2023 Volume 37 Issue 2 Pages 248-261
The present tutorial describes problems that occurred during experiments in the author’s laboratory that used human participants and how the problems were solved. The problems included the following: (a) the participants’ response rate was not different between fixed-ratio (FR) and differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedules, (b) the participants did not select the correct comparison during matching-to-sample training, (c) a conditional discrimination was not established when FR and DRL schedules were in effect during training, and (d) the operant level of the response was too high or was zero. These problems were solved by (a) determining the length of components by the number of reinforcers and inserting inter-component intervals, (b) introducing forced trials, (c) attaching limited-hold contingencies to the schedules and changing the procedure such that the schedule could change every trial, and (d) selecting as the target response a two-response sequence that had a low but above zero rate during a nonreinforcement baseline session.
