Using Area under the Curve to Examine Acquisition of Temporal Control

Resumen

The present project applied area under the curve (AUC), a measure used to describe delay discounting functions (e.g., Myerson, Green & Warasuwitharana, 2001) to the analysis of data from rats and pigeons obtained during the acquisition phase (i.e., first 10 sessions) in a peak-interval procedure (PIP). The variation of the AUC according to bin size was examined. Additionally, the AUC was correlated with other corresponding measures of temporal control: quarter lives and index of curvatures. In general, the AUC adequately reflected the changes in behavior during acquisition of a response pattern. Some limitations of these quantitative indices of temporal control are discussed. The application of AUC to quantify response patterns during acquisition during peak trials of a PIP can complement other types of data analysis conducted when using this procedure.