On the relationship between differential outcomes and differential sample responding in matching-to-sample.

Four experiments involving 24 experimental pigeons and 24 experimentally naive pigeons examined control over choice by differential sample responding in matching-to-sample with differential outcomes. In Exp 1, Ss initially learned to match with food vs no-food outcomes. Their performances later transferred to other samples to which responding vs not responding had been explicitly reinforced with a single outcome (food). In Exp 2, Ss initially learned to produce the comparisons by pecking 1 sample but not the other. Transfer was then observed to new samples associated with food vs no food (and thus often vs seldomly pecked). Exps 3 and 4 showed that transfer of matching required differential behavior to each sample set and did not depend on explicit conditioning of that behavior prior to acquisition. Results show that differential sample behavior provides a redundant cue for choice in differential outcome matching-to-sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)