Observing Behavior in Pigeons: The Effect of Reinforcement Probability and Response Cost Using a Symmetrical Choice Procedure

Suboptimal choice behavior by pigeons

“…Any increase or decrease in the overall probability of reinforcement should reduce the amount of information transmitted, because it would result in a decrease in uncertainty reduction. Consistent with information theory, Roper and Zentall (1999) showed that increasing the overall probability of reinforcement associated with the two alternatives decreases the preference for the alternative associated with the discriminative stimuli. On the other hand, contrary to information theory, they found that lowering the overall probability of reinforcement associated with both of the alternatives, which should also decrease the preference for the alternative that is followed by the discriminative stimuli, actually increases it.…”

“…However, Roper and Zentall (1999) found that under conditions of equal reinforcement, pigeons were willing to expend considerably greater effort to obtain the discriminative stimuli (up to 16 pecks) than the nondiscriminative stimuli, for which only 1 peck was required. Given the strong preference for discriminative stimuli found by Roper and Zentall, we were prompted to ask whether pigeons would prefer an alternative that provides discriminative stimuli, even if there was a substantial cost involved in the form of loss of reinforcement.…”

“…In other words, observing responses changed the schedule of reinforcement from a mixed to a multiple schedule. Similarly, pigeons prefer an alternative that produces discriminative stimuli (e.g., a red stimulus associated with 100% reinforcement on some trials or a green stimulus associated with extinction on other trials) over an alternative associated with an equal probability of reinforcement that produces stimuli (e.g., yellow on some trials, blue on others), both of which are associated with 50% reinforcement (Roper & Zentall, 1999; see also Dinsmoor, 1983).One could conclude that the pigeons were showing a preference for the information provided by the discriminative stimuli. According to information theory, the amount of information transmitted is a function of the degree to which uncertainty is reduced.…”

Altered time-perception performance in individuals with high schizotypy levels

“…It would be useful to examine the performance of these groups on timing tasks outside the context of reinforcement schedules, especially as mechanisms, such as response disconfirmation, and reinforcement rates may influence response patterns over and above the various aspects of timing [38][39][40] . It is also worth noting that, in the schedule tasks used in the previous 34,35,37 , the participants were not necessarily aware of any timing component incorporated in the task.…”

Information Seeking in Animals: Metacognition?

“…Accounts of observing responses in these experiments ranged from a preference for information to the possibility that anticipation of a reinforcer allowed an animal to prepare in some way to consume it. An explanation favored by many was that animals received more secondary reinforcement from choosing an observing response than from choosing its alternative (Dinsmoor, 1983;Mackintosh, 1974;Roper & Zentall, 1999). In the Prokasy experiment, for example, one informative cue was always associated with reinforcement and the other was never associated with reinforcement.…”