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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2026

A Method for Investigating Change Blindness in Pigeons (Columba Livia)

A Method for Investigating Change Blindness in Pigeons (Columba Livia)

Published on: September 7, 2018

Pigeons' choices with token stimuli in concurrent variable-interval schedules.

James E Mazur¹, Dawn R Biondi

¹Psychology Department, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515, USA. mazurj1@southernct.edu

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

|March 6, 2013

Summary

Pigeons adjusted their choices based on earned tokens, influenced by food delays and delivery frequency. Visible tokens decreased responding, suggesting tokens act as signals for food availability.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral psychology
Animal cognition
Operant conditioning

Background:

Token stimuli are used in operant conditioning to bridge delays to primary reinforcement.
Understanding how token characteristics influence choice behavior is crucial for behavioral economics and applied behavior analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how token stimuli, varying in visibility and exchange requirements, affect pigeons' choice responding under concurrent schedules.
To examine the role of token stimuli as discriminative stimuli signaling delays to food.

Main Methods:

Pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval schedules with token stimuli (lights or circles) delivered.
Tokens were exchanged for food on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule, with varying exchange requirements (1-4 tokens).
Response percentages and choice behavior were analyzed across conditions, including those with visible and non-visible tokens.

Main Results:

Pigeons' response percentages varied with the number of tokens earned, influenced by delays to food and food delivery frequency.
When one key offered visible tokens and the other did not, pigeons preferred the key without visible tokens.
A model integrating the matching law and hyperbolic delay discounting explained choice patterns and response percentage changes.

Conclusions:

Token stimuli function as discriminative stimuli, signaling current delays to food.
Token visibility significantly impacts choice behavior, with non-visible tokens sometimes preferred.
The findings support theoretical models of choice and delay discounting in animal behavior.