The effects of total darkness on schedule control.

The study investigated the effect of total darkness on the key pecking of pigeons under fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules of food reinforcement. Eight pigeons were divided into groups of two, with each group conditioned to peck under one of the four schedules of reinforcement. Under an ABAB procedure, all pigeons experienced alternating light and dark conditions. The house- and keylights were (a) maintained at full intensity for the first 30 one-hour sessions, (b) faded out and disconnected over Sessions 31 through 50, (c) totally illuminated for Sessions 51 to 60, and (d) disconnected again for the final 10 sessions. Responding under the ratio schedules increased from 20% to 108% in the dark and responding under the interval schedules in the dark decreased by 37% to 93%.