Response-independent events in the behavior stream

The metaphor of the behavior stream provides a framework for studying the effects of response-independent food presentations intruded into an environment in which operant responding of pigeons was maintained by variable-interval schedules. In the first two experiments, response rates were reduced when response-independent food was intruded during the variable-interval schedule according to a concomitantly present fixed-time schedule. These reductions were not always an orderly function of the percentage of response-dependent food. Negatively accelerated patterns of key pecking across the fixed-time period occurred in Experiment 1 under the concomitant fixed-time variable-interval schedules. In Experiment 2, positively and negatively accelerated and linear response patterns occurred even though the schedules were similar to those used in Experiment 1. The variable findings in the first two experiments led to three subsequent experiments that were designed to further illuminate the controlling variables of the effects of intruded response-independent events. When the fixed and variable schedules were correlated with distinct operanda by employing a concurrent fixed-interval variable-interval schedule (Experiment 3) or with distinct discriminative stimuli (Experiments 4 and 5), negatively accelerated response patterns were obtained. Even in these latter cases, however, the response patterns were a joint function of the physical separation of the two schedules and the ratio of fixed-time or fixed-interval to variable-interval schedule food presentations. The results of the five experiments are discussed in terms of the contributions of both reinforcement variables and discriminative stimuli in determining the effects of intruding response-independent food into a stream of operant behavior.