Attack behavior as a function of minimum inter-food interval

Abstract

Pigeons were exposed to a procedure in which food was presented after a fixed period of time had elapsed, provided no attack against a nearby stuffed pigeon had occurred during the last 15 sec of the period. As the minimum inter-food interval was increased logarithmically through seven values from 15 sec to 960 sec, attack increased to a maximum and then decreased. For both pigeons, attack predominantly occurred after, rather than shortly before, food deliveries.