EFFECTS OF VARYING THE PROBABILITY OF REINFORCEMENT ON MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE TASKS IN PIGEONS

The effects of varying the probability of reinforcement of responses to the identical (PSRi) and different(PSRd) comparison stimuli in matching to sample tasks were evaluated. PSRi was varied in descendentascendentway at the same time that PSRd was varied in an ascendent-descendent way. The values ofPSRi were 1.0, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25, 0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0; while the values of PERd were 0.0, 0.25, 0.50,0.75,1.0, 0.75, 0.50, 0.25, 0.0.The results show that the distribution of responses to the identical anddifferent comparison stimuli was a positive function of PSRi and PSRd values.