Abstract
When a pecking key is briefly illuminated prior to the presentation of a grain reinforcer, keypecking is reliably developed and maintained in pigeons, even when pecking extinguishes the keylifeht and prevents reinforcement (negative automaintenance). This experiment assessed the role of response-produced key offset as a possible conditioned positive reinforcer of keypecking. Pigeons responded in a substantial proportion of the trials (50%–66%) on a procedure in which key illumination coterminated with reinforcer availability, and in which keypecks prevented reinforcement but did not extinguish the keylight. Thus, the notion that negative automaintenance keypecking is a function of conditioned positive reinforcement must be rejected.
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References
BROWN, P., & JENKINS, H. M., Autoshaping of the pigeon’s key peck. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1968, 11, 1–8.
WILLIAMS, D. R., & WILLIAMS, H. Auto-maintenance in the pigeon: Sustained pecking despite contingent non-reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1969, 12, 511–520.
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This work was supported by Grant G14055 from the National Science Foundation to David R. Williams and was conducted while the author was a National Science Foundation predoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Schwartz, B. The role of positive conditioned reinforcement in the maintenance of keypecking which prevents delivery of primary reinforcement. Psychon Sci 28, 277–278 (1972). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03328738
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03328738