Abstract
Four groups of pigeons were exposed to an autoshaping procedure in which all trials were signaled by a green key light. A tone signaled a food trial for the two tone-positive groups and a no-food trial for the two tone-negative groups. The tone preceded and terminated with green light onset for the two sequential groups and began and ended with the green key light for the two simultaneous groups. The sequential tone-positive group acquired the discrimination faster than the other groups. Asymptotic discrimination was best in the sequential tone-positive and simultaneous tone-negative groups. Relatively few responses occurred on the green key in the simultaneous tone-positive group. The relationship of these results to other studies of the feature-positive effect are discussed.
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This research was supported in part by Biomedical Support Grant RR07143 from HEW.
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Looney, T.A., Griffin, R.W. A sequential feature-positive effect using tone as the distinguishing feature in an autoshaping procedure. Animal Learning & Behavior 6, 401–405 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209635
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209635