Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Michael Perone

Committee Member

Kennon A. Lattal

Committee Member

Ray Joslyn

Committee Member

Ryan Best

Committee Member

Stephanie Kincaid DePriest

Abstract

Transitions from relatively favorable (rich) to relatively unfavorable (lean) activities have been shown to disrupt behavior. Transition-related disruptions in behavior have been observed across laboratories, species, and procedural arrangements. The most commonly reported disruption in basic research is a pause in the reinforced behavior in the signaled transition from a relatively rich to a relatively lean condition of reinforcement (Perone & Courtney, 1992). The present study assessed the function of the stimuli associated with transitions as either reinforcing, punishing, or neutral across two experiments using eight pigeons as subjects. Experiment 1 tested the function of two stimuli, one correlated with the lean component and the other with the rich component. Experiment 2 tested the function of four stimuli; each correlated with a different transition type. The two components had equal size FRs, and the completion of the FR in the lean and rich components produced relatively short and long durations of access to food. The components alternated irregularly to arrange 10 of each transition type (rich-lean, lean-lean, rich-rich, and lean-rich) per session. The functions of the test stimuli were assessed across conditions. During some components, pecks intermittently replaced the ongoing component-related stimulus (Experiment 1) or transition-related stimulus (Experiment 2) with the test stimulus for a brief period of time according to an FR 5 schedule. The functions of the test stimuli were assessed by comparing interresponse times (IRTs) before and after each test stimulus presentation. Across both experiments, changes in responding with the test stimulus presentations could be attributed to the termination of the ongoing component- or transition-related stimulus for three of the eight pigeons. For the remaining pigeons, the test stimulus presentations either had no statistically significant effect on IRTs or changes in responding were due simply to a change in stimulus conditions rather than the presentation or termination of any specific stimulus. Limitations of the procedural arrangement used in this study and potential replications are discussed.

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