Choice as time allocation

When pigeons' standing on one or the other side of a chamber was reinforced on two concurrent variable-interval schedules, the ratio of time spent on the left to time spent on the right was directly proportional to the ratio of reinforcements produced by standing on the left to reinforcements produced by standing on the right. The constant of proportionality was less than unity for all pigeons, indicating a bias toward the right side of the chamber. The biased matching relation obtained here is comparable to the matching relation obtained with concurrent reinforcement of key pecks. The present results, together with related research, suggest that the ratio of time spent in two activities equals the ratio of the “values” of the activities. The value of an activity is the product of several parameters, such as rate and amount of reinforcement, contingent on that activity.     

Escape and avoidance of shock by pigeons pecking a key

Pigeons had been trained to peck a key when each peck removed a slowly increasing series of electric shocks. Without loss of the established key-pecking response, the birds were gradually weaned from this procedure to one where intense shocks were presented suddenly, duplicating features that had proved ineffective for initial shaping of the response. Finally, a procedure was introduced in which key pecks could avoid shock. Avoidance responding was maintained in two of three pigeons.