EFFECT OF REQUIRED RESPONSE FORCE USING A PEDALING TASK ON THE SENSITIVITY OF HUMAN PARTICIPANTS TO REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES

Abstract

The present study assessed the effect of the required response force on sensitivity to reinforcement contingencies under concurrent schedules using a pedaling task with five human participants aged 23 to 31 years. We compared two levels of required response force using an ABAB design. No reliable differences in estimated sensitivity were found using a Generalized Matching Law model, indicating that the required response force, as was manipulated in the current pedaling task, does not influence sensitivity to reinforcement contingencies. Additional approaches are proposed to explore the impact of required response force on sensitivity. These include using discriminative stimuli, multiple exposures to schedules, increased reinforcement frequencies, using response forces that are experienced by participants as clearly different or implementing different response topographies.