Acquisition of the autoshaped key peck as a function of amount of preliminary magazine training.

Three experiments evaluated the effect of magazine training on acquisition of the pigeon's key peck during autoshaping. In Experiment I, pigeons were exposed to two days of extended magazine training, followed on the third day by keylight-only presentations. All pigeons pecked the keylight early in the keylight-only session. Experiment II examined the relationship between the number of magazine-training trials and trials to the first peck. Pigeons were given either 0, 3, 10, or 25 magazine-training trials followed by the standard autoshaping procedure. The number of trials to the first peck was related to the number of magazine-training trials. In Experiment III, pigeons were exposed to the standard autoshaping procedure without prior magazine training. The data from Experiment III suggested that key pecking will occur only after the response of eating from the lighted hopper has occurred. Taken together, these results suggest that initial magazine training is an important variable in autoshaping. Key pecking is discussed as a generalized consummatory response.