Responding maintained by the opportunity to attack during an interval food reinforcement schedule

Area of Science:

• Behavioral science and animal cognition.

Background:

• Pigeons were trained in a two-key operant conditioning paradigm.
• The right key delivered food reinforcement on a response-initiated fixed-interval schedule.
• The left key delivered a target stimulus (a bird) on a fixed-ratio schedule, which pigeons could attack.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the reinforcing properties of attack behavior in pigeons.
• To determine if the stimulus change of target availability or the consummatory act of attack maintained responding on the target key.
• To examine the relationship between food reinforcement schedules and attack behavior.

Main Methods:

• Pigeons were exposed to varying interval values for food reinforcement (1-5 minutes).
• The target bird stimulus was presented and removed to assess its maintaining properties.
• Food delivery was manipulated to be independent of behavior to isolate reinforcement effects.

Main Results:

• Both the rate of attack responding and target key responding were dependent on the interval value of the food schedule.
• Responding on the target key was not maintained by the mere presence of the target stimulus.
• Target key responding persisted even when food was delivered independently, but was not maintained without intermittent food reinforcement.

Conclusions:

• The study demonstrates that attack behavior in pigeons is maintained by intermittent reinforcement, specifically related to food availability.
• The stimulus change of target availability alone does not maintain attack responding.
• Intermittent food reinforcement plays a crucial role in maintaining complex behaviors like attack in pigeons.