Palya, W. L., Walter, D., Kessel, R., & Lucke, R. (1996).
Investigating behavioral dynamics with a fixed-time extinction schedule and linear analysis.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
66, 391-409.
This paper describes the behavioral adaptation observed for 16
pigeons responding to a step transition in the reinforcement rate
in a repeated-trial design. Within each trial, following exposure
for a fixed period to a variable-interval schedule, there was an
unsignaled change in the schedule to extinction. The step
transition allowed an experimental test of the applicability of a
linear analysis to steady-state dynamic behavior. The
computations required for this test yielded, as an intermediate
result, transfer functions for each of the 16 birds from 1 mHz to
256 mHz. The transfer functions obtained show greater
responsiveness to lower frequencies (i.e., longer time-scale
structures in the reinforcement schedule); hence, the pigeons
have the characteristics of a low-pass filter. The outcome of the
test is that some predictability of the pigeons' future behavior
is possible.
Images further illustrating this numerical method, plus an
animated illustration of behavior dynamics, are also available.
Key words: linear systems analysis, frequency domain,
variable-interval schedules, transfer function,
interreinforcement interval distribution, key peck, pigeons