Airflow as a discriminative stimulus.
A light breeze can act as a powerful discriminative stimulus, outperforming auditory cues in pigeons.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers used three pigeons in a small box. A fan blew air at two speeds: slow and fast.
Pecks on one key during slow air earned grain. Pecks on a second key during fast air earned grain. Wrong key or wrong speed meant no food.
After many trials the birds learned which key matched which airflow. The team then tested airflow against a simple beep to see which cue worked better.
What they found
All pigeons quickly picked the correct key when only airflow changed.
When the cue switched to a tone, accuracy dropped. Airflow controlled behavior more strongly than the sound.
How this fits with other research
THOMAS et al. (1963) showed pigeons can learn delayed matching. The new study keeps the same bird and box setup but swaps in airflow, proving the method works for other senses.
Rast et al. (1985) found that rats lost sound-place control after ear damage. Their negative result seems opposite, yet both papers agree: if the sensory channel is intact, control is strong; if it is broken, control fails.
SLOANE (1964) trained pigeons to tell flicker speeds apart. Adding extra "not-this" signals pushed responding along the continuum. The airflow study uses the same gradual-difference idea, showing orderly control along a new continuum.
Why it matters
You now know airflow can serve as a clear cue. For clients who do not notice lights or sounds—perhaps due to sensory issues—try a gentle fan or puff on the skin to signal correct responses. Test it like any SD: reinforce only when the stimulus is present, then check that performance drops when it is removed. A simple environmental change might give you a new, reliable cue.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In one experiment, pigeons were taught to discriminate airflow by having availability of reinforcement signalled by its presence and extinction signalled by its absence. After they reached criterion, some were trained on a discrimination reversal. Others were trained on an intradimensional discrimination with a low airflow velocity associated with reinforcement and a higher airflow velocity associated with extinction. All discriminations were learned rapidly, indicating that airflow velocity can function as a discriminative stimulus. In the second and third experiments, naive pigeons were trained to discriminate the presence of a compound stimulus (one of three tonal intensities paired with one of three airflow velocities) from its absence. These pigeons were subsequently given a component stimulus test during extinction on four stimulus values; the two training values, the tone alone, and the airflow alone. High or moderate velocity airflow controlled more responding than any of the three tone intensities. However, low velocity airflow controlled more responding only when a low intensity tone was employed.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1972 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1972.17-99