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Related Experiment Videos

Contingency discriminability and peak shift in concurrent schedules.

Christian U Krägeloh1, Douglas M Elliffe, Michael Davison

  • 1Department of Psychology, The University of Auckland City Campus, New Zealand. c.krageloh@auckland.ac.nz

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|August 15, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Discriminative stimuli influenced pigeon choice in variable environments. Signal control was evident, with preference aligning with reinforcer ratios, even showing peak shift effects in certain conditions.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • Understanding choice behavior is crucial in behavioral psychology.
  • Variable environments present unique challenges to decision-making processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how discriminative stimuli affect choice behavior.
  • To examine choice in a highly variable environment using pigeons.
  • To test the contingency-discriminability model.

Main Methods:

  • Five pigeons were trained on a concurrent VI VI schedule.
  • Components changed every 10 reinforcers and were signaled by keylight flashes.
  • Various reinforcer ratios (e.g., 27:1, 1:1, 1:27) were presented across conditions.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Pigeon preference was ordinally related to signaled reinforcer ratios, demonstrating stimulus control.
  • Peak shift was observed in preference for 1:1 components when contrasted with extreme unequal ratios.
  • The contingency-discriminability model accurately described the data.

Conclusions:

  • Discriminative stimuli exert significant control over choice behavior.
  • The findings support the contingency-discriminability model in explaining choice under variable conditions.
  • Pigeon behavior in variable environments can be predicted by stimulus-reinforcer relationships.