Lecture Notes: Pigeon Behavior and Reinforcement Schedules

Introduction to Pigeon Learning and Behavior

• Pigeons can be taught to distinguish between two words and behave accordingly.
• Learning behavior is influenced by controlling the environment and rewarding with food.
• Behavior is not independent; it is shaped through environmental control.

Experiment by Skinner

• Individual pigeons were kept at three quarters of their normal weight to ensure they were always hungry.
• This was essential so that food could be used as an automatic reward.
• Pigeons were studied in a uniform box, focusing on a specific behavior – pecking a colored disc.

Measuring Behavior

• The act of pecking was measured and recorded on a graph.
• Pigeons learned that pecking a disc led to a food reward.

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Definition: Reinforcement schedules determine how often a reward is given following a behavior.
• Types of Reinforcement Schedules:
  • Rewards not given every time, but perhaps every tenth time or after a set interval.
  • Different schedules have distinctive effects on behavior.

Variable Ratio Schedule

• Very effective for both pigeons and humans.
• Central to understanding gambling behavior.
• Under this schedule, rewards are given at unpredictable rates, similar to gambling systems.
• Can lead to pathological gambling in pigeons and humans.

Implications for Human Behavior

• Understanding pigeons helps interpret human gambling behavior.
• Challenges the idea that gambling is driven by internal feelings or excitement.
• Suggests behavior is influenced by reinforcement schedules.

Free Will and Behavior

• Free will is described as a fiction; our behavior is influenced by external causes.
• Discovering behavior causes reduces the need to attribute actions to internal will.
• Jonathan Edwards' perspective: belief in free will stems from understanding behavior, not its causes.
• Scientific goal: discovering causes of behavior, thereby reducing reliance on the concept of free will.

Conclusion

• The study of behavior in pigeons through reinforcement schedules provides insights into human behavior.
• Understanding external influences on behavior challenges traditional notions of free will.