摘要：Although pre-ratio pausing is a characteristic feature of fixedratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement, pausing reduces the rate atwhich reinforcement is earned. To determine whether FR pausingcan be altered, 7 rats were studied with procedures in which longpauses were punished with time-out from reinforcement. A generalfinding was that pausing is modifiable. However, tendencies to pausewere highly resistant to change, and for some animals under someconditions efforts to reduce pausing were unsuccessful. Moreover,despite the fact that reduced pausing was accompanied by increasedreinforcement rates, long pauses resumed when the punishmentcontingency was removed. Two sets of factors were proposed ascontributors to these mixed results: the relatively small gain inreinforcement rates that accompanied reduced pausing, and thepossible status of pre-ratio pausing as a form of elicited, rather thanoperant, behavior.
