Catania A C, Reynolds G S
J Exp Anal Behav. 1968 May;11(3):Suppl:327-83. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1968.11-s327.
Interval schedules of reinforcement maintained pigeons' key-pecking in six experiments. Each schedule was specified in terms of mean interval, which determined the maximum rate of reinforcement possible, and distribution of intervals, which ranged from many-valued (variable-interval) to single-valued (fixed-interval). In Exp. 1, the relative durations of a sequence of intervals from an arithmetic progression were held constant while the mean interval was varied. Rate of responding was a monotonically increasing, negatively accelerated function of rate of reinforcement over a range from 8.4 to 300 reinforcements per hour. The rate of responding also increased as time passed within the individual intervals of a given schedule. In Exp. 2 and 3, several variable-interval schedules made up of different sequences of intervals were examined. In each schedule, the rate of responding at a particular time within an interval was shown to depend at least in part on the local rate of reinforcement at that time, derived from a measure of the probability of reinforcement at that time and the proximity of potential reinforcements at other times. The functional relationship between rate of responding and rate of reinforcement at different times within the intervals of a single schedule was similar to that obtained across different schedules in Exp. 1. Experiments 4, 5, and 6 examined fixed-interval and two-valued (mixed fixed-interval fixed-interval) schedules, and demonstrated that reinforcement at one time in an interval had substantial effects on responding maintained at other times. It was concluded that the rate of responding maintained by a given interval schedule depends not on the overall rate of reinforcement provided but rather on the summation of different local effects of reinforcement at different times within intervals.
在六个实验中，间隔强化程序维持了鸽子的啄键行为。每个程序都根据平均间隔来指定，平均间隔决定了可能的最大强化速率，以及间隔的分布，间隔分布范围从多值（可变间隔）到单值（固定间隔）。在实验1中，算术级数的一系列间隔的相对持续时间保持不变，而平均间隔则有所变化。在每小时8.4次至300次强化的范围内，反应速率是强化速率的单调递增、负加速函数。在给定程序的各个间隔内，随着时间的推移，反应速率也会增加。在实验2和3中，研究了由不同间隔序列组成的几个可变间隔程序。在每个程序中，间隔内特定时间的反应速率显示至少部分取决于该时间的局部强化速率，局部强化速率由该时间的强化概率以及其他时间潜在强化的接近程度来衡量。单个程序间隔内不同时间的反应速率与强化速率之间的函数关系，类似于实验1中不同程序所得到的函数关系。实验4、5和6研究了固定间隔和双值（混合固定间隔-固定间隔）程序，并证明间隔内某一时刻的强化对其他时刻维持的反应有重大影响。得出的结论是，给定间隔程序维持的反应速率并不取决于所提供的总体强化速率，而是取决于间隔内不同时间强化的不同局部效应的总和。
