Abstract
The pigeon’s keypecking response includes both a head-transport (peck) and a jaw-movement (gape) component. Because the two components are mediated by different effector systems, they may potentially be viewed as orthogonal responses. A response differentiation procedure was used to bring gape amplitude under operant control. The procedure employed a conjunctive response requirement in which reinforcement was contingent upon both gaping and key contact. The key-contact requirement was held constant, while the gape contingency was systematically varied to reinforce either decreases or increases in gape amplitude with respect to baseline. The procedure was effective in shifting the gape distributions in both the upward and downward directions and in inducing new gape values that deviated from the baseline in the reinforced direction. These observations indicate that gape may be brought under operant control. However, subjects showed a bias in the differentiation of the gape response, such that larger gapes were more readily differentiated than smaller gapes. The results are discussed in relation to the methodological utility of the paradigm, the problem of biological constraints on learning, and the heuristic utility of a response components analysis.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allan, R. W., & Matthews, T. J. (1983, April).The omission of autoshaped keypecks in a delay of reinforcement procedure. Paper presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore.
Allan, R. W., &Zeigler, H. P. (1987). The control of response location.Eastern Psychological Association Abstracts,178, 24.
Bermejo, R., Houben, D., Allan, R. W., Deich, J. D., & Zeigler, H. P. (1988).Prehension in the pigeon: I. Descriptive analysis Manuscript submitted for publication.
Brown, P. L., &Jenkins, H. M. (1968). Autoshaping of the pigeon’s keypeck.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,11, 1–8.
Chung, S. (1965). Effects of effort on response rate.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,8, 1–7.
Cole, J. L. (1965). Force gradients in stimulus generalization.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,8, 231–241.
DeCasper, A. J., &Zeiler, M. D. (1977) Time limits for completing fixed ratios: IV. Components of the ratio.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,27, 235–244.
Deich, J. D., Houben, D., Allan, R. W., &Zeigler, H. P. (1985). “On-line” monitoring of jaw movements in the pigeon.Physiology & Behavior,35, 307–311.
Deich, J. D., Klein, B. G., &Zeigler, H. P. (1985). Grasping in the pigeon: Mechanisms of motor control.Brain Research,337, 362–367.
Deich, J. D., &Wasserman, E. A. (1977). Rate and temporal pattern of key pecking under autoshaping and omission schedules of reinforcement.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,27, 399–405.
Eckerman, D. A., Hienz, R. D., Stern, S., &Kowlowitz, V. (1980). Shaping the location of the pigeon’s peck: Effect of rate and size of shaping steps.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,33, 299–310.
Ferster, C. B., &Skinner, B. F. (1957).Schedules of reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Gibbon, J. (1977). Scalar expectancy theory and Weber’s law in animal timing.Psychological Review,84, 279–325.
Hearst, E., &Jenkins, H. M. (1974).Sign tracking: The stimulusreinforcer relation and directed action. Austin, TX: Psychonomic Society.
Jenkins, H. M. (1977). Sensitivity of different response systems to stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer relations. In H. Davis & H. M. B. Hurwitz (Eds.),Operant-Pavlovian interactions (pp. 47–66). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jenkins, H. M., &Moore, B. R. (1973). The form of the autoshaped response with food or water reinforcers.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. C., &Zeigler, H. P. (1983). Drinking in the pigeon (Columba livia): Topography and spatiotemporal organization.Journal of Comparative Psychology,97, 178–181.
Kramer, T. J., &Rillng, M. (1970) Differential reinforcement of low rates: A selective critique.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,8, 19–28.
LaMon, B. C. (1981).Conditioned and consumatory grasping in the pigeon. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York.
LaMon, B. C., &Zeigler, H. P. (1984). Grasping in the pigeon (Columba livia): Stimulus control during conditioned and consum-matory responses.Animal Learning & Behavior,12, 223–231.
LaMon, B. C., &Zeigler, H. P. (1988). 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.
