RELATIVE ALLOCATION ON CONCURRENT SCHEDULES CAN DEPEND ON SCHEDULE PARAMETERS WHEN BEHAVIORAL PARAMETERS ARE CONSTANT

It is shown that for fixed values of these four parameters, the relative allocation on the initial links may change as a result of changes in initial-link schedules, and an implication is that relative allocation is not necessarily a good measure of behavior.

Abstract

We develop a simple model of switching between the initial links of a concurrent-chain procedure. Behavior is determined by four parameters mu(1), mu(2), q(1), and q(2). The first two are the basic rates of switching from Schedule 1 and Schedule 2, respectively. The second two are the probabilities of leaving Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 after the corresponding terminal link has been completed. We show that for fixed values of these four parameters, the relative allocation on the initial links may change as a result of changes in initial-link schedules. The effect can be quite large if the switching rates are low. An implication is that relative allocation is not necessarily a good measure of behavior.