| Abstract: | Studied the tendency of animals to search periodically in temporally random environments by presenting 10 male rats with random-interval (RI) 60- and 120-sec schedules. Power spectra revealed a periodicity of responding of 20–50 sec for all Ss regardless of condition. A 2nd periodicity of 5–20 sec was strongest under the RI 60-sec schedule. Optimality theory suggested that periodic responding is better than random responding in obtaining food sooner on average, but the theory did not account for multiple periodicities. These multiple periodicities also could not be explained by a single-oscillator, information-processing version of the scalar expectancy theory proposed by J. Gibbon and R. M. Church (see record 1992-41865-001) or by the behavioral theory of timing proposed by P. R. Killeen and J. G. Fetterman (see record 1988-28629-001). The periodicities were consistent with a connectionist version of scalar expectancy theory that has nonscalar emergent properties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
