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STIMULUS GENERALIZATION, DISCRIMINATION LEARNING, AND PEAK SHIFT IN HORSES
Author(s) -
Dougherty Donald M.,
Lewis Paul
Publication year - 1991
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.1991.56-97
Subject(s) - stimulus (psychology) , stimulus generalization , stimulus control , psychology , discrimination learning , audiology , neutral stimulus , lever , developmental psychology , mathematics , communication , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , medicine , physics , perception , quantum mechanics , nicotine
Using horses, we investigated three aspects of the stimulus control of lever‐pressing behavior: stimulus generalization, discrimination learning, and peak shift. Nine solid black circles, ranging in size from 0.5 in. to 4.5 in. (1.3 cm to 11.4 cm) served as stimuli. Each horse was shaped, using successive approximations, to press a rat lever with its lip in the presence of a positive stimulus, the 2.5‐in. (6.4‐cm) circle. Shaping proceeded quickly and was comparable to that of other laboratory organisms. After responding was maintained on a variable‐interval 30‐s schedule, stimulus generalization gradients were collected from 2 horses prior to discrimination training. During discrimination training, grain followed lever presses in the presence of a positive stimulus (a 2.5‐in circle) and never followed lever presses in the presence of a negative stimulus (a 1.5‐in. [3.8‐cm] circle). Three horses met a criterion of zero responses to the negative stimulus in fewer than 15 sessions. Horses given stimulus generalization testing prior to discrimination training produced symmetrical gradients; horses given discrimination training prior to generalization testing produced asymmetrical gradients. The peak of these gradients shifted away from the negative stimulus. These results are consistent with discrimination, stimulus generalization, and peak‐shift phenomena observed in other organisms.