Classical conditioning of jaw movements in the pigeon: Acquisition and response topography

Remy, Monika; Zeigler, H. Philip

doi:10.3758/bf03213392

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It takes longer to handle the larger grain (Killeen, Cate, & Tran, 1993), and this change in consummatory topography may have been conditioned to the keypeck. Such a classical conditioning of the form of the consummatory response to the operant response was reported by Remy and Zeigler (1993;Ploog & Zeigler, 1996, found that response rates increased with grain size, but that may have been because magnitude of reinforcement [and thus a] also covaried with grain size in their study).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Models of ratio schedule performance.

Bizo¹,

Killeen²

1997

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Predictions of P. R. Killeen's (1994) mathematical principles of reinforcement were tested for responding on ratio reinforcement schedules. The type of response key, the number of sessions per condition, and first vs. second half of a session had negligible effects on responding. Longer reinforcer durations and larger grain types engeridered more responding, affecting primarily the parameter a (specific activation). Key pecking was faster than treadle pressing, affecting primarily the parameter δ (response time). Longer intertrial intervals led to higher overall response rates and shorter postreinforcement pauses and higher running rates, and ruled out some competing explanations. The treadle data required a distinction between the energetic requirements and rate-limiting properties of extended responses. The theory was extended to predict pause durations and run rates on ratio schedules. Killeen (1994) developed a set of principles concerning reinforcement: that incentives excite an organism and elicit responses, there are ceilings on response rates, and organisms are biased toward the particular locations and types of responses that occurred just prior to the incentive. Each of these principles was given substance by providing simple mathematical representations of them. For instance, models of the frst two principles-arousal and constraint-when combined, yield Equation 1: (1) The dependent variable is B, response rate, the dimensions of which are responses per second. The parameter a is the amount of behavior that is evoked by the incentive under the current deprivation conditions. It is called the specific activation, it varies as a function of motivation (Killeen, 1995, in press), and its dimensions are seconds per reinforcer. The variable R is the rate of reinforcement; its dimensions are reinforcers per second. Delta (δ) measures the response time-the time that it takes for an animal to execute a response-and typically takes values between 0.25 and 0.4 s for both pigeon's key pecks and rat's lever presses. It is not the same as the time the key or lever is depressed, as it also includes the time to initiate and terminate the entire action pattern (DeCasper & Zeiler, 1977). Its dimensions are seconds per response. Equation 1 has the same form as Herrnstein's hyperbola (1970, 1974), but Herrnstein interpreted 1/a as the rate of reinforcement for other (competing) behaviors in the organism's environment. The same form was derived from still other principles by Staddon (1977). It is a robust description of response rates on variable-interval (VI) schedules, but if we take δ literally as response duration, it predicts response rates that are much too high, and it makes incorrect predictions when extended to other schedules (e.g., Pear, 1975). The formulation is incomplete.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Models of ratio schedule performance.

Bizo¹,

Killeen²

1997

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The position-specific operant contingencies would affect key pecks, which involve directed movements towards the keys, but would not affect gapes, which could occur anywhere in the chamber. Some studies show, in fact, that pigeons' conditional key pecking is a compound response, dissociable into head transport (neck) and gape (jaw) components (Mallin & Delius, 1983;Remy & Zeigler, 1993). The design of our study does not allow strong conclusions to be drawn, but the findings may suggest a strategy for dissociating response-reinforcer from CS-US contingencies.…”

Section: Response Rates and Latenciesmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…The finding that conditional gape topography was controlled by pellet size extends the range of conditions known to produce similar effects. Topographical similarities between key pecks and consummatory responses develop in operant paradigms even when no specific response form is reinforced (LaMon & Zeigler, 1984;Spetch, Wilkie, & Skelton, 1981;Wolin, 1968;Woodruff & Williams, 1976) and in autoshaping studies with response-independent food or water delivery (Jenkins & Moore, 1973;LaMon & Zeigler, 1984Woodruff & Williams, 1976) even when movements towards the CS are prevented through head fixation (Remy & Zeigler, 1993).…”

