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THE MAINTENANCE OF KEY PECKING BY STIMULUS‐CONTINGENT AND RESPONSE‐INDEPENDENT FOOD PRESENTATION
Author(s) -
Gamzu Elkan,
Schwartz Barry
Publication year - 1973
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.1973.19-65
Subject(s) - pecking order , differential reinforcement , reinforcement , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , differential (mechanical device) , differential effects , audiology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , social psychology , medicine , biology , endocrinology , ecology , engineering , aerospace engineering
Three naive pigeons were exposed to a series of two‐component multiple schedules of response‐independent food presentation. The component schedules were sometimes identical (non‐differential procedures) and sometimes different (differential procedures). High rates of key pecking were maintained in all the differential procedures, and pecking decreased substantially in non‐differential procedures, even when the frequency of food presentation in non‐differential procedures was higher than in differential procedures. It is suggested that the high rates of key pecking were maintained not by adventitious response‐reinforcer contingencies, but by differential contingencies between the stimulus (keylight) and food. The role of such contingencies in the phenomenon of behavioral contrast is discussed.