Harris, Andrew, and Livesey (2012) proposed that response rate (R) to a stimulus (e.g., A) of a compound (e.g., AB) would be directly related to the difference between reinforcement rate (r) during AB and the other stimulus (e.g., B). To explore the extent of this proposal to operant conditioning, three experiments were carried out. Experiment 1 replicated Harris et al. (2012 – Experiment 1) using sucrose as US in Pavlovian conditioning. In Experiment 2 rats pressed a lever under a variable interval schedule in two phases. In Training, responses during a compound stimulus AB100% were reinforced 100%, responses during B50% and C50% 50% and responses during D25%, 25% of the trials. Then, nonreinforced A trials were introduced (Probe). Results from Experiment 2 showed that r controlled the R to AB100%, B50%, C50% and D25% during training and probe, however, were inconclusive about r and R relationship during A. In Experiment 3, responses during A100% were reinforced 100% and during B50% and C50% 50% of the trials (Training). Next, nonreinforced BC trials were presented (Probe). Results from Experiment 3 showed that response rate during BC were similar to A100%, but higher than B50% and C50%, suggesting summation of B50% and C50% reinforcement rates. Overall, the results showed that Harris et al. (2012) proposal extends to discriminative operant relations.

Harris、Andrew 和 Livesey (2012) 提出，对化合物（例如 AB）的刺激（例如 A）的反应率 ( R ) 将直接与AB 和其他刺激期间的强化率(r)之间的差异相关。刺激（例如，B）。为了探索该建议对操作性条件反射的影响，进行了三个实验。实验 1 复制了 Harris 等人。（2012 – 实验 1）在巴甫洛夫条件反射中使用蔗糖作为 US。在实验 2 中，大鼠在两个阶段的可变间隔计划下按下杠杆。在训练中，复合刺激 AB100% 期间的反应被强化 100%，B50% 和 C50% 期间的反应为 50%，D25% 期间的反应为 25%。然后，引入了非强化 A 试验（Probe）。实验 2 的结果表明r在训练和探查期间将R控制为 AB100%、B50%、C50% 和 D25%，然而，关于A 期间的r和R关系尚无定论。在实验 3 中，A100% 期间的反应被加强 100% 和 B50% 和 C50 期间% 50% 的试验（训练）。接下来，介绍了非增强型 BC 试验（探针）。实验 3 的结果表明，BC 期间的反应率与 A100% 相似，但高于 B50% 和 C50%，表明 B50% 和 C50% 强化率的总和。总体而言，结果表明 Harris 等人。(2012) 提议扩展到判别操作关系。