NOTES ON FIXED-RATIO AND FIXED-INTERVAL ESCAPE RESPONDING IN PIGEON

After learning to peck a key when each peck removed a slowly increasing series of electric shocks, pigeons were placed on fixed‐ratio and fixed‐interval escape schedules. The resulting behavior was comparable to that of other species on ratio and interval escape schedules. Thus, while the pigeon apparently requires special techniques for the initial shaping of a key‐peck response with negative reinforcement, this response, once obtained, can be subjected to intermittent schedules of negative reinforcement with no great difficulty. 1969 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior