Abstract
Pigeons were exposed to fixed-time and fixed-interval schedules that ranged from 30 to 960 sec. The probability of a subject’s location in the rear of the chamber (away from the reinforcer dispenser) peaked during the postreinforcer period, and was referenced to proportional time between reinforcers. Increasing the interreinforcer interval generally increased time in the rear. In some sessions (Experiment 1), location in the rear produced an explicit stimulus change (altered the color and intensity of lights, i.e., time-out); this change increased time spent in the rear without affecting its temporal locus or its relation to the interreinforcer interval. During Experiment 2, a keypeck (near the reinforcer site) produced the explicit stimulus change used in Experiment 1. The characteristics of keypeck time-out resembled those of movement to the rear of the chamber (with and without an explicit stimulus change), suggesting that movement away from the reinforcer site is functionally homologous to keypeck time-out.
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This research was supported in part by USPHS Grant RR07413 to Northeastern University.
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Cohen, P.S., Campagnoni, F.R. The nature and determinants of spatial retreat in the pigeon between periodic grain presentations. Animal Learning & Behavior 17, 39–48 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205211
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205211