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STIMULUS PROPERTIES OF CONSPECIFIC BEHAVIOR
Author(s) -
Millard W. J.
Publication year - 1979
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.1979.32-283
Subject(s) - pecking order , stimulus control , stimulus (psychology) , reinforcement , psychology , discriminative model , differential reinforcement , discrimination learning , audiology , neuroscience , communication , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , biology , ecology , social psychology , computer science , medicine , nicotine
Two experiments identified the conditions in which the behavior of one bird acquired discriminative control of the behavior of a second bird. The schedule‐controlled behaviors of the “stimulus” bird were differentially correlated with the components of a multiple schedule according to which the pecking of an “experimental” bird produced food. In Experiment 1, three pairs of pigeons acquired a successive discrimination and two reversals with the conspecific stimuli. Experiment 2 included a control condition in which no systematic relationship existed between the conspecific stimuli and the component schedules. While differential responding during the components of the multiple schedule was again found when the conspecific stimuli were available, differential responding did not occur in the control condition. Test conditions included in the experiments indicated that (a) the differential responding was not dependent on the discriminative properties of reinforcement, (b) the pecking of the stimulus and experimental birds was temporally interrelated, (c) the visual conspecific stimuli were critical to the maintenance of the discrimination, and (d) the observed stimulus control immediately generalized to an unfamiliar conspecific.