Abstract
In Experiment 1, the form of keypecks produced in an autoshaping procedure with food or water reinforcers was compared with that of eating and drinking responses. Because the responses involve a number of different effector systems, several elements of response form were measured, including peck force and duration, gape, and eye closure. Gape was the only measure to reliably distinguish between both ingestive responses and between conditioned keypecks reinforced with food or water. With either reinforcer, keypecks had greater force than did ingestive behaviors. In Experiment 2, a transition between two forms of keypeck was produced by manipulating deprivation and reinforcer conditions. Some measures appeared to vary in a dichotomous manner between two discrete response forms; gape showed a gradual and continuous change involving the production of intermediate forms of the response. It was concluded that the control of conditioned response form involves theconstruction of the response from movements produced by several effector systems, each with potentially different sources of control.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Deich, J. D., Allan, R. W., &Zeigler, H. P. (1988). Conjunctive differentiation of gape during food-reinforced keypecking in the pigeon.Animal Learning & Behavior,16, 268–276.
Deich, J. D., Klein, B. G., &Zeigler, H. P. (1985). Grasping in the pigeon: Mechanisms of motor control.Brain Research,337, 362–367.
Gamzu, E., &Williams, D. R. (1973). Associative factors underlying the pigeon’s keypecking in autoshaping procedures.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,19, 225–232.
Hilgard, E. R. (1936). The nature of the conditioned response: I. The case for and against stimulus substitution.Psychological Review,43, 366–385.
Jenkins, H., &Moore, B. R. (1973). The form of the autoshaped response with food or water reinforcer.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,20, 163–181.
Klein, B. G., Deich, J. D., &Zeigler, H. P. (1985). Grasping in the pigeon (Columba livia): Final common path mechanisms.Behavioral Brain Research,18, 201–213.
Klein, B. G., LaMon, B., &Zeigler, H. P. (1983). Drinking in the pigeon: Response topography and spatiotemporal organization.Journal of Comparative Psychology,97, 178–181.
LaMon, B. (1982). The control of response form: Feeding and conditioned responding in the pigeon (Doctoral dissertation, City University of New York, 1981).Dissertation Abstracts International,42(11), 4614.
LaMon, B., &Zeigler, H. P. (1984). Grasping in the pigeon: Stimulus control during conditioned and consumatory responses.Animal Learning & Behavior,12, 223–231.
Mallin, H. D., &Delius, J. D. (1983). Inter- and intraocular transfer of color discriminations with mandibulation as an operant in the fixed-head pigeon.Behavior Analysis Letters,3, 297–309.
Martin, I., &Levey, A. B. (1971).The genesis of the classical conditioned response. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Premock, M., &Klipec, W. D. (1981). The effects of modifying consumatory behavior on the topography of the autoshaped pecking response in pigeons.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,36, 277–284.
Schwartz, B. (1977). Studies of operant and reflexive key pecks in the pigeon.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,27, 301–313.
Schwartz, B., &Gamzu, E. (1977) Pavlovian control of operant behavior. In W. K. Honug & J. E. R. Staddon (Eds.),Handbook of operant behavior (pp. 53–97). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Spetch, J., Wilkie, D., &Skelton, R. (1981). Control of the pigeon’s keypecking topography by a schedule of alternating food and water reward.Animal Learning & Behavior,9, 223–229.
Wasserman, E. A. (1981). Response evocation in autoshaping: Contributions of cognitive and comparative-evolutionary analyses to an understanding of directed action. In C. Locurto, H. Terrace, & J. Gibbon (Eds.),Autoshaping and conditioning theory (pp. 21–54). New York: Academic Press.
Wild, J. M., Arends, J. A., &Zeigler, H. P. (1985). Telencephalic connections of the trigeminal system in the pigeon (Columba livia): A trigeminal sensorimotor circuit.Journal of Comparative Neurology,192, 175–201.
Wolin, B. R. (1968). Difference in manner of pecking a key between pigeons reinforced with food and with water. In A. C. Catania (Ed.),Contemporary Research in Operant Behavior (p. 286). Glenview, IL: Scott-Foresman.
Woodruff, G., &Williams, D. R. (1976). The associative relation underlying autoshaping in the pigeon.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,26, 1–13.
Zeigler, H. P., Levitt, P., &Levine, R. R. (1980). Eating in the pigeon (Columba livia): Movement patterns, stereotypy and stimulus control.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,94, 783–794.
Zener, K. (1937). The significance of behavior accompanying conditioned salivary secretion for theories of the conditioned response.American Journal of Psychology,50, 384–403.
Zweers, G. A. (1985). Generalism and specialism in the avian mouth and pharynx.Fortschritte der Zoologie,30, 189–201.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by Research Grants BNS 85-07374, from the National Science Foundation, and MH-37219 and MH-08366, from the National Institute of Mental Health, by Research Scientist Award MH-00320, and by the Biopsychology Program, Hunter College (CUNY).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LaMon, B., Zeigler, H.P. Control of pecking response form in the pigeon: Topography of ingestive behaviors and conditioned keypecks with food and water reinforcers. Animal Learning & Behavior 16, 256–267 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209075
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209075