CONTINUOUS, FIXED‐RATIO, AND FIXED‐INTERVAL REINFORCEMENT IN HONEY BEES

Abstract

Bees learned to enter a Plexiglas tube and to suck small portions of sugar solution; every entry or every fifth entry was reinforced. During an extinction phase, the bees on the fixed‐ratio schedule emitted twice as many responses as did those given continuous reinforcement. Bees on a fixed‐interval schedule of reinforcement emitted lower response rates than did those given fixed‐ratio reinforcement. By extending the conditioning procedure for several days, it was possible to maintain responding with fixed‐ratio schedules requiring 30 responses per reinforcement and with fixed‐interval values up to 90 sec. Under fixed‐interval schedules, response rates did not increase toward the end of the reinforcement intervals.