Delay discounting in pigeons using a token reinforcement system

Main Article Content

Ricardo S. Campos-Rivera
Cristiano V. dos Santos

Abstract

Delay discounting is the decrease of the value of a reward due to a delay
in its receipt. "e results with human and non-human animals have
shown several similarities, but there have also been consistent differences.
In order to further explore the sources of these differences, we used
a token reinforcement system to evaluate delay discounting in pigeons
with a procedure more similar to the ones used with humans. Pigeons
were exposed to an adjusting amount task with tokens as rewards. In
Phases 1 and 3, tokens were exchangeable immediately after its receipt
in each trial, whereas in Phase 2, tokens were exchangeable after four
trials. The results of Phases 1 and 3 showed a pa$ern of discounting
similar to previous studies, whereas subjects showed a greater degree
of discount in Phase 2 in comparison to the other phases. We argue the
greater degree of discount might be due to the accumulation of tokens
and the actual delay to the food.

Article Details

How to Cite
Campos-Rivera, R. S., & dos Santos, C. V. (2022). Delay discounting in pigeons using a token reinforcement system. Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis, 48(1). https://doi.org/10.5514/rmac.v48.i1.82750