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Concurrent performance as bouts of behavior.

Tracy T Smith1, Anthony P McLean, Richard L Shull

  • 1University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|May 28, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Pigeon behavior is organized into bouts when reinforcement contingencies encourage sustained engagement with both target and alternative responses. Introducing a changeover delay (COD) generated this bout structure, unlike previous attempts.

Keywords:
bouts of behaviorchangeover delayconcurrent schedules of reinforcementkey pecklog-survivor analysispigeon

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Animal Behavior
  • Operant Conditioning

Background:

  • Log-survivor analyses reveal behavioral bouts in rats under variable-interval schedules.
  • Generalizing this to pigeons' key pecking has been challenging, possibly due to low reinforcement for alternative behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if pigeons' key pecking behavior exhibits a bout structure under specific reinforcement conditions.
  • To test the hypothesis that a changeover delay (COD) influences the emergence of behavioral bouts in pigeons.

Main Methods:

  • Four pigeons were exposed to concurrent schedules of reinforcement for key pecking.
  • Conditions included the absence and presence of a COD, manipulating reinforcement for target and alternative responses.
  • Log-survivor analyses of interresponse times were used to assess behavioral organization.

Main Results:

  • In the absence of a COD, log-survivor plots were linear, showing no evidence of bout structure.
  • With a COD, plots exhibited a broken-stick appearance, indicating the generation of behavioral bouts.
  • Bout length and initiation rate were dependent on reinforcement rates; a double-gamma model fit better than a double-exponential model.

Conclusions:

  • Behavioral bouts can be generated in pigeons by manipulating reinforcement contingencies, specifically with a COD.
  • Sufficiently long durations of engagement with both target and alternative behaviors are crucial for bout structure.
  • The double-gamma model provides a superior fit for analyzing this type of behavioral data.