Superstitious responding and reinforcement rate under concurrent variable-interval extinction schedules

To examine superstitious responding, four pigeons key pecked under multiple concurrent variable-interval 45 s variable-interval 90 s concurrent variab le-interval 90 s variable interval 180 s schedules in the absence of a chan geover delay. The two variable-interval 90 s schedules then were replaced b y extinction, and key-peck responding during extinction was examined as a f unction of the prevailing reinforcement rate. During the first several sess ions, extinction-key responding was maintained closer to baseline levels in the presence of the higher reinforcement rate, and this effect dissipated or even reversed with continued exposure to extinction. Although extinction -key responding generally decreased to near-zero levels after several sessi ons, in a few instances, it continued for 30 and 45 sessions. These results demonstrate how concurrent variable-interval extinction schedules can be u sed to investigate what often has been labeled superstitious responding. (C ) 3001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.