Timing, learning, and forgetting.

Abstract

A computer-simulation model (AL) was developed for molecular and molar operant conditioning data. AL assumes a simple forgetting rule and all-or-nothing associations between memory representations of responses and reinforcers. AL describes acquisition and steady-state behavior in both concurrent interresponse time (IRT) schedules and in ordinary concurrent schedules. It describes functions relating the relative frequency of an IRT to IRT duration and to reinforcement frequency. AL accurately predicts for ordinary concurrent variable-interval schedules that the log ratio of responses to the two alternatives is a linear function of the log ratio of the reinforcers they deliver, and that the slope of this straight line approximates the degree of undermatching that characterizes the behavior of real animals. In addition, AL successfully describes the fact that in real data of Nevin, Heyman, and others, the probability of a changeover from one response to the other is roughly independent of the number of consecutive responses to the same alternative preceding the changeover. A previous version of AL assimilated data on temporal psychophysics, such as that animals bisect two temporal intervals at the geometric mean, and that the Weber fraction in DRL schedules is approximately constant. AL therefore describes transient and steady-state molecular and molar performances as well as data on temporal psychophysics.