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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1969 Sep;12(5):759–766. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-759

Reinforcement duration and the peak shift in post-discrimination gradients1

Robert W Mariner, David R Thomas
PMCID: PMC1338678  PMID: 16811399

Abstract

Pigeons were trained to key-peck for food, first with single-stimulus training and then with successive discrimination (multiple schedule) training. In the multiple schedule, two different wavelengths were each correlated with equally frequent variable-interval reinforcement but different durations (6 sec vs. 2 sec) of access to grain. For some birds, the different durations of feeding cycle were cued by different intensities of the food hopper light. For some of these “cued” birds, single-stimulus training had been carried out with 6-sec feedings and when multiple-schedule training was introduced, the novel stimulus was correlated with 2-sec feedings. For the others, 2-sec feedings were originally used, and the novel stimulus was then present during the 6-sec reinforcement duration. The cueing procedure enhanced discrimination performance, and was necessary for the consistent production of a peak shift. In addition, the condition in which original training had been carried out with 6-sec feedings, and thus reinforcement duration was reduced in the presence of the novel stimulus, led to the best performance.

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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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