Section: Response Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Food‐pellet Size on Rate, Latency, and Topography of Autoshaped Key Pecks and Gapes in Pigeons

Ploog

Zeigler

1996

J Exper Analysis Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Four pigeons responded under autoshaping contingencies in which different conditional stimuli (red or green keylights) were associated with unconditional stimuli of different magnitudes (large or small food pellets) over successive trials within a session. Both topography (beak opening or gape) and strength (rates and latencies of key pecks and gapes) of responding during the conditional stimuli depended on the magnitude of the correlated unconditional stimulus. Key-peck and gape rates were higher and latencies were shorter in large-pellet trials than in small-pellet trials. Gape amplitudes varied directly with pellet size, although conditional and unconditional gapes were larger than either pellet. These findings were replicated when the key colors were presented either on one or two keys and after reversals of the color-size correlations. Because the unconditional stimulus was varied through pellet size, magnitude was not confounded with food-access duration or quality. These results demonstrate the effects of the magnitude of the unconditional stimulus, in that rates and latencies of both key pecks (which are directed movements toward the key) and gapes (which are independent of the bird's position and key properties) varied with pellet size. Gape measures were unique in that two dimensions (response strength and topography) of a single response class varied simultaneously with magnitude.

show abstract

“…The measures used to define probability and topography in this study (pecks and gapes) reflect the operation of two different effector systems (neck and jaw, respectively). It has been repeatedly demonstrated that the two components may be experimentally dissociated, and that each may be brought under the associative control of either stimulus-reinforcer or response-reinforcer contingencies (Allan & Zeigler, 1994;Deich, Allan, & Zeigler, 1988;Lucas, Vodraska, & Wasserman, 1979;Mallin & Delius, 1983;Remy & Zeigler, 1993). However, although such dissociation may be demonstrated under laboratory conditions, it is probably the case that the acquisition of distinct response forms with variable probabilities involves the operation, in parallel, of both response-reinforcer and stimulus-reinforcer contingencies (e.g., Balsam, Deich, & Hirose, 1992, p. 32).…”

Section: Effects Of Deprivation and Reversal Manipulations On Probabimentioning

confidence: 99%

Key‐peck Probability and Topography in a Concurrent Variable‐interval Variable‐interval Schedule With Food and Water Reinforcers

Ploog¹,

Zeigler²

1997

J Exper Analysis Behavior

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relation between variables that modulate the probability and the topography of key pecks was examined using a concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedule with food and water reinforcers. Measures of response probability (response rates, time allocation) and topography (peck duration, gape amplitude) were obtained in 5 water- and food-deprived pigeons. Key color signaled reinforcer type. During baseline, response rates and time allocations were greater to the food key than to the water key, and food-key pecks had larger gapes and shorter durations. Relative probability measures (for the food key) were increased by prewatering and decreased by prefeeding. Deprivation effects upon topography measures were apparent only when food- and water-key pecks were analyzed separately. Food-key gape amplitudes increased with prewatering and decreased with prefeeding. The clearest effect occurred with prewatering. There were no consistent effects upon water-key gapes. The key color-reinforcer relation was reversed for 3 pigeons to determine how response topography was modulated during the transition from food- to water-key pecks. Reacquisition was faster for the probability than for the topography measures. Analysis of gape-amplitude distributions during reversal indicated that response-form modulation proceeded through the generation of intermediate gape sizes.

show abstract

Classical conditioning of jaw movements in the pigeon: Acquisition and response topography

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Models of ratio schedule performance.

Models of ratio schedule performance.

Effects of Food‐pellet Size on Rate, Latency, and Topography of Autoshaped Key Pecks and Gapes in Pigeons

Key‐peck Probability and Topography in a Concurrent Variable‐interval Variable‐interval Schedule With Food and Water Reinforcers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About