Possum Food Preferences under Progressive-Ratio and Concurrent-Schedules of Reinforcement

Cronin, Ian Raymond

Possum Food Preferences under Progressive-Ratio and Concurrent-Schedules of Reinforcement

dc.contributor.advisor	Foster, T. Mary
dc.contributor.advisor	Bizo, Lewis A.
dc.contributor.author	Cronin, Ian Raymond
dc.date.accessioned	2012-09-18T20:36:14Z
dc.date.available	2012-09-18T20:36:14Z
dc.date.issued	2012
dc.date.updated	2012-03-15T21:34:04Z
dc.description.abstract	Three experiments compared various ways of examining food preferences in the common brushtail possum (Trischosurus vulpecula). The first experiment compared the preferences obtained between four foods using paired-stimulus (PS) and multiple-stimulus without-replacement (MSWO) assessments. The ranked orders identified by the two methods produced similar orders in individual possums, but were idiosyncratic across possums. Following this, Experiment 2 involved a progressive-ratio (PR) reinforcer assessment with all four foods used in the preference assessments of Experiment 1. For each possum, each of the four foods functioned as reinforcers when presented in a single-schedule arrangement, including those foods identified as less preferred. Experiment 3 used concurrent-schedules, with a PR schedule on one alternative and fixed-ratio (FR) on the other. It was found that higher break points and response rates, as well as flatter demand functions were found for the same food in both Experiment 2 and 3. It was also found that when the concurrent alternative was on an FR 50 schedule, the response rates, break points and Pmax values of the food on the PR schedule tended to be higher than when the concurrent alternative was on an FR 20 schedule. Overall, the PS and MSWO assessments were equally effective at identifying which foods would function as reinforcers during Experiment 2 and 3.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.format.mimetype	application/zip
dc.identifier.citation	Cronin, I. R. (2012). Possum Food Preferences under Progressive-Ratio and Concurrent-Schedules of Reinforcement (Thesis, Master of Applied Psychology (MAppPsy)). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/6638	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/6638
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subject	Preference
dc.subject	Progressive-Ratio
dc.subject	Concurrent Schedules
dc.subject	Possum
dc.title	Possum Food Preferences under Progressive-Ratio and Concurrent-Schedules of Reinforcement	en
dc.type	Thesis
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Master of Applied Psychology (MAppPsy)