Dimensional stimulus control following brief wavelength training.
Four minutes of reinforced color exposure can create stimulus control, and a denser VI schedule makes it happen faster.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Scientists gave pigeons just four minutes of reinforced exposure to colored lights.
They wanted to see if such a tiny taste of training could still build stimulus control along a wavelength dimension.
Birds worked on two variable-interval schedules: VI 10-s and VI 30-s.
What they found
Control grew fast. Longer or more frequent reinforcers made the color control stronger.
The tighter VI 10-s schedule built control quicker than the looser VI 30-s.
Even this micro-training left a clear, measurable footprint on the birds’ choices.
How this fits with other research
CHUNG (1965) first showed pigeons can discriminate when the cue and food are split in time. Weisman et al. (1976) now says the split can be short and still work.
Neuringer (1973) found shorter stimuli speed autoshaped key pecks. The new data match: denser VI schedules (shorter gaps) speed stimulus control.
Harrison et al. (1975) used long, errorless lessons to build inhibition. The current study shows brief lessons also build control, but it doesn’t test inhibition—no clash, just different focus.
Why it matters
You now know that tiny, well-timed reinforcement slices can seed stimulus control. When you introduce a new cue, pack more reinforcers into the first minutes instead of stretching them out. Try a richer schedule—VI 10-s or even thinner—then thin once control shows. This saves session time and reduces learner fatigue.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Pigeons with extensive training pecking a key illuminated by a white line then had brief training with the key illuminated by 555 nanometers. This was immediately followed by a wavelength generalization test in extinction. Dimensional stimulus control about the training wavelength increased with the duration and number of reinforcements given on variable-interval 30-sec and variable-interval 10-sec schedules in Experiment I. In Experiment II, dimensional stimulus control was obtained after only 4 min of wavelength training from birds with prior and independent discrimination training. Experiment III provided groups equated in number of reinforcers with groups in Experiment I and two 8-min duration groups. Analyses, which included results from both Experiments I and III, showed that dimensional stimulus control increased: (a) more rapidly as a function of the duration of variable-interval 10-sec than variable-interval 30-sec reinforcement; (b) at the same rate across variable-interval reinforcement schedules, as a function of the number of reinforcers available during brief wavelength training.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1976 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1976.26-191