SUSTAINED PERFORMANCE DURING VERY LONG EXPERIMENTAL SESSIONS 1

Abstract

The behavior of pigeons has been studied continuously for sessions of many days or weeks by using a mulitple schedule in which slow but continuous responding si maintained with few reinforcements on DRL, while FI and FR schedules alternate at hourly intervals. To a remardable degree the performance on the ratio and interval components after hundreds of hours resembles that obtained using a conventional daily session. The mayor deviations in the ratio and interval performance during these long sessions are mosty attributble either to changes in deprivation or to a slight failure in stimulus control. Possible induction from DRL to FI is occasionally shown by a low rate in FI. Induction from FR to FI may explain an occasional unusually high rate in FI. Induction from both FR and FI components appears to sustain performance for many hours on DRL without reinforcement on that schedule, althoug "superstitious" reinforcement from the change to other key-colors may also be relevant. The combined schedule provides a base line of continuous responding wich should be useful in studying the effects of physiological, pharmacological, or other variables acting over long periods of time.