The effects of temporal and spatial location of a CS paired with food on a pigeon's key-peck response

The effects of a classical conditioning procedure on behavior maintained by an operant schedule of reinforcement were studied. A Change in color associated with response-independent food was presented to pigeons at different temporal locations within a fixed interval between food presentations and at different spatial locations within the chamber. For two groups of subjects the food presented at the end of the fixed interval depended on a key peck on a schedule key, and for one group all food presentations were response independent. For the groups which received response-dependent reinforcement, both a simple fixed interval 60 sec schedule and a fixed interval schedule requiring low rates determined the baseline response rates for comparison with the response rates during the key-color change. The spatial location of the key-color change differed for the two response-independent reinforcement groups. For one group the change occurred on the schedule key and for the other group the change occurred on a separate signal key