TEMPORAL CONTROL IN FIXED-INTERVAL SCHEDULES

The peak procedure was used to study temporal control in pigeons expos ed to seven fixed-interval schedules ranging from 7.5 to 480 s. The fo cus was on behavior in individual intervals. Quantitative properties o f temporal control depended on whether the aspect of behavior consider ed was initial pause duration, the point of maximum acceleration in re sponding, the point of maximum deceleration, the point at which respon ding stopped, or several different statistical derivations of a point of maximum responding. Each aspect produced different conclusions abou t the nature of temporal control, and none conformed to what was known previously about the way ongoing responding was controlled by time un der conditions of differential reinforcement. Existing theory does not explain why Weber's law so rarely fit the results or why each type of behavior seemed unique. These data fit with others suggesting that pr inciples of temporal control may depend on the role played by the part icular aspect of behavior in particular situations.