THE EFFECT OF INCREASED RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS ON DISCRIMINATIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE DOMESTIC HEN IN A VISUAL ACUITY TASK

Six domestic hens were trained in a spatial discrimination task. A controlled reinforcement procedure insured that the ratio of scheduled and obtained reinforcement remained equal. Gray stimuli and gratings ranging in spatial frequency from 1 to 10 cycles per millimeter were presented in seven descending series of probes. The response requirement to the sample key was varied from fixed ratio 1 to fixed ratio 40 in seven experimental conditions. An increase in response requirements from fixed ratio 1 to fixed ratio 5 and fixed ratio 10 resulted in significantly higher accuracy at discriminable grating values. Further increases in response requirements did not consistently improve performance. Generally, response biases increased and occasionally became extreme for probes at finer gratings with increased response requirements.