Secondary Reinforcement and Number of Primary Reinforcements¹

Pigeons' pecks on either of two concurrently available response keys produced secondary reinforcers according to independent one-minute variable-interval schedules. Different secondary reinforcers, in the presence of which the rates of primary reinforcement were equal, were associated with each key. The rate of pecking maintained by each secondary reinforcer varied directly, but nonproportionally, with the number of primary reinforcements given in the presence of the secondary reinforcer.