DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPLEX MULTIPLE SCHEDULE IN THE CHIMPANZEE

Area of Science:

• Behavioral science
• Primatology
• Space biology

Background:

• The study details the development of chimpanzee behavior under a complex four-component, three-lever multiple schedule.
• This schedule incorporated various operant conditioning procedures, including avoidance and reinforcement tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and analyze chimpanzee behavior under a sophisticated multiple schedule.
• To assess the applicability of these behavioral paradigms in the context of space exploration.

Main Methods:

• A four-component, three-lever multiple schedule was designed and implemented.
• Component schedules included Sidman avoidance, discriminated avoidance, fixed ratio, differential reinforcement of low rate, and symbol discrimination tasks.

Main Results:

• The avoidance component was utilized in the suborbital space flight of chimpanzee Ham on January 31, 1961.
• Chimpanzee Enos performed on the multiple schedule during a three-orbit space flight on November 29, 1961.

Conclusions:

• The study demonstrated the feasibility of using complex behavioral schedules with chimpanzees in spaceflight.
• This research provided valuable data on primate behavior under extreme environmental conditions.