When pigeons are required to peck each of two keys four times in any order for reinforcement, stereotyped response sequences develop that are extremely resistant to disruption. The present experiments examined the effects of a 60-day retention interval on sequence performance. In Experiment 1 we showed that if the retention interval contained no interpolated experimental experience, it had no effect on sequence performance. If pigeons pecked a key for food on a variableinterval (VI) schedule during the retention interval, sequence disruption occurred. In Experiment 2 we found that variations in the location and color of a key pecked during VI had no effect on disruption. In Experiment 3 we found that disruption did not occur when pigeons were simply placed in the experimental chamber during the retention interval or given response-independent food or given VI reinforcement for hopping on a foot treadle. In Experiment 4 we found disruption even when interpolated key-peck training demanded a temporal pattern different from what had occurred on the sequence task. In Experiment 5 we demonstrated that disruption can be prevented if pigeons are exposed to an alternation of the sequence and VI procedures during initial acquisition.
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