Effects of a brief stimulus accompanying reinforcement on instrumental responding in pigeons |
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Authors: | Geoffrey Hall |
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Affiliation: | University of York UK |
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Abstract: | The responding of pigeons on a variable interval schedule of reinforcement was investigated in four experiments. In some conditions in each experiment reinforced keypecks were accompanied by a brief (0.5-sec) flash of the houselight. This procedure resulted in a low rate of response in comparison with that found in conditions when response-contingent light flashes occurred uncorrelated with reinforcement (Experiments 1 and 2) or when no light flash was presented (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 allowed a comparison between the effects of a signal accompanying the reinforced response and one accompanying the delivery of “free” food. Signaling the delivery of earned food produced a lower rate of response than did signaling the delivery of free food. The role of stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer associations in producing these effects is discussed. |
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Keywords: | Requests for reprints should be sent to G. Hall Department of Psychology University of York York YO1 5DD England. |
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