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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1969 Jul;12(4):521–531. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-521

Autoshaping of key pecking in pigeons with negative reinforcement1

Howard Rachlin
PMCID: PMC1338643  PMID: 16811371

Abstract

Pigeons exposed to gradually increasing intensities of pulsing electric shock pecked a key and thereby reduced the intensity of shock to zero for 2 min. Acquisition of key pecking was brought about through an autoshaping process in which periodic brief keylight presentations immediately preceded automatic reduction of the shock. On the occasions of such automatic reduction of shock preceding the first measured key peck, little or no orientation to the key was observed. Observations of pigeons with autoshaping of positive reinforcement also revealed little evidence of orientation toward the key.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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