Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Kennon A. Lattal.

Committee Co-Chair

David W. Schaal

Committee Member

Kevin T. Larkin

Abstract

This experiment assessed whether FI performance is influenced by prior exposure to a temporal discrimination procedure. Pigeons first were exposed to a two-key free-operant psychophysical procedure for two sessions per day. Each trial lasted 60 s and reinforcement was available according to a variable-interval 60-s schedule for pecking one key (Key 1) during the first part of the interval and pecking another key (Key 2) during the second part of the interval. In the Fixed session, reinforcement availability switched from Key 1 to Key 2 after 30 s; whereas, in the Variable session, reinforcement availability switched from Key 1 to Key 2 after a variable amount of time. Following stable responding during each component, identical FI schedules were introduced in both sessions. There were no consistent differences in responding under the FI schedules, suggesting that FI patterns may not be sensitive to previous exposure to temporal discrimination training.

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