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HANDLING TIME AND CHOICE IN PIGEONS
Author(s) -
Shettleworth Sara J.
Publication year - 1985
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.1985.44-139
Subject(s) - reinforcement , foraging , preference , duration (music) , statistics , interval (graph theory) , time budget , optimal foraging theory , feeding behavior , animal behavior , psychology , computer science , mathematics , zoology , social psychology , biology , ecology , art , literature , combinatorics
According to optimal foraging theory, animals should prefer food items with the highest ratios of energy intake to handling time. When single items have negligible handling times, one large item should be preferred to a collection of small ones of equivalent total weight. However, when pigeons were offered such a choice on equal concurrent variable‐interval schedules in a shuttlebox, they preferred the side offering many small items per reinforcement to that offering one or a few relatively large items. This preference was still evident on concurrent fixed‐cumulative‐duration schedules in which choosing the alternative with longer handling time substantially lowered the rate of food intake.