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The effect of time between sessions on within-session patterns of responding
1Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington WA 99164-4820, USA.
Behavioural Processes
|June 14, 2014
Summary
Pigeon key pecking behavior showed within-session changes, peaking and then declining. These patterns persisted regardless of delay duration or location between food-reinforced sessions, suggesting rapid memory or attention resets.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Animal Cognition
- Operant Conditioning
Background:
- Within-session response rate changes are common in operant conditioning.
- Existing theories struggle to explain these changes consistently.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate factors influencing within-session response rate changes in pigeons.
- To test the impact of inter-session delay and location on response patterns.
Main Methods:
- Four pigeons were trained on variable interval schedules for food reinforcement.
- Sessions varied in length (50-min or 100-min) and inter-session delays (0, 10, 30 min).
- Inter-session delays were spent inside or outside the experimental chamber.
Main Results:
- Pigeon responding typically peaked and then declined within each session.
- Neither the duration nor the location of the inter-session delay altered this within-session pattern.
- Response patterns remained consistent across different session lengths and delay conditions.
Conclusions:
- Within-session response changes are not explained by fatigue, satiation, arousal, or handling recovery.
- The findings suggest rapid restoration of conditions necessary for within-session changes, possibly related to memory or attention.
- Inter-session intervals, even short ones, may quickly reset attentional or memory states.
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