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Multidimensional Control of Fixed-Interval Responding by Light Intensity and Time

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Abstract

Pigeons were trained to respond on a multiple fixed-interval (FI) 60-sec/time-out 30-sec schedule with an added light whose intensity increased discretely every 10 sec during the 60-sec FI. During generalization testing in extinction, the light intensities were presented in pseudorandom order during the FI so that each light intensity appeared equally often during each 10-sec segment. A generalization surface was constructed for the 36 combinations of light intensity and 10-sec segment. The generalization surface showed that responding was a joint function of both light intensity and time since the beginning of the FI with light intensity exerting more control over responding than time since the beginning of the interval.

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This research was supported by NSF Grant GB 36211. We would like to thank Harvey Cohen for his help with the experiment.

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Schneider, B., Goodkin, F. & Olsen, K. Multidimensional Control of Fixed-Interval Responding by Light Intensity and Time. Psychol Rec 30, 123–130 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394660

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394660

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