A note on chaining and temporal discrimination

Four pigeons were exposed to a two-key DRL procedure. At the start of a trial, key A was illuminated. A response to the lighted key turned it off and simultaneously illuminated key B. Reinforcement was available for responses on key B which followed the initial key A response by more than 2 sec. In the course of exposure to these conditions, all birds acquired superstitious response chains on key A. The distribution of the number of responses on key A preceding a key B response and the distribution of intervals elapsing from the initial key A response to the key B response were of the same form. The suggestion is made that the superstitious responding on key A served to mediate the required delay interval. However, when intervals between successive key A responses were recorded for one subject, they were found to be regularly spaced in time. Thus, the problem remains of how this behavior is itself timed.     

An adjusting avoidance procedure with multiple auditory and visual warning stimuli

Male albino rats were trained on an adjusting avoidance schedule in which each lever press accumulated a given amount of shock-free time. Multiple auditory and visual stimuli were programmed for each discrete temporal distance from the shock in an effort to place the avoidance behavior under the control of the shock proximity. The effects of the stimuli were further examined by presenting part of them and then by removing them altogether. With the combined auditory and visual stimuli, the rat spent most of the time relatively close to the shock and usually started to respond only when the shock was near. With the visual stimuli only, the rat kept the shock at intermediate temporal distances and responded more variably. The behavior with the auditory stimuli alone was quite similar to that produced by the combined stimuli, thus indicating that the auditory stimuli exercised the greater control. When all stimuli were removed, the animal usually kept the shock as far away as the procedure permitted. When only a single pre-shock stimulus was presented, the rat remained quite close to the shock and started to respond predominantly in the pre-shock step.     

Properties of behavior under random interval reinforcement schedules

In a temporally defined system of reinforcement schedules, the fixed interval case is defined when reinforcement probability, P, is equal to unity for the first response in any cycle length, T; when P is less than 1.0, random interval schedules emerge wherein T/P specifies the expected interval between reinforcements. Key-pecking rates were found to be: (a) inversely related to T/P; (b) higher at T=1.0 second than at other T parameter values; (c) low and linear at several T and T/P values. The mean post-reinforcement pause, if initially small, increased, and if initially large, decreased, as T/P increased.     

Control of schedule-induced polydipsi: type, size, and spacing of meals

Rats were given daily 1-min variable-interval sessions for several types of food delivered in various amounts per reinforcement and the concurrent, schedule-induced polydipsia was measured. Dry, solid food was neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the development of polydipsia. Small portions of liquid Standard Monkey Diet produced polydipsia, but 45-mg dextrose or sucrose pellets did not. Within the range studied, smaller portions of both solid and liquid foods produced more drinking than larger portions per reinforcement. Two-min variable-interval sessions produced a greater polydipsic response than 1-min variable-interval, even though the number of 45-mg Noyes pellets allowed per session was held constant. Polydipsia was greatly attenuated on these schedules when the number of pellets remained constant, but were delivered two at a time. Within the ranges studied, the concurrent polydipsic response was increased by decreasing the rate of food acquisition, either by using smaller portions of food per reinforcement or by increasing the interreinforcement time.     

A new principle of pellet feeder design

Most current commercial devices dispense dry food pellets by moving the pellets horizontally toward a discharge point. Individual pellets, captured by perforations in a horizontal metal disk, are discharged one by one by stepwise rotation of the disk within the pellet reservoir. In our laboratory, where the average pellet discharge rate is some 20,000 pellets per week, feeders of this type produced occasional problems. Some were electronic; others involved failure always to capture a pellet in each perforation, particularly when the pellet supply was low. But the most common problem was an accumulation of pellet chips and dust under and around the perforated disk, which ultimately jammed the mechanism. Despite weekly cleaning and maintenance, troubles arose at least twice a month, prompting a search for a simpler pellet-feeder design which would be more reliable and require less maintenance. The present pellet feeder employs a vertical rather than horizontal design principle. It has been used extensively in operant conditioning applications for more than a year. More than 200,000 pellets have been reliably discharged from a single feeder without a breakdown. No maintenance, other than a weekly cleaning of the discharge tube, has been required.