A PROBABILISTIC MODEL FOR FREE-RESPONDING.
Abstract
A free-responding (or 'free-operant') situation is one in which an organism is permitted to perform (or 'emit') a certain action (or 'response' or 'operant') repeatedly, at any times it chooses. In the free-operant situations considered in this paper, an animal (typically a rat or pigeon) is induced to perform this action (usually a lever press in the former case and a peck at a specified area or 'key' in the latter) by being tendered a reward (or '(positive) reinforcement' - a small amount of food, for instance) occasionally after the action is performed. B. F. Skinner ('Behavior of Organisms.' New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.) discovered that various reward regimes (or 'schedules of reinforcement') generate distinctive behavior patterns in free-responding situations. Interest is centered around this phenomenon.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 14, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0611163
Entities
People
- M. Frank Norman
Organizations
- Stanford University