STIMULUS CONTROL OF SCHEDULE-INDUCED AGGRESSION IN PIGEON

Two male homing pigeons were food deprived and placed on a multiple FR2-FR66 schedule with target birds present in the chamber. For both birds, a red and a green houselight signaled FR66 and FR2 components, respectively. As the birds learned the discrimination, as indicated by longer postreinforcement pauses in the red relative to the green light, aggressive behavior toward the target bird came under the control of the discriminative stimuli, i.e., occurred only in the postreinforcement interval of the red light. When the multiple schedule was reversed (FR66 = green, FR2 = red) postreinforcement pausing and aggressive attack also reversed. © 1969, Psychonomic Journals, Inc.. All rights reserved.