Behavioral Momentum - Preference and Resistance To Change

Preference and Resistance To Change

As resistance to disruption across stimulus contexts is analogous to the inertial mass of a moving object, behavioral momentum theory also suggests that preference in concurrent-chains procedures for one stimulus context over another is analogous to the gravitational attraction of two bodies (see Nevin & Grace, 2000). In concurrent-chains procedures, responding on the concurrently available initial links provides access to one of two mutually exclusive stimulus contexts called terminal links. As with multiple schedules, independent schedules of reinforcement can function in each terminal-link context. The relative allocation of responding across the two initial links indicates the extent to which an organism prefers one terminal-link context over the other. Moreover, behavioral momentum theory posits that preference provides a measure of the relative conditioned-reinforcing value of the two terminal-link contexts, as described by the contextual-choice model (Grace, 1994).

Grace and Nevin (1997) assessed both relative resistance to change in a multiple schedule and preference in a concurrent-chains procedure with pigeons pecking lighted disks for food reinforcement. When the relative rate of reinforcement was manipulated identically and simultaneously across stimulus contexts in the multiple schedule and concurrent-chains procedure, both relative resistance to change and preference was greater with richer contexts of reinforcement. When all the extant resistance to change and preference data were summarized by Grace, Bedell, and Nevin (2002), they found that those measures were related by a structural relation slope of 0.29. Therefore, relative resistance to change and preference both have been conceptualized as expressions of an underlying construct termed response strength, conditioned reinforcement value, or more generally, behavioral mass of discriminated operant behavior (see Nevin & Grace, 2000).