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The associative relation underlying autoshaping in the pigeon
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|July 1, 1976
Summary
Pigeons learned key-contact behaviors for water reinforcement. Autoshaping responses, influenced by biological predispositions and associative learning, were suppressed when water delivery was not contingent on key contact.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Animal Cognition
- Learning and Conditioning
Background:
- Autoshaping, a form of associative learning, involves conditioned responses to stimuli preceding reinforcement.
- Existing theories like stimulus substitution do not fully explain novel conditioned responses observed in autoshaping.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of biological predispositions and associative factors in the development of autoshaped behaviors in pigeons.
- To examine how response-reinforcer contingencies influence autoshaped key-contact responses.
Main Methods:
- Fifteen pigeons were exposed to response-independent or response-dependent schedules of water reinforcement.
- Water was delivered directly into the pigeons' mandibles.
- Key-contact responses were studied in relation to a lighted key correlated or uncorrelated with water delivery.
Main Results:
- Water delivery elicited consummatory behaviors like "mumbling" and swallowing.
- A key correlated with water elicited appetitive and consummatory responses, including approach, "bowing", "rooting", "mumbling", and swallowing.
- Negative response-reinforcer contingencies suppressed autoshaped key-contact responses.
Conclusions:
- The findings support theories emphasizing biological pre-organization in conditioned response patterns.
- Associative factors play a crucial role in controlling these biologically organized patterns.
- Autoshaping involves more than simple stimulus substitution, incorporating innate behavioral repertoires.