The Effect of Reinforcer Delays on the Form of the Forgetting Function

Pigeons were trained in a matching-to-sample procedure with retention intervals of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 s mixed within each session. In different conditions, reinforcement was delayed by 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 s from correct choice responses. Discriminability decreased with increasing retention-interval duration and with increasing reinforcer delay. Exponential forgetting functions were fitted to discriminability measures plotted as a function of retention interval. Initial discriminability (intercept of the fitted functions) decreased with increasing reinforcer delay. Rate of forgetting (slope of the fitted functions) increased with reinforcer delay, suggesting an interaction between the effects of reinforcer delay and retention interval. The data were well described by multiplying an exponential function describing the effects of retention interval by a hyperbolic function describing the effect of reinforcer delay. This description included an interaction term that allowed for a greater effect of reinforcer delay at longer retention intervals.