Response rate correlates with indifference points in a delay-discounting procedure.

To study how effort affects reward value, we replicated Fortes, Vasconcelos and Machado's (2015) study using an adjusting-delay task. Nine pigeons chose between a standard alternative that gave access to 4 s of food, after a 10 s delay, and an adjusting-delay alternative that gave access to 12 s of food after a delay that changed dynamically with the pigeons' choices, decreasing when they preferred the standard alternative, and increasing when they preferred the adjusting alternative. The delay value at which preference stabilized defined the indifference point, a measure of reward value. To manipulate effort across phases, we varied the response rate required during the delay of the standard alternative. Results showed that a) the indifference point increased in the higher-response-rate phases, suggesting that reward value decreased with effort, and b) in the higher-response-rate phases, response rate in the standard alternative was linearly related to the indifference point. We advance several conceptions of how effort may change perceived delay or amount and thereby affect reward value.

Pigeons and the Ambiguous-Cue Problem: A Riddle that Remains Unsolved.

The ambiguous-cue task is composed of two-choice simultaneous discriminations involving three stimuli: positive (P), ambiguous (A), and negative (N). Two different trial types are presented: PA and NA. The ambiguous cue (A) served as an S- in PA trials, but as an S+ in NA trials. When using this procedure, it is typical to observe a less accurate performance in PA trials than in NA trials. This is called the ambiguous-cue effect. Recently, it was reported in starlings that the ambiguous-cue effect decreases when the stimuli are presented on an angled (120°) panel. The hypothesis is that the angled panel facilitates that the two cues from each discrimination are perceived as a compound, precluding value transfer via a second-order conditioning mechanism. In this experiment, we used pigeons and a flat panel. Nevertheless, our data were quite similar to the previous data in starlings. We conclude that the form of the panel cannot explain the ambiguous-cue effect. Several alternatives to be explored in future experiments are suggested. The riddle of the ambiguous-cue problem still remains unsolved.

Temporal discrimination and delayed reinforcement.

We attempted to determine the effect of reinforcement delay on time discrimination in an interval bisection task. Three groups of rats were exposed to immediate, delayed reinforcement and longer signals with immediate reinforcement in acquisition and test. Results show differences in the amount of training necessary to reach the acquisition criteria, the Weber fraction and the range or overall stimulus control. The results suggest an increased difficulty to discriminate the difference among durations rather than an increase in estimated time as main effect of delayed reinforcement.