Abstract
This study presents a theory by which to understand how pigeons learn response patterns in simple choice situations. The theory assumes that, in a choice situation, patterns of responses compete for the final common path; that the competition is governed by two variables, the overall reinforcement probability obtained by emitting the patterns,T, and the differences in reinforcement probabilities among the patterns,D; and that the ratioD/T determines the final strength of specific response patterns. To test these predictions, three experiments were run in which pigeons were more likely to receive food when they pecked the momentarily least-preferred of three response keys. On the basis of previous research, it was predicted that the birds would be indifferent among the keys (molar aspect) and would also acquire a response pattern that consisted of pecking each key once during three consecutive trials (molecular aspect). The present theory went further and predicted that the strength of that pattern would increase with the ratioD/T. In the first two experiments,D was manipulated whileT remained constant, and in the third,T was manipulated whileD remained constant. The results agreed with the theory, for the strength of the response pattern increased withD and decreased withT, whereas overall choice proportions were always close to the matching equilibrium.
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Parts of this article were included in presentations given by the authors at the May 1997 meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, Chicago, and at the January 1998 Winter Meeting on Animal Learning, Winter Park, Colorado. This research was supported by a FIRST award grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to the first author. We thank Francisco Silva, William Timberlake, and Ozlem Cevik for helpful comments on earlier versions of the paper.
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Machado, A., Keen, R. The learning of response patterns in choice situations. Animal Learning & Behavior 27, 251–271 (1999). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199724
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199724