Observational learning in the pigeon: Effects of model’s rate of response and percentage of reinforcement

Seventeen pigeons observed a model peck an illuminated key at either a high or a low rate and obtain a high or low percentage of possible reinforcement. Observers were subsequently placed on an automaintenance schedule. Although there was no difference among groups in the number of trials to the first peck, when the present data were compared with other researchers’ automaintenance-acquisition data, there was some indication that modeling reduced the number of trials to the first peck over nonmodeled birds. However, by the end of 20 sessions, the birds that had observed a model pecking at a high rate and with consistent reinforcement pecked significantly faster than those that had observed the model peck at a slow rate or obtain infrequent reinforcement. The conclusion is that two types of information are transferred via a model: first, a correlation between the stimulus and the reinforcer, and second, the specific or minute attributes of the schedule that may produce reinforcement.