中，对于一对鸽子，指示选择配对鸽子的刺激信号几乎没有持久的影响：反应再次倾向于游戏的均衡。结果证实了早期的发现，表明斯金纳的正强化原则与纳什的数学完全解释了迭代博弈论行为。它们将这些发现扩展到所谓的自由操作：在强化计划中，反应不受刺激-反应序列的限制（即试验程序）。这里引入的关联强化计划为经济和社会行为的实验分析提供了重要的前景。
