Food satiation in the pigeon.
Pigeons stop working for food once they reach 85% of their free-feeding body weight — a clear satiation threshold.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers watched pigeons peck a key for grain. They weighed each bird every day.
The team kept feeding until the pigeon stopped pecking. They wanted to see when food was no longer worth the work.
What they found
The birds quit working when they hit about 85% of their normal body weight.
Their pecking dropped off suddenly, not slowly. One moment they worked, the next they did not.
How this fits with other research
Hassin-Herman et al. (1992) later showed pigeons can time short waits for food, but only if they stay below this same weight line.
Friedling et al. (1979) found pigeons still attack each other when food drops for free, even above the 85% mark. The birds are full, yet side behaviors rage on.
Together the three papers draw a line: 85% weight stops key-pecking, but it does not stop all food-linked behaviors.
Why it matters
You now have a clear body-weight rule for turning food on or off in any pigeon lab study. Check weight first, then run your procedure. If the bird is above 85%, do not expect reliable work. This simple check saves sessions and keeps data clean.
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Weigh each pigeon before every session; skip training if weight is above 85%.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The experiment was designed to find the shape of food satiation curves of the pigeon as a function of hours of deprivation or percentage of free-feeding weight, and to study the fluctuation in free-feeding weight as a function of deprivation and satiation. At a systematically and progressively increased number of hours' deprivation, eight birds were allowed to satiate on grain presented contingent upon the emission of a pecking response. In the second part of the experiment, in which two birds were used, a similar procedure was followed except that the independent variable was percentage of free-feeding weight. These were the conclusions.1. Approximately 64% of the satiation curves were classified as straight with an abrupt stop. The next highest percentage of curves was 18% for curves classified as straight with a curvilinear stop. No "classic" satiation curves, curvilinear with curvilinear stop, were found.2. The pigeons responded at fairly constant rate during the early part of each satiation session, or they did not respond at all. The critical weight, above which they did not respond, was 85% of free feeding.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1962 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1962.5-239