Linear responses.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Psychology
• Animal Behavior
• Operant Conditioning

Background:

• Traditional operant conditioning often focuses on the overall duration or rate of responses.
• The internal patterning or sequential organization within a response has received less attention.
• Understanding how complex response structures are formed is crucial for a comprehensive behavioral analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether the internal sequential organization ('contents') of complex choice responses can be shaped.
• To determine if pigeons can learn to produce specific patterns of key pecking within a response.
• To explore the relationship between molecular (component) and molar (overall) analyses of behavior.

Main Methods:

• Four experiments used pigeons trained on complex choice responses lasting several seconds.
• Reinforcement was contingent upon responses approximating predefined linear target patterns of key pecks per second.
• Target patterns involved constant or changing rates of pecking across successive seconds (e.g., increasing or decreasing peck rates).

Main Results:

• Pigeons successfully produced responses that approximated the target patterns, both overall and in terms of sequential organization.
• Reinforcement contingencies effectively shaped the internal structure ('contents') of the choice responses.
• Some shaped responses appeared to emerge from inherent variability in component pecking, supporting a molar analysis.

Conclusions:

• The internal patterning and sequential organization within complex behavioral responses can be systematically shaped.
• This research demonstrates that not only the 'envelope' but also the 'contents' of behavior are amenable to experimental control.
• Findings support the validity of molar analyses in explaining complex behavior, integrating molecular variability.