Avoidance responding in pigeons

Abstract

Four pigeons were trained in a one-way shuttle box avoidance situation. Three of the birds met the criterion of 90% avoidances; the fourth, although frequently avoiding successfully, was too erratic to meet the criterion. Avoidance responding in two of the birds was subsequently extinguished, showing that the response was true avoidance, and not escape from the buzzer warning stimulus. In Experiment 2, the three birds that had met criterion in Experiment 1 were trained in a two-way avoidance task, and all three met the criterion of 90% avoidances. The shuttle box therefore provides a rapid and reliable method of obtaining avoidance performance in pigeons.