The Effect of Ratio of Reinforcement on Performance in Selective Learning by Children

In the present study, children were required to switch out one of two lights on choice trials by pressing one of two available keys and to switch out the only light presented on forced trials. By appropriate variation of the two stimuli on forced trials, one of the keys was pressed twice as frequently as the other (Expts. I and II) and three times as frequently as the other (Expt. II). The results showed a gradual initial increment of choice for the more frequently reinforced key (Expt. I) followed by a decrement, and the point of maximum difference between the latency of response of the two keys exactly coincided with the highest point in the choice curve (Expt. I). Similar results for the choice behaviour were obtained in the 2:1 and 3:1 groups of Expt. II where both acquisition and reversal were studied. Reversal for the 3:1 group was fast. Results of Expt. I supported Spence's prediction

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