The traditional view of human procrastination is that engaging in an aversive task will be avoided until the anxiety associated with the consequences of missing the deadline exceeds the aversiveness of the task. Delay reduction theory suggests that there may be an additional mechanism, conditioned reinforcement associated with completion of the task close to the deadline. The results of several experiments support this hypothesis. First, we found support for the prediction of delay reduction theory that pigeons given equally long concurrent chains, prefer a chain involving a long fixed interval followed by a short fixed interval (followed by reinforcement) over a chain involving a short fixed interval followed by a long fixed interval (followed by reinforcement). In another experiment, to simulate a mildly aversive event, we added a dark gap between the two links in each of the chains and found the same result. Finally, consistent with delay reduction theory and with an analog of human procrastination, in a long box, we found that pigeons preferred to complete a response requirement on a panel closer to the goal (reinforcement) rather than closer to the start. The results of these experiments suggest that procrastination may be supported by conditioned reinforcement associated completion of a task close to the deadline.

中文翻译：

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条件强化是否在拖延中起作用：鸽子模型

人类拖延的传统观点是，在与错过最后期限的后果相关的焦虑超过任务的厌恶程度之前，将避免从事厌恶性任务。延迟减少理论表明，可能存在一种额外的机制，即与接近最后期限完成任务相关的条件强化。几个实验的结果支持了这个假设。首先，我们发现延迟减少理论的预测得到支持，即给定同样长的并发链的鸽子，更喜欢包含长固定间隔后跟短固定间隔（随后是强化）的链，而不是包含短固定间隔后跟一个短固定间隔的链。长固定间隔（随后是加固）。在另一个实验中，为了模拟一个温和的厌恶事件，我们在每个链中的两个链接之间添加了一个暗间隙，并发现了相同的结果。最后，与延迟减少理论和人类拖延的模拟一致，在一个长盒子中，我们发现鸽子更喜欢在更接近目标（强化）而不是更接近开始的面板上完成响应要求。这些实验的结果表明，与接近截止日期的任务完成相关的条件强化可能会支持拖延。