Level of deprivation does not affect degree of discounting in pigeons

Abstract

Two experiments tested the effects of food deprivation on discounting in pigeons. An adjusting-amount procedure was used to estimate the subjective value of food at delays ranging from 1 to 24 s. Experiment 1 compared pigeons' discounting of delayed food reinforcers at 75 %-80 % and 90 %-95 % of free-feeding weight. Experiment 2 compared discounting under 1- and 23-h food deprivation. In both experiments at both deprivation levels, discounting was well described by the hyperboloid discounting function. No systematic effect of level of deprivation on degree of discounting was observed in either experiment. This finding is consistent with the view that pigeons' choices are controlled by the relative, rather than the absolute, value of reinforcers. © 2012 Psychonomic Society, Inc.