The associative relation underlying autoshaping in the pigeon
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning
Published on: June 2, 2014
Abstract:
Fifteen pigeons were exposed to either response-independent or response-dependent schedules of water reinforcement, whereby water was injected directly into the unrestrained pigeons' mandibles. Key-contact responses were released by a lighted key correlated with water, but not by a lighted key uncorrelated with water. A negative response-reinforcer contingency suppressed autoshaped key-contact responses, resulting in responding directed away from the lighted key. In all pigeons, water injected directly into the mandibles elicited a consummatory fixed-action pattern of "mumbling" and swallowing. The lighted key correlated with water released a broader set of both appetitive and consummatory responses: approach to the lighted key, "bowing", "rooting", "mumbling", and swallowing. Key-contact responses were "rooting" and "mumbling" motions of the beak on the surface of the key. Views of autoshaping based on stimulus substitution or stimulus surrogation do not fully explain the origin of autoshaped responses not previously elicited by the reinforcer. The present findings are consonant with views of conditioning that emphasize the large degree of biological pre-organization in conditioned response patterns, and the importance of associative factors in the control of such patterns.
Related Concept Videos
Role of Shaping in Operant Conditioning
The steps involved in shaping begin with reinforcing any response that resembles the desired behavior. For example, parents might praise a child for picking up one toy. As...
Associative Learning
Classical conditioning, also known...
Automatic Processing and Automatic Social Behavior
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov observed that dogs salivated...
Nonconscious Mimicry
Real-World Application of Classical Conditioning
Higher-order, or second-order, conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an already established conditioned stimulus through repeated pairings. For instance, if a dog has been...

