Shaping behavioral patterns.
Reinforce only the full target chain and put earlier forms on extinction; the learner often leaps to the final pattern without piece-by-piece teaching.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Matson et al. (2013) worked with four pigeons in a lab.
The birds had to peck eight times on two keys in a set left-right order.
Instead of teaching each peck one by one, the team only paid grain when the full 4+4 pattern appeared.
Any simpler order was put on extinction.
What they found
Three out of four birds soon hit the full pattern and kept it going.
The birds did not need step-by-step drills; the finished pattern alone pulled the behavior together.
How this fits with other research
Straub et al. (1979) also built long key-peck chains in pigeons, but they used a color sequence and still needed many trials.
Matson et al. (2013) show the same kind of chain can be locked in faster when simpler forms are extinguished.
Williams et al. (2002) proved pigeons learn quick with only two-second looks; the new study adds that quick learning works for long action patterns too.
Together the papers say: birds master both simple and tricky tasks fast when the payoff is clear and wrong moves earn nothing.
Why it matters
You can skip tiny steps when shaping a new skill. Pick the final form you want, reinforce it, and stop paying for rough drafts. The learner will jump straight to the clean version. Try it with hand-washing steps, long vocal scripts, or any chained play action.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one chained skill, deliver praise only when the whole chain is correct, and ignore partial attempts for five trials.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Pigeons were rewarded for distributing eight pecks across two keys (L and R) in various patterns. The simplest pattern was at least one switch between the two keys (LR or RL) anywhere during the sequence; the next simplest was at least one instance of LLRR or RRLL anywhere during the sequence; the next was LLLRRR or RRRLLL; the most complex was LLLLRRRR or RRRRLLLL. Note that each more complex pattern contains the simpler ones within it. Initially, all patterns were reinforced but amount of reinforcement varied directly with complexity of pattern. The pigeons typically began the eight-peck sequence by pecking on their dispreferred key and then switched to their preferred key during the sequence. In subsequent conditions, simpler patterns were progressively unreinforced until finally only the most complex pattern (exactly four pecks on one key followed by exactly four pecks on the other) was reinforced. Three of the 4 pigeons tested maintained responding under this contingency; responding of the 4th pigeon extinguished. A second group of 4 pigeons was exposed immediately after training to extinction of all patterns except the most complex one. Three of the pigeons failed to maintain responding and the 4th maintained responding at a very low level. These results are evidence that response patterns can be shaped directly without building them up from a sequence of individually reinforced responses. The results may serve as a model of how self-controlled and altruistic behavior can arise through reinforcement.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2013 · doi:10.1002/jeab.22