LeJeune, H., &Richelle, M. (1982). Differential reinforcement of perching in the pigeon: A comparison with differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate-key-pecking.Behaviour Analysis Letters,2, 49–57.
Levine, R. R., &Zeigler, H. P. (1981). Extratelencephalic pathways and feeding behavior in the pigeon.Brain, Behavior & Evolution,19, 56–92.
Locurto, C. M. (1981). Contributions of autoshaping to the partitioning of conditioned behavior. In C. M. Locurto, H. S. Terrace, J. Gibbon (Eds.),Autoshaping and conditioning theory (pp. 101–135). New York: Academic Press.
Malun, H. D., &Delius, J. D. (1983). Inter- and intraocular transfer of color discriminations with mandibulation as an operant in the head-fixed pigeon.Behaviour Analysis Letters,3, 297–309.
Platt, J. R. (1979). Inter-response-time shaping by variable-intervallike inter-response-time reinforcement contingencies.Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior,31, 3–14.
Scandrett, J., &Gormezano, I. (1980). Microprocessor control and A/D acquisition in classical conditioning.Behavioral Research & Methods Instrumentation,12, 120–125.
Schmidt, R. A. (1980). On the theoretical status of time in motor program representations. In G. E. Stelmach & J. Requin (Eds.),Tutorials in motor behavior (pp. 145–166). New York: North-Holland.
Schmidt, R. A. (1982). Generalized motor programs and schemas for movement. In J. A. S. Kelso (Ed.),Human motor behavior: An introduction (pp. 189–238). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schwartz, B., &Williams, D. (1972). Two different kinds of key pecks in the pigeon.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,18, 201–216.
Skinner, B. F. (1938)The behavior of organisms. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Smith, R. F. (1974). Topography of the food-reinforced key peck and the source of 30-millisecond inter-response times.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,24, 544–551.
Staddon, J. E. R. (1977). Schedule-induced behavior. In W. K. Honig & J. E. R. Staddon (Eds.),Handbook of operant behavior (pp. 125–152). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Timberlake, W., &Lucas, G. (1985). The basis of superstitious behavior: Chance contingency, stimulus substitution, or appetitive behavior.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,44, 279–299.
Wasserman, E. A., Franklin, S. R., &Hearst, E. (1974). Pavlovian appetitive contingencies and approach versus withdrawal to conditioned stimuli in pigeons.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,86, 616–627.
Wild, J. M., Arends, J. J. A., &Zeigler, H. P. (1985). Telencephalic connections of the trigeminal system in the pigeon (Columba livid): A trigeminal sensorimotor circuit.Journal of Comparative Neurology,234, 441–464.
Williams, D. R. (1981). Biconditional behavior: Conditioning without constraint. In C. M. Locurto, H. S. Terrace, & J. Gibbon (Eds.),Autoshaping and conditioning theory (pp. 55–99). New York: Academic Press.
Williams, D. R., &Williams, H. (1969). Automaintenance in the pigeon: Sustained pecking despite contingent nonreinforcement.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,12, 511–520.
Wolin, B. (1968). Differences in manner of pecking a key between pigeons reinforced with food and 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.
Zeiler, M. D. (1979) Output dynamics. In M. D. Zeiler & P. Harzem (Eds.),Reinforcement and the organization of behavior (pp 79–115) New York: Wiley.
Zeiler, M. D., Davis, E. R., &DeCasper, A. J. (1980). Psychophysics of key-peck duration in the pigeon.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,34, 23–33.
Ziriax, J. M., &Silberberg, A. (1978) Discrimination and emission of different key-peck durations in the pigeon.Journal of Experimental Psychology,4, 1–21.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by NSF Grant BNS85-07374, NIMH Grant MH-00836, and Research Scientist Award MH-00320 to H.P.Z., and by National Research Service Award NS-07465 to R. W.A. Some of the data were reported by the first author at a meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, April 1986.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Deich, J.D., Allan, R.W. & Zeigler, H.P. Conjunctive differentiation of gape during food-reinforced keypecking in the pigeon. Animal Learning & Behavior 16, 268–276 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209076
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209076