Explaining Performance on Interval and Ratio Schedules with a Molar View of Behavior.

Abstract

Some of the most basic phenomena in behavior analysis are the differences between performance on interval and ratio schedules. They have long been known and long puzzled over. Previous attempts to explain the performances have foundered either because they lacked a mechanism or because they adopted a molecular view of behavior based on discrete responses and contiguity. The molar view of behavior offers the sought-for explanation of differences in activity rate and the inability of ratio schedules to maintain activity at low food rates. The present account relies on induction by phylogenetically important events (PIE) according to power functions, molar feedback functions, and the framework of matching theory. A model described by a feedback system with all parameters the same predicts the relations between activity rate and PIE rate. The difference in overall activity rate arises from a difference in units of activities selected by ratio and interval schedules. The results demonstrate the greater explanatory power of the molar view of behavior.