AVILA, Raúl; AVILES, Sandra; CASTRO, Emmanuel    ALBA, Juan R.. Discriminative control of self-controlled behavior of "refraining" form eating food in pigeons. []. , 22, 3, pp.259-272. ISSN 0188-8145.

Six food-deprived pigeons were exposed to a repetitive time cycle constant in 24 s which ended with the illumination of a response key in white or red for 4 s and the subsequent food presentation. The subjects could eat from the food-dispenser only when its presentation was preceded by the key illuminated in white. When the subjects approximated to the dispenser preceded by the key illuminated in red, it was removed and a 5-s blackout was presented. In Experiment 1 the illumination of the response key in white or red was presented alternately or randomly, in successive conditions. In Experiment 2 the duration of the dispenser presented after the red key was varied in successive conditions as follows: 4 s, 1 s, 2 s, 1 s, 4 s. In general, it was found that the random presentation of the key color facilitated the acquisition of self-controlled behavior of "refraining" from eating the subsequent food reinforcer. To vary the duration of the reinforcer preceded by the key illuminated in red facilitated the shaping of the behavior of "refraining" from eating the food reinforcer. It was concluded that it is viable to establish the discriminative control of self-controlled behavior of "refraining" from eating a food reinforcer.

: self-controlled behavior; "refraining" from eating; stimulus discrimination; pigeons.

        ·     ·     · ( pdf )