The critical dimensions of the response-reinforcer contingency

Two major dimensions of any contingency of reinforcement are the temporal r elation between a response and its reinforcer, and the relative frequency o f the reinforcer given the response versus when the response has not occurr ed. Previous data demonstrate that time, per se. is not sufficient to expla in the effects of delay-or-reinforcement procedures: needed in addition is some account of the events occurring in the delay interval. Moreover. the e ffects of the same absolute time values vary greatly across situations, suc h that any notion of a standard delay-of-reinforcement gradient is simplist ic. The effects of reinforcers occurring in the absence of a response depen d critically upon the stimulus conditions paired with those reinforcers. in much the same manner as has been shown with Pavlovian contingency effects. However. it is unclear whether the underlying basis of such effects is res ponse competition or changes in the calculus of causation. (C) 2001 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.