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AUTOSHAPING OF KEY PECKING IN PIGEONS WITH NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT 2
Author(s) -
Rachlin Howard
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-521
Subject(s) - peck (imperial) , reinforcement , pecking order , psychology , shaping , shock (circulatory) , key (lock) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , computer science , mathematics , medicine , computer security , biology , geometry , evolutionary biology
Pigeons exposed to gradually increasing intensities of pulsing electric shock pecked a key and thereby reduced the intensity of shock to zero for 2 min. Acquisition of key pecking was brought about through an autoshaping process in which periodic brief keylight presentations immediately preceded automatic reduction of the shock. On the occasions of such automatic reduction of shock preceding the first measured key peck, little or no orientation to the key was observed. Observations of pigeons with autoshaping of positive reinforcement also revealed little evidence of orientation toward the key.