About Skinner and time: Behavior-analytic contributions to research on animal timing

Article Abstract:

A study on the contribution of the work of B.F. Skinner, and his legacy of behavior-analytic methods and approaches, to the study of animal timing is illustrated. The first contribution is the development of the operant method and its use to study a range of issues in animal timing and second is his attempt to account for temporally regulated behavior in animals within a theoretical framework that avoids explanation in terms of events inside the organism.

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Biasing the pacemaker in the behavioral theory of timing

Article Abstract:

A psychophysical procedure on pigeons, to determine whether pacemaker period is sensitive to the differential rate of reinforcement, reveals that pacemaker rate is affected by relative reinforcer rate. In the behavioral theory of timing which states that an animal's subordinate behavior acts as a stimulus that mediates temporal discrimination, pacemaker rate is obtained by overall rate of reinforcement.

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An architect of the golden years

Article Abstract:

William H. Morse played an important role in the experimental analysis of behavior and he studied schedules of reinforcement to generate an in-depth analysis of the complex interactions existing when contingencies exert their control over behavior. He showed how behavior is determined by the dynamic interaction of factors brought into play by the imposition of any schedule.

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