Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons^™

Discounting In The Pigeon: Food-Specified Conditioned Reinforcers, Matthew Wolf

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Discounting has been observed across a wide range of species, procedures, and reinforcers. One of the main differences in the literature is that studies with humans use money (conditioned reinforcer) as the reinforcer being discounted. This is in contrast to studies with non-human animals where the discounted outcomes are usually directly consumable like food and water (primary reinforcers). At present, there is no non-human animal equivalent to money that has been identified in the discounting literature. To further bridge the remaining gaps in the methodology, a common currency is needed to study conditioned reinforcers in the discounting paradigm. An adjusting-amount …