Abstract
Two experiments investigated the role of generalization in the acquisition of autoshaped keypecking. In Experiment 1, 20 pigeons were exposed to an autoshaping procedure in the presence or absence of food magazine illumination. Pigeons did not peck a lighted response key when the food magazine was not illuminated, but they did reliably peck the key when the magazine was illuminated. In Experiment 2, 12 pigeons were exposed to an autoshaping procedure in the presence of two keylights. One keylight although dissimilar in hue to the magazine light, perfectly predicted reinforcement. A second keylight, similar in hue to the magazine light, never predicted reinforcement. Eleven of the 12 pigeons directed their initial keypeck toward the independent (generalized) keylight. Responding later shifted to the predictive light. These results suggest that generalization plays an important role in the acquisition of autoshaped keypecking.
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References
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Experiment 1 was conducted independently and concurrently with Davol, Steinhauer, and Lee (Experiment 2, 1977).
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Ettinger, R.H., Finch, M.D. & McSweeney, F.K. The role of generalization in the acquisition of autoshaped keypecking in pigeons. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 12, 235–238 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329681
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